Last Great American Whale (LP Version)

Last Great American Whale (LP Version) Lyrics

Song Last Great American Whale (LP Version)
Artist Lou Reed
Album New York
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[ti:Last Great American Whale (LP Version)]
[ar:Lou Reed]
[al:New York]
[00:00.64] They say he didn't have an enemy
[00:03.18] His was a greatness to behold
[00:05.43] He was the last surviving progeny
[00:11.10] The last one on this side of the world
[00:14.15] He measured a half mile from tip to tail
[00:19.14] Silver and black with powerful fins
[00:22.93] They say he could split a mountain in two
[00:27.92] That's how we got the Grand Canyon
[00:30.47] Last great American whale
[00:34.72] Last great American whale
[00:39.41] Last great American whale
[00:43.05] Last great American whale
[00:47.29] Some say they saw him at the Great Lakes
[00:52.13] Some say they saw him off of Florida
[00:54.83] My mother said she saw him in Chinatown
[01:00.01] But you can't always trust your mother
[01:04.24] Off the Carolinas the sun shines brightly in the day
[01:08.83] The lighthouse glows ghostly there at night
[01:13.07] The chief of a local tribe had killed a racist mayor's son
[01:18.11] And he'd been on death row since 1958
[01:20.95] The mayor's kid was a rowdy pig
[01:24.98] Spit on Indians and lots worse
[01:27.67] The old chief buried a hatchet in his head
[01:33.51] Life compared to death for him seemed worse
[01:36.69] The tribal brothers gathered in the lighthouse to sing
[01:41.53] And tried to conjure up a storm or rain
[01:45.17] The harbor parted, the great whale sprang full up
[01:50.13] And caused a huge tidal wave
[01:53.51] The wave crushed the jail and freed the chief
[01:57.25] The tribe let out a roar
[02:00.50] The whites were drowned, the browns and reds set free
[02:06.28] But sadly one thing more
[02:08.87] Some local yokel member of the NRA
[02:13.46] Kept a bazooka in his living room
[02:17.75] And thinking he had the chief in his sights
[02:21.28] Blew the whale's brains out with a lead harpoon
[02:25.49] Last great American whale
[02:30.37] Last great American whale
[02:34.01] Last great American whale
[02:38.36] Last great American whale
[02:43.97] Well Americans don't care for much of anything
[02:46.72] Land and water the least
[02:49.06] And animal life is low on the totem pole
[02:54.76] With human life not worth more than infected yeast
[03:00.12] Americans don't care too much for beauty
[03:02.77] They'll shit in a river, dump battery acid in a stream
[03:07.16] They'll watch dead rats wash up on the beach
[03:11.22] And complain if they can't swim
[03:14.81] They say things are done for the majority
[03:18.71] Don't believe half of what you see and none of what you hear
[03:23.26] It's like what my painter friend Donald said to me,
[03:27.65] "Stick a fork in their ass and turn them over, they're done"
Last Great American Whale (LP Version) Lyrics
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