Myriad had choice of his fate
Set themselves out upon a plate for him to choose
What had he to lose?
Not a ghost bloodied country all covered with sleep
Where the Black Angel did weep, not an old city street in the east
Gone to choose

And wandering's brother walked on through the night
With his hair in his face on a long splintered cut from the knife
Of GT
The rally man's patter ran on through the dawn
Until we said, "So long" to his skull
Shrill yell
Shining brightly red-rimmed and red-lined with the time
Infused with the choice of the mind on ice skates scraping chunks
From the bells

Cut mouth bleeding razors, forgetting the pain
Antiseptic remains cool, good buy
So you fly to the cozy brown snow of the east
Gonna choose, choose again

Sacrificials remain make it hard to forget
Where you come from, the stools of your eyes serve to realize fame
Choose again
And Rovermans' refrain of the sacrilege recluse
For the loss of a horse
With the bowels and a tail of a rat
Come again, choose to go

And if Epiphany's terror reduced you to shame
Have your head bobbed and weaved
Choose a side to be on
And if the stone glances off, split didactics in two
Leave the color of the mouse trails, don't scream, try between
If you choose
If you choose, try to lose
For the loss of remain come and start
Start the game

I-che-che
Che-che-I
Che-che-che
Ka-tah-ko
Choose to choose
Choose to choose
Choose to go


Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings

The Black Angel's Death Song Lyrics as written by John Davies Cale Lou A. Reed

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Black Angel's Death Song song meanings
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    General Comment

    Sounds a little like Browning's "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came"; Browning said of it, "When I wrote this, God and Browning knew what it meant. Now God only knows." Simple. It's also epic and almost plotless like said poem.

    It could be about communism, but it also sort of has that transcribed dream feel. Or it's a Bob Dylan parody.

    Cynothoglyson June 22, 2006   Link

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