Last Great American Whale Lyrics

Lyric discussion by J.J. 

Cover art for Last Great American Whale lyrics by Lou Reed

It's kind of a haunting song about Native Americans rising up to overcome injustice, only to ultimately be thwarted again by the very forces that brought them down in the first place.

There's a lot of symbolism in how the Whale, which is intended to be this sort of supernatural, majestic, mythical Native creature, rises up to save one of its people, only to be unglamorously shot by some white racist douchebag.

Song Meaning