[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"