Sword of Damocles (Externally)

by Lou Reed

From the album: Magic and Loss

Track 5 of 14 on Magic and Loss (1992).

Duration: 3:42

Magic and Loss cover art

Lyrics for Sword of Damocles (Externally)

I see The Sword of Damocles is right above your head They're trying a new treatment to get you out of bed But radiation kills both bad and good, it can not differentiate So to cure you they must kill you The Sword of Damocles hangs above your head Now I have seen lots of peoples die from car crashes or drugs Last night on 33rd st. I saw a kid get hit by a bus But this drawn out torture over which part of you lives is very hard to take To cure you they must kill you The Sword of Damocles above your head That mix of morphine and dexedrine, we use it on the street It kills the pain and keeps you up, your very soul to keep But this guessing game has its own rules, the good don't always win And might makes right The Sword of Damocles is hanging above your head It seems everything's done that must be done From over here though things don't seem fair But there are things that we can't know Maybe there's something over there Some other world that we don't know about I know you hate that mystic shit It's just another way of seeing The Sword of Damocles above your head

Listen On

More from Magic and Loss

  1. Dorita (The Spirit)
  2. What's Good (The Thesis)
  3. Power and Glory (The Situation)
  4. Magician (Internally)
  5. Sword of Damocles (Externally)
  6. Goodby Mass (In a Chapel Bodily Termination)
  7. Cremation (Ashes to Ashes)
  8. Dreamin' (Escape)
  9. No Chance (Regret)
  10. Warrior King (Revenge)
  11. Harry's Circumcision (Reverie Gone Astray)
  12. Gassed and Stoned (Loss)
  13. Power and Glory Pat II (Magic Transformation)
  14. Magic and Loss (Summation)