Last Great American Whale Lyrics

Lyric discussion by chuckles2 

Cover art for Last Great American Whale lyrics by Lou Reed

In the beginning, he describes the whale. Rare, innocent, and powerful, The last of its kind. The tribe conjures up the whale, the whale frees its people. It's a beautiful thing. Then, one selfish, ignorant act robs the world of this great treasure.

Our little parable reminds us of how weak society is. There will always be those who are willing to deny society of something great for their own selfish or ignorant actions. In closing, he's giving up on believing that society will do things for the greater good. We're all doomed.

My Interpretation