I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp: A Memoir - Tapa dura

"Charming and impossible, Hell is the first (and best!) name in punk rock. His insights are informed by the romance of running away to the mystery heard in the rowdy grooves of a dirty LP or in the pages of a thumbed book of verse."--Thurston Moore

"An exquisite snapshot of early punk possibility--that so beautifully captures the exuberance of starting a band!"--Legs McNeil

"[Hell] almost single handedly created 'punk' as we know it.... Few people have been as important--yet as underappreciated as Richard Hell. Poet, musician, fashion icon and terrific, terrific writer. Chances are, you have been deeply influenced by Richard Hell your whole life. You just didn't know it."--Anthony Bourdain

"Hell is a fine writer and full of self-knowledge, and part of the pleasure of this randy, drug-addled memoir are his descriptions of New York during the bad old days when crime was rampant and the streets filthy. A compelling and entertaining memoir."--Booklist

"This valuable book... is not only an absorbing cultural history but also a clear-eyed story that superbly channels the attitude expressed in the first blurt to his best-known song 'Blank Generation' "I was saying let me out of here before I was even born."--Boston Globe

"Hell is an enthusiastic reporter of the critical artistic crossover of the avant-garde art scene and the world of punk rock... his account rings true and it entertains... a treasure both to those present during gritty, heady '70s NYC and to those not."--Time Out New York (4 Stars)

"A rueful, battle-scarred, darkly witty observer of his own life and times."--New York Times

"There are many shivery, illicit pleasures in this louche memoir... Hell was a virtuoso of taste, a critic with a sensibility so fine and unconventional it bordered on its own form of art... weird and singular and superbly self-aware."--BookForum

"Other rock bios are tasteful and cautious -- you feel the writer take you to a certain point but then pull back... Hell will take you right there, and that is why this book is an honest and special treat."--Dean Wareham

"His book shines its own dirty light. Which means it has lots of sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll. Pick up I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp, if you want poetry and insight."--Spin

In this unforgettable coming-of-age story, the progenitor of American and British Punk Rock shares his remarkable journey, from his arrival on the streets of New York in 1967 to his rise to fame, touring with such bands as The Clash and The Sex Pistols, to his full-blown descent into drug addiction. 25,000 first printing.