The Sword of Damocles - Lou Reed

I see The Sword of Damocles
is right above your head
They're trying a new treatment
to get you out of bed
But radiation kills both bad and good
it can not differentiate
So to cure you they must kill you
the Sword of Damocles hangs above your head

Now I have seen lots of people die
from car crashes or drugs
Last night on 33rd st.
I saw a kid get hit by a bus
But this drawn out torture over which part of you lives
is very hard to take
To cure you they must kill you
the Sword of Damocles above your head

That mix of morphine and dexedrine
we use it on the street
It kills the pain and keeps you up
your very soul to keep
But this guessing game has its own rules
the good don't always win
And might makes right
the Sword of Damocles is hanging above your head

It seems everything's done that must be done
from over here though things don't seem fair
But there are things that we can't know
maybe there's something over there
Some other world that we don't know about
I know you hate that mystic shit
It's just another way of seeing
the Sword of Damocles above your head



I like how Lou manages to write of some very profound and serious matters while using a format as stupid and dull as the rock'n'roll song.
Some of his greatest achievements are very plain and simple 3-minute rock songs - like 'I'm waiting for the man' or 'Dirty BLVD.' , ... - but they manage to speal of much more profound matters.

This song also has a brilliant intro. First a small intro, 3 seconds of silence and than Bang!
The most gorgeos chord progression you have ever heard. And all is playing are the same chords every both else is playing all the time. Brilliant!

I cross the Green Mountain
I sit by the stream
Heaven blazing in my head I
I dreamt a monsterous dream
Something came up
Out of the sea
Swept through the land of
The rich and the free

I look into the eyes
of my merciful friend
And then I ask myself
Is this the end?
Memories linger
Sad yet sweet
And I think of the souls in heaven who will be

Alters are burning
The flames far and wide
the fool has crossed over
from the other side
They tip their caps
from the top of the hill
You can feel them come
All brave blood do spill

Along the dim
Atlantic line
The rapper's land
lasts for miles behind
the lights coming foreward
and the streets are broad
all must yield
To the avenging God

The world is old
The world is great
Lessons of life
Can't be learned in a day
I watch and I wait
And I listen while I stand
To the music that comes
from a far better land

Close the eyes
of our Captain
Peace may he know
His long night is done
The great leader is laid low
He was ready to fall
He was quick to defend
Killed outright he was
by his own men

It's the last day's last hour
of the last happy year
I feel that the unknown
The world is so dear
Pride will vanish
And glory will rot
But virtue lives
and cannot be forgot

The bells
of evening have rung
there's blasphemy
on the end of the tongue
Let them say that I walked
in fair nature's light
And that I was loyal
to truth and to right

Serve God and meet your full
Look upward beyond
Beyond the darkness that masks
the surprises of dawn
In the deep green grasses
and the blood stained woods
They never dreamed of surrendering
They fell where they stood

Stars fell over Alabama
And I saw each star
You're walking in dreams
Whoever you are
Chilled as the skies
Keen as the frost
And the ground's froze hard
And the morning is lost

A letter to mother
came today
Gunshot wound to the breast
is what it did say
But he'll be better soon
He's in a hospital bed
But he'll never be better
He's already dead

I'm ten miles outside the city
And I'm lifted away
In an ancient light
That is not of day
They were calm they were gloomed
We knew them all too well
We loved eachother more than
we ever dared to tell

I Hate Men
Cole Porter didn't really hate men, but the idea was for this song to be sung by a woman.

I hate men.
I can't abide 'em even now and then.
Than ever marry one of them, I'd rest a maiden rather,
For husbands are a boring lot and only give you bother.
Of course, I'm awfully glad that Mother had to marry Father,
But I hate men.

Of all the types I've ever met within our democracy,
I hate most the athlete with his manner bold and brassy,
He may have hair upon his chest but, sister, so has Lassie.
Oh, I hate men!

I hate men.
They should be kept like piggies in a pen.
Avoid the trav'ling salesman though a tempting Tom he may be,
For on your wedding night he may be off to far Araby,
While he's away in Mandalay it's thee who have the baby,
Oh I hate men.

If thou shouldst wed a businessman, be wary, oh, be wary.
He'll tell you he's detained in town on business necessary,
His bus'ness is the bus'ness with his pretty secretary,
Oh I hate men!

I hate men
Though roosters they, I will not play the hen.
If you espouse an older man through girlish optimism,
He'll always stay at home at night and make no criticism,
Though you may call it love, the doctors call it rheumatism.
Oh, I hate men.

From all I've read, alone in bed, from A to Zed, about 'em.
Since love is blind, then from the mind, all womankind should rout 'em,
But, ladies, you must answer too, what would we do without 'em?
Still, I hate men!

Calypso
by Van Dyke Parks

This is like no island you have seen,
It is not Argentine nor Tangerine.
Maybe you are Navy or Marine,
It is not African nor Caribbean.

Take the missionary position,
yes the missionary position,
For a man who is on a mission,
other matters should come to mind.

Take the missionary position,
makes me faint & I ain't gonna listen,
But a good man to my own disposition,
is a man who is hard to find.

Hey sailor come from the sea,
you talk to me.
You're a tar,
You're a far
cry from home.
While you are at liberty
to talk to me,
People stare,
I'm aware,
is it fair?
On a dare,
I don't care
What they say.
Give us only today.

Hey sailor come from the sea,
It's you and me,
Call it fate,
Call it great,
destiny.
Since we are at liberty
and speaking free
I won't grieve
if you find
you must leave
me behind,
I won't mind.
I have heard of push and shove
You bring me that word called love

Calypso
if my heart could only speak
we'd take a week
in Martinique
and just go crazy neh?
Calypso
he is speaking Greek to me
it is hide and seek you see
this can be our fantasy today
como dice
Calypso

Can't Truss It
by Carlton Douglas Ridenhour & William Jonathan Drayton Jr.

Here come the drums

Bass in your face
Not an eight track
Gettin' it good to the wood
So the people
Give you some a dat
Reactin' to the fax
That I kick and it stick
And it stay around
Pointin' to the joint, put the Buddha down

Goin', goin', gettin' to the roots
Ain't givin' it up
So turn me loose
Then again I got a story
That's harder than the hardcore
Cost of the holocaust
I'm talkin' 'bout the one still goin' on

I know
Where I'm from, not dum diddie dum
From the base motherland
The place of the drum
Invaded by the wack diddie wack
He fooled the black, and left us faded
King and chief probably had a big beef
Because of dat now I grit my teeth
So here's a song to the strong
'Bout the shake of a snake
And the smile that went along wit dat

Can't truss it (no, no, no, no)

Kickin' wicked rhymes
Like a fortune teller
'Cause the wickedness done by Jack
Where everybody at
Divided and sold
For the liquor and the gold
Smacked in the back
For the other man to mack (What)

(Wicked. Wicked man. Dead man. Dead man. Kick it man)

Now the story that I'm kickin' is gory
Little Rock where they be dockin' this boat
No hope
I'm shackled (Oh)
Plus gang tackled
By the other hand swingin' the rope (Yipes)
Wearin' red, white and blue
Jack and his crew
The guy's authorized to beat down for the brown
Man to the man, each one so I teach one
Born to terrorize sisters and every brother
One love who said it
I know Whodini sang it
But the hater taught hate
That's why we gang bang it
Beware of the hand
When it's comin' from the left
I ain't trippin' just watch ya step

Can't truss it

An I judge everyone
One by the one
Look here come the judge
Watch it here he come now
(Don't sentence me judge, I ain't did nothin' to nobody)

I can only guess what's happ'nin'
Years ago he woulda been a ship's captain
Gettin' me bruised on the cruise
What I got to lose, lost all contact
Got me layin' on my back
Rollin' in my own leftover
When I roll over, I roll over on somebody else
90 damn days on a slave ship
Count 'em fallin' off 1, 2, 3, 4 hun'ed at a time

Blood in the wood and it's mine
I'm chokin' on spit feelin' pain
Like my brain bein' chained
Still gotta give it what I got
It's hot in the day, it's cold in the night
But I thrive to survive,
I pray to god to stay alive
My attitude boils inside
And that ain't it
You think I ever quit
Still I pray to get my hands around the neck
Of the man wit' the whip
And 3 months pass, they brand a label on my ass
To signify I'm owned
I'm on the microphone
Sayin' 1555
How I'm livin'
We been livin' here
Livin' ain't the word
I been givin'
Haven't got
Classify us in the have-nots
Fightin' the haves
'Cause it's all about money

When it comes to Armageddon
Mean I'm getting mine
Here I am turn it over Sam
427 to the year
Do you understand
That's why it's harder
For the black to love the land

Once again

Bass in your face
Not an eight track
Gettin' it good to the wood
So the people
Give you some a dat
Reactin' to the fax
That I kick and it stick
And it stay around
Pointin' to the joint, put the Buddha down

Goin', goin', gettin' to the roots
Ain't givin' it up
So turn me loose
Then again I got a story
That's harder than the hardcore
Cost of the holocaust
I'm talkin' 'bout the one still goin' on

I know
Where I'm from, not dum diddie dum
From the base motherland
The place of the drum
Invaded by the wack diddie wack
He fooled the black, and left us faded
King and chief probably had a big beef
Because of dat now I grit my teeth
So here's a song to the strong
'Bout the shake of a snake
And the smile went along wit dat

Can't truss it (Watch your step, boy)

The Streets of Derry

And after morning there comes an evening,
And after evening another day,
And after false love there comes a true love,
Come listen now to what I say.

My love he is a handsome young man,
As fair as any that the sun shone on,
But how to win him I do not know,
For now he has a sentence to be hung.

As he walked out through the streets of Derry
I'm sure he stood out right manfully;
He looked more like a commanding officer
Than a man to die upon the gallow's tree.

"Oh, where's my love, she's so long in coming,
And what detains her so long from me;
Perhaps she thinks it's a shame, a scandal
For a man to die upon the gallow's tree."

He looked around and he saw her coming,
As she rode swifter than the wind;
She said, "I'll show them that they cannot hang you,
And I'll crown my love with a bunch of green."

Tin Angel - Joni Mitchell

Varnished weeds in window jars
Tarnished beads on tapestries
Kept in satin boxes are
Reflections of loves memories

Letters from across the seas
Roses dipped in sealing wax
Valentines and maple leaves
Tucked into a paperback

Guess Ill throw them all away
I found someone to love today

Dark with darker moods is he
Not a golden prince whos come
Through columbines and wizardry
To talk of castles in the sun

Still Ill take a chance and see
I found someone to love today

Theres a sorrow in his eyes
Like the angel made of tin
What will happen if I try
To place another heart in him

In a bleeker street cafe
I found someone to love today
I found someone to love today

All right!
Stop whatcha doin'
'cause I'm about to ruin
the image and the style that ya used to.
I look funny
but yo I'm makin' money see
so yo world I hope you're ready for me.
Now gather round
I'm the new fool in town
and my sound's laid down by the Underground.
I drink up all the Hennessey ya got on ya shelf
so just let me introduce myself
My name is Humpty, pronounced with a Umpty.
Yo ladies, oh how I like to hump thee.
And all the rappers in the top ten--please allow me to bump thee.
I'm steppin' tall, y'all,
and just like Humpty Dumpty
you're gonna fall when the stereos pump me.
I like to rhyme,
I like my beats funky,
I'm spunky. I like my oatmeal lumpy.
I'm sick wit dis, straight gangsta mack
but sometimes I get ridiculous
I'll eat up all your crackers and your licorice
hey yo fat girl, c'mere--are ya ticklish?
Yeah, I called ya fat.
Look at me, I'm skinny
It never stopped me from gettin' busy
I'm a freak
I like the girls with the boom
I once got busy in a Burger King bathroom
I'm crazy.
Allow me to amaze thee.
They say I'm ugly but it just don't faze me.
I'm still gettin' in the girls' pants
and I even got my own dance

The Humpty Dance is your chance to do the hump
Do the Humpty Hump, come on and do the Humpty Hump
Do the Humpty Hump, just watch me do the Humpty Hump
Do ya know what I'm doin', doin' the Humpty Hump
Do the Humpty Hump, do the Humpty Hump

People say "Yo, Humpty, you're really funny lookin'"
that's all right 'cause I get things cookin'
Ya stare, ya glare, ya constantly try to compare me
but ya can't get near me
I give 'em more, see, and on the floor, B,
all the girls they adore me
Oh yes, ladies, I'm really bein' sincere
'cause in a 69 my humpty nose will tickle ya rear.
My nose is big, uh-uh I'm not ashamed
Big like a pickle, I'm still gettin' paid
I get laid by the ladies, ya know I'm in charge,
both how I'm livin' and my nose is large
I get stoopid, I shoot an arrow like Cupid,
I use a word that don't mean nothin', like looptid
I sang on Doowhutchalike, and if ya missed it,
I'm the one who said just grab 'em in the biscuits
Also told ya that I like to bite
Well, yeah, I guess it's obvious, I also like to write.
All ya had to do was give Humpty a chance
and now I'm gonna do my dance.

Oh, yeah, that's the break, y'all
Let me hear a little bit of that bass groove right here
Oh, yeah!
Now that I told ya a little bit about myself
let me tell ya a little bit about this dance
It's real easy to do--check it out

First I limp to the side like my leg was broken
Shakin' and twitchin' kinda like I was smokin'
Crazy wack funky
People say ya look like M.C. Hammer on crack, Humpty
That's all right 'cause my body's in motion
It's supposed to look like a fit or a convulsion
Anyone can play this game
This is my dance, y'all, Humpty Hump's my name
No two people will do it the same
Ya got it down when ya appear to be in pain
Humpin', funkin', jumpin',
jig around, shakin' ya rump,
and when the dude a chump pump points a finger like a stump
tell him step off, I'm doin' the Hump.

Black people, do the Humpty Hump, do the Humpty Hump
White people, do the Humpty Hump, do the Humpty Hump
Puerto Ricans, do the Humpty Hump, just keep on doin' the hump
Samoans, do the Humpty Hump, do the Humpty Hump
Let's get stoopid!

Oh, yeah, come on and break it down

Once again, the Underground is in the house
I'd like to send a shout out to the whole world,
keep on doin' the Humpty Dance,
and to the ladies,
peace and humptiness forever

Why Do I Feel?
--by Dot Wiggin

Sometimes I feel funny
And bottled up inside
Then for some reason
I just start to cry

Sometimes I feel happy
And overflowing with joy
Then things change
And I start to worry

Why do I feel the way I feel?
Why do I do the things I do?
Why do I feel the way I feel?

Sometimes I worry over nothing at all
Sometimes I think life's just a ball
When life changes and turns the other way
I try to think of something gay

Why do I feel the way I feel?
Why do I do the things I do?
Why do I feel the way I feel?

There are times when I feel sad
There are times when I feel blue
What makes me feel this way the most
Is when I don't know why I do the things I do

Why do I do the things I do?
Why do I feel the way I feel?
Why do I do the things I do?

There are times when I feel sad
There are times when I feel blue
What makes me feel this way the most
Is when I don't know why I do the things I do

Why do I do the things I do?
Why do I feel the way I feel?
Why do I do the things I do?
Why do I do the things I do?

Cocktail World
--by Judy Henske

She says, "bartender...I'll have another
Make this one tall and cold
just like the man that left me here with you.
Bartender, it's not what I want.
It's just what I order.
Bartender, I'll have another."

Big Fat Man
--by Judy Henske

I want a big fat man with meat shakin' on his bones
I want a big fat man with meat shakin' on his bones
All I want is a big fat man
Slats in the bed go blam de blam
I want a big fat man with meat shakin' on his bones

"I'm not quite as cool or forgiving as I sound".

"The Young Lions" by Boris Grebenshchikov

"What do the young lions need?
What do the young lions need?
When the whole world is ready to fall at their feet
and they don't have a thing to do right now."

Когда в городе станет темно,
Когда ветер дует с Невы,
Екатерина смотрит в окно,
За окном идут молодые львы.

Они не знают, что значит "зима",
Они танцуют, они свободны от наших потерь!
И им нечего делать с собой сейчас,
Они войдут, когда Екатерина откроет им дверь!

А что нужно молодым львам?
Что нужно молодым львам?
Когда весь мир готовится лечь к их ногам,
И им нечего делать сейчас!

Но я не скажу им ни слова,
Я не приму этот бой, потому что это не бой.
Все равно, все, что сделано нами, останется светлым,
Все равно, все, что было моим, возьмет себе кто-то
другой!

Так вот вкус наших побед,
Вот зелень нашей травы...
Екатерина смотрит в окно,
За окном продолжают идти
Молодые львы.

Oooh get it while you caaaan
Honey get it when you're gonna wanna need it dear yeah yeah
Hey hey
Get it while you can
Don't you turn your back on love
No no no
No no no no
Get it whiiile you can
I said hooold on to somebody when you get a little lonely dear
Hey hey
Hoooold on to that man's heeeeart
Yeeah
Get it!
Want it!
Hold it !
Need it!
Get it!
Want it!
Need it!
Hold it!
Get it whiiiile you caaaan yeah
Honey get it while you can babe yeah
Hey hey
Get it whiiiile you caaaan!

The Shaggs Own Thing
--Austen Wiggin

Pardon me boy (pardon me man)
was that you I saw
with my girl last night? (yeah, that was me)
on a Saturday night? (yeah)
In the bright moonlight? (yeah, that was me all right).

I saw you
Kissin' and a-huggin'
with all of your might,
Let me tell you buddy
It was a terrible sight.
Sneakin' out with my girl,
Thinkin' that she was your girl
And doin' it, yeah doin' it. (yeah, that was me all right.
What are you gonna do about it?)