Every ten years or so I listen to Lou Reed’s album, Berlin, just to confirm that I never want to hear it again. And every time, I kick myself for listening to it.

Lou Reed was a member of the rock group, Velvet Underground, back in the 1960s and went on to have a long solo career.

In 1972, his first album included a melancholy love song called Berlin that starts, “In Berlin, by the wall. You were five foot ten inches tall. It was very nice. Candlelight and Dubonnet on ice.”

For his third album, Reed took Berlin and turned it into the title track of a rock opera about drug addiction, abuse, and despair.

At first, the album was a flop. Rolling Stone magazine called it a disaster. And it is. Listening to it makes you want to step in front of a bus. Or take a long walk and be thankful each step of the way that you’re not the couple Reed sings about.

At first, the album was a flop. But as time went on, people began to admire the musical and lyrical power it exhibits in telling its tale of woe. By 2012, Rolling Stone had, shall we say, changed its tune and ranked Berlin number 344 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

If I dislike Berlin so much, why am I writing about it? Certainly not to encourage you to listen to it. There is enough tragedy in the world without purposely wallowing in it for 30 minutes.

No, I write about Berlin because it reminds me of a movie. A movie that I watch every ten years or so, just to confirm that I want to see it again. A movie with the loveliest theme song ever. A movie with a comedian in a non-comedic role.

The movie is Days of Wine and Roses, starring Jack Lemmon. Though it came out in 1962 — ten years before Lou Reed’s Berlin — the film touches on many of the same themes as the album, often with the same sort of gut-punch.

The difference is, Days of Wine and Roses offers a measure of hope that is lacking in Berlin.

The movie tells the story of a couple (played by Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick) who fall in love and marry. Their promising start is ruined when social drinking drags them down into addiction and they have to claw their way towards recovery.

Blake Edwards, who directed the film, knew the movie studio would want to soften the story, so he and the actors resisted this and took steps to make re-shoots difficult.

In real life, Lemmon, Remick, and Edwards would all struggle with alcohol addiction, and their lives would mirror, in some respect, the film they made.

I don’t recommend Lou Reed’s album, Berlin. But I heartily recommend Jack Lemmon’s film, Days of Wine and Roses.

And as for theme songs, Berlin is lovely, but Days of Wine and Roses is lovelier by far.

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