Mean Mutherfucker
All spit and grit
And New York City shit.
Smoke and dope and moonlight madness
On the corner
Of every dirty avenue.
Stain and pain
Why, even the rain hurts
To strangers.
Mean mutherfucker
With a big fat heart.
All blood and breath
Birth and death
Crack and smack and secret darkness
On the corner
Of every dirty avenue
Piss and kiss
Why, even the walls close
To natives.
Mean mutherfucker
With a big fat heart.
Vicious fairy faggot
Melts within his music.
Mean mutherfucker
With a big fat heart
Rock and roll animal
New York Bonaparte.
All stance and chance
Corrupt romance
Punk and junk and dingy dankness
On the corner
Of every broken avenue
Dearth and hurt
Why, even the curbs cry
Unforgiving.
All stiff and rough
Damaged and tough
City subway and sewer gutter
Is the corner
Of every tight view avenue
Scum and cum
Why, even the light fights the darkness
For room.
Shocked electric scumbag
Melts from his music
Mean mutherfucker
With a big fat heart
Rock and roll animal
New York Bonaparte.
All hurt and curse
Your cheap uptown dirt
Pocket and purse and worthless
On your corner
Of every swollen avenue
Terse and versed
Why, even the words hurt
To everyone.
All threats and sweat
No damned regrets
Sick and dick and dirty whores
On the corner
Of every broken avenue
Fuck and suck
Why, even the love is lonely
To the lovers.
Mean mutherfucker
With a big fat heart.
Nah nahnah nah nah
Nah nah.
Lou reed Screen Test #1 -- Andy Warhol
Lou Reed claimed, “My God is rock'n'roll. It's an obscure power that can change your life. The most important part of my religion is to play guitar.” At Syracuse University he studied under the poet Delmore Schwartz, who showed him how "with the simplest language imaginable, and very short, you can accomplish the most astonishing heights.” He insisted that his goals as a writer were "to bring the sensitivities of the novel to rock music." At Syracuse he also became friends with Sterling Morrison, who was not a student there but knew Lou through their mutual friend Jim Tucker; his sister Maureen “Mo” Tucker, Morrison, and Reed all became part of Andy Warhol’s avant garde rock group the Velvet Underground (along with John Cale, who was part of Reed’s earlier group, the Primitives). On their first album “The Velvet Underground & Nico” Lou included the song “European Son”:
ReplyDeleteYou killed your European son
You spit on those under twenty-one
But now your blue cars are gone
You better say so long
Hey hey, bye bye bye
You made your wallpapers green
You want to make love to the scene
Your European son is gone
You'd better say so long
Your clown's bid you goodbye
Sterling Morrison explained that the song, which only had two stanzas and a long instrumental break, was a sort of tribute to Schwartz: “Delmore thought rock and roll lyrics were the worst things he’d ever heard in his life; he despised songs with words. As this was our big instrumental outing on the album we dedicated it to him.”
For Reed’s later solo album “The Blue Mask” he wrote “My House,” a more explicit tribute:
The image of the poet's in the breeze
Canadian geese are flying above the trees
A mist is hanging gently on the lake
My house is very beautiful at night
My friend and teacher occupies a spare room
He's dead - at peace at last the Wandering Jew
Other friends has put stones on his grave
He was the first great man that I had ever met
Sylvia and I got out our Ouija Board
To dial a spirit - across the room it soared
We were happy and amazes at what we saw
Blazing stood the proud and regal name Delmore
Delmore, I missed all your funny ways
I missed your jokes and the brilliant things you said
My Dedalus to your Bloom
Was such a perfect wit
And to find you in my house
Makes things perfect
I really got a lucky life
My writhing, my motorcycle and my wife
And to top it all off a spirit of pure poetry
Is living in this stone and wood house with me
The image of the poet's in the breeze
Canadian geese are flying above the trees
A mist is hanging gently on the lake
Our house is very beautiful at night
Our house is very beautiful at night
Our house is very beautiful at night
Our house is very beautiful at night
(Sylvia was his wife, British designer Sylvia Morales.)