Myriad had choice of his fate
Set themselves out upon a plate for him to choose
What had he to lose?
Not a ghost bloodied country all covered with sleep
Where the Black Angel did weep, not an old city street in the east
Gone to choose

And wandering's brother walked on through the night
With his hair in his face on a long splintered cut from the knife
Of GT
The rally man's patter ran on through the dawn
Until we said, "So long" to his skull
Shrill yell
Shining brightly red-rimmed and red-lined with the time
Infused with the choice of the mind on ice skates scraping chunks
From the bells

Cut mouth bleeding razors, forgetting the pain
Antiseptic remains cool, good buy
So you fly to the cozy brown snow of the east
Gonna choose, choose again

Sacrificials remain make it hard to forget
Where you come from, the stools of your eyes serve to realize fame
Choose again
And Rovermans' refrain of the sacrilege recluse
For the loss of a horse
With the bowels and a tail of a rat
Come again, choose to go

And if Epiphany's terror reduced you to shame
Have your head bobbed and weaved
Choose a side to be on
And if the stone glances off, split didactics in two
Leave the color of the mouse trails, don't scream, try between
If you choose
If you choose, try to lose
For the loss of remain come and start
Start the game

I-che-che
Che-che-I
Che-che-che
Ka-tah-ko
Choose to choose
Choose to choose
Choose to go


Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings

The Black Angel's Death Song Lyrics as written by John Davies Cale Lou A. Reed

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Black Angel's Death Song song meanings
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    General Comment

    Lou Reed used various "random" methods of creativity at this stage of his career. I know that on occasions they would roll a dice to decide certain aspects of the music - I can't categorically say which songs or parts, but the solo of "I heard her call my name" would have to be random. He was also a big fan of Burroughs, who invented the "cut-up method" of writing - just writing pages of words and then rearranging them randomly. Themes still emerge, and to some extent the artist usually exercises some control over the arrangement. Even with a cut up method, this piece still seems to exude a mood, much as a good painting will speak to you.

    PaulSouthon December 31, 2014   Link

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