Nova York, Liverpool, Belo Horizonte

Três ruas, três canções

Abstract

The street where basic life experiences and rites of passage took place, along the younger years, is usually recreated in memory as a mythical place, inhabited by exemplary characters, recalled with intense affection. This article addresses this phenomenon through the analysis of three songs about three streets located in three different countries, at a time of many changes in the Western world and its sphere of influence: the 1960’s. “Bleecker Street”, by Simon & Garfunkel, remembers the atmosphere of Greenwich Village, a New York bohemian area closely associated to artistic and cultural movements throughout the first half of that decade. “Penny Lane”, by Lennon & McCartney, is about the childhood and adolescence years of the members of the Beatles on the street they always had to take in their wanderings through the city of Liverpool, and displays their memories of that time of their lives. It was composed by the end of the 1960’s and is marked by the experiences the band was then carrying out. “Rua Ramalhete”, on the other hand, was created in the 1970’s as a nostalgic remembrance of the previous decade, which had a huge impact on the biography of its composers. Last but not least, there is a reflection on the transformation of these streets into tourist attractions due to the well-known songs that celebrated them.