From Legendary Hearts (1983) by Lou Reed

Legendary Hearts (Reed) - 3:29

Legendary hearts, tearing up apart with stories of their love
Their great transcendant loves
While we stand here and fight
And lose another night of legendary love

Legendary loves haunt me in my sleep
Promises to keep, I never should have made
I can't live up to this, I'm good for just a kiss
Not legendary love

Romeo, oh Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo
He's in a car or at a bar
Or churning his blood with an impure drug
He's in the past and seems to be lost forever

He worked hard at being good
But his basic soul was stained not pure
And when he took his bow, no audience was clapping

Legendary hearts, tear us all apart
Make our emotions bleed, crying out in need
No legendary love is coming from above
It's in this room right now

And you've got to fight to make what's right
And you've got to fight to make what's right
And you've got to fight to make what's right
And you've got to fight to keep your legendary love

Don't Talk to Me About Work (Reed) - 2:11

A perfect day to get out of bed
Shower, dress, shave, kiss you on the head
Then I hit the office and my head starts to swim

A perfect day to just walk around
See a violent movie and check the sounds
But even on the street, when I hear a phone ring
My heart starts to beat
When I get home I don't want you to speak

Don't talk to me about work
Please don't talk to me about work
I'm up to my eyeballs in dirt - with work, with work

How many dollars, how many sales
How many liars, how many tales
How many insults must you take in this one life

I'm in prison most of the day
So please excuse me, if I get this way
But I have got obligations to keep -
So be very careful when you speak

Don't talk to me about work
Please don't talk to me about work
I'm up to my eyeballs in dirt - with work, with work ...

Make up Mind (Reed) - 2:55

I can't seem to make up my mind
I can't tell the colors, that will fit this room
I can't tell a thing about you
Make up my mind

I can't seem to make up my mind
Are you laughing at me or telling a joke
The cigarette on the sheet begins to smoke
Make up your mind

Right or left, up or down, in or out
Straight or round, love or lust, rain or shine
I can't seem to make up my poor mind

I can't seem to make up my mind
I can't tell the difference between wrong and right
Are you laughing at me in your sleep tonight
Leaving me behind, leaving me behind
Why don't you make up your mind

Martial Law (Reed) - 3:56

I've declared a truce, so stop your fighting
The marshall is in town
I won't put up with no big mouth yapping
At least not while I'm around
This is my friend Ace, he's from the 8th precinct
Nothing goes on that he don't know
And we've been send cause your arguments
Have been going on for too long
And before one of you hurts the other one of you
I'm declaring martial law

I came, I saw, I declared martial law
I'm the marshall in the city
The jails are filled with people like you
You oughta listen to your diddy-wah-diddy
What's a girl like you doing with that lamp
You better drop it down on the floor
And, son, that isn't very smart, kicking a hole in that door
Hey Ace, will you take a look at this place
And get those neighbors out of the hall
I'm declaring martial law

I came, I saw, I declared martial law
I'm the marshall of the city
And if you stand away, I've got something to say
That might even help you

Keep your hands to yourself and keep your big mouth shut
Don't touch nobody with hate
And if all you've got is poison in your mouth
Make sure that you don't speak
It's 3:30 in the early morning
Don't punch, don't scratch, don't bite
Try not to take the garbage of the day
Any place but outside

Now me and Mr. Ace are gonna leave this place
And this fighting's gonna end
And if we're called back, I'm gonna knock you flat
And stack you end to end

I came, I saw, I declared martial law
I'm the marshall in the city

The Last Shot (Reed) - 3:23

The last shot should have killed me, pour another drink
Let's drink drink to the last shot
And the blood on the dishes in the sink
Blood inside the coffee cup, blood on the table top

When you quit, you quit, but you always wish
You knew it was your last shot

I shot blood at the fly on the wall
My heart almost stopped, hardly there at all
I broke the mirror with my fall -with my fall - fall - fall
Fall - fall - fall

Gimme a double, give yourself one too
Gimme a short beer, one for you too
And a toast to everything that doesn't move - that doesn't move

But when you quit, you quit, but you always wish
You knew it was your last shot

Whiskey, bourbon, vodka and scotch
I don't care what it is you've got
I just want to know that it's my last shot - my last shot

I remember when I quit pretty good
See, this here's where I chipped my tooth
I shot a vein in my neck and I coughed up a quaalude
On my last shot - my last shot

Here's a toast to all that's good
And here's a toast to hate
And here's a toast to toasting and I'm not boasting
When I say I'm getting straight, when I say I'm getting straight

But when you quit, you quit, but you always wish
You knew it was your last shot

When you quit, you quit, but you always wish
You knew it was your last shot

Turn out the Light (Reed) - 2:49

Lover, lover, why is there light
In the itchy gitchy evening and it's dark outside
And what's the difference between wrong and right
Wrong and right
Isn't it funny how pain goes away
And then comes back another day
The air feels very good today - Good today

Lover, lover, why is there light
Did you forget to turn off that light
Well that's all right but it's way too bright - Way too bright
See the eagle above the hill
The lake reflects and is so still
The tension has gone from my will - from my will

Moon on the mountain shining bright
First there is dark and then there is light
And sometimes the light is way too bright - it's way to bright

Why don't you turn out the light

Pow Wow (Reed) - 2:32

Christopher Columbus discovered America
Found he had a cornucopia
Gave love to the indians, they gave it back
A pow woo in the teepee is where it's at

I want to dance with you ...

The indian fought with his arrow and bow
Till General Custer lost to Sitting Bull
Scalped all day and scalped all night
Give me fire water, gonna buy me a wife

I want to dance with you ...

When your people first moved to our block
Our ancestors met with culture shock
Two different monkees from two different trees
Come on let's stop our fightin' and come dance with me

I want to dance with you ...

Betrayed (Reed) - 3:13

Betrayed, by the one who says she loves you
By the one who says she needs you - above all other men
Betrayed, by her fragile, vicious beauty
Her father did his duty and I lie down betrayed

Justice taught her confidence, her mother was like steel
Her cousins, they're all convicts
She alone rose above that wheel
But a motorcyclist, no matter how good
Is slave to the oncoming truck
And the poison of her father was her most pitiless luck

Betrayed, by the one who says she loves you
By the one who says she needs you - above all other men
Betrayed, by her fragile, vicious beauty
Her father did his duty and I lay down betrayed

Three of us lie in his bed - night of infamy
One of us lies on our back - her father's in her head
And quick she turns and slaps my face
And with her eyes open wide she screams
I hate you, I hate you, I hate you
But she's looking right by me

Betrayed, by the one who says she loves you
By the one who says she needs you - above all other men
Betrayed, by her fragile, vicious beauty
Her father did his duty and I lie down betrayed

Bottoming out (Reed) - 3:43

I'm cruising fast on a motorcycle down this winding country road
And I pass the gravel on the foot of the hill
Where last week I fell off
There's still some oil by the old elm tree
And a dead squirrel that I hit
But if I hadn't left, I would've struck you dead
So I took a ride instead

Bottoming out, bottoming out, I'm bottoming out, bottoming out

My doctor says, she hopes I know, how lucky I can be
After all it wasn't my blood, mixed in the dirt that night
And we must really examine this
And I say I need another drink

Bottoming out, ...

I'm tearing down Rt. 80 East, the sun's on my right side
I'm drunk, but my vision's good and I think of my child bride
I aim that bike at the fat pothole beyond that underpass

Bottoming out, ...

Home of the Brave (Reed) - 6:55

Here's to Johnny with his Jo, and Mickey's got a wife
And here's to Jerry, he's got Joyce
And me I'm shaking in my boots tonight
For the daughters and the sons
Lost in the home of the brave

Here's to the home of the brave
Here's to the life that's not saved
Here's to the home of the brave
Here's to the home of the brave

Here's to Frank, hit in some bar
In picturesque Brooklyn Heights
And here' to a friend, who jumped in front of a train
At seven o'clock, on night
And another friend, who thinks he lacks worth
Has disappeared from sight
Somewhere in the home of the brave

Here's to the home of the brave, ...

The stars are hiding in their clouds
The street lights are too bright
A man's kicking a woman, who's clutching his leg tight
And rush off to the home of the brave

Here's to the home of the brave, ...

And everyday you have to die some, cry some, die some
And everyday you have to die some, cry some, and die
In the home of the brave - home of the brave

Rooftop Garden (Reed) - 3:04

Sitting in our rooftop garden, looking down below
Sitting in our rooftop garden, waiting for the sun

Isn't it lovely watching a plane go by
What a lovely couple are you and I

Sitting in our rooftop garden, a few drops of rain
The lights in the city blinking on, just the same

No sugar in my coffee, how's your tea
In our rooftop garden above the city

Let's not see any letters, let's not answer the phone
Let's just pretend that there's no one at home

In our rooftop garden, In our rooftop garden
In rooftop garden
Up on the roof...