According to Waterman, while psychedelic trips informed the experiences of many artists in Lower Manhattan at the time, "Venus" contributed to the impression of "Marquee Moon" as a transcendental work in the vein of 19th-century Romanticism. "Verlaine is into perception", Waterman said, "and sometimes the perception he represents is as intense as a mind-altering substance." Christgau said that lyrics such as the reference to Broadway in "Venus" lent the album its association among critics to the East Village, as it "situates this philosophical action in the downtown night".