Last Great American Whale Lyrics by Lou Reed

Last Great American Whale Lyrics

    They say he didn't have an enemy
    His was a greatness to behold
    He was the last surviving progeny
    The last one on this side of the world

    He measured a half mile from tip to tail
    Silver and black with powerful fins
    They say he could split a mountain in two
    That's how we got the grand canyon

    Last great american whale
    Last great american whale
    Last great american whale
    Last great american whale

    Some say they saw him at the great lakes
    Some say they saw him off of florida
    My mother said she saw him in chinatown
    But you can't always trust your mother

    Off the carolinas the sun shines brightly in the day
    The lighthouse glows ghostly there at night
    The chief of a local tribe had killed a racist mayor's son
    And he'd been on death row since 1958

    The mayor's kid was a rowdy pig
    Spit on indians and lots worse
    The old chief buried a hatchet in his head
    Life compared to death for him seemed worse

    The tribal brothers gathered in the lighthouse to sing
    And tried to conjure up a storm or rain
    The harbor parted, the great whale sprang full up
    And caused a hugh tidal wave

    The wave crushed the jail and freed the chief
    The tribe let out a roar
    The whites were drowned, the browns and reds set free
    But sadly one thing more

    Some local yokel member of the nra
    Kept a bazooka in his living room
    And thinking he had the chief in his sight
    Blew the whale's brains out with a lead harpoon

    Last great american whale
    Last great american whale
    Last great american whale
    Last great american whale

    Well americans don't care for much of anything
    Land and water the least
    And animal life is low on the totem pole
    With human life not worth more than infected yeast

    Americans don't care too much for beauty
    They'll shit in a river, dump battery acid in a stream
    They'll watch dead rats wash up on the beach
    And complain if they can't swim

    They say things are done for the majority
    Don't believe half of what you see and none of what you hear
    It's like what my painter friend donald said to me
    "stick a fork in their ass and turn them over, they're done"

SEARCH LYRICS