The Black Angel’s Death Song
Producers
Mar. 12, 19671 viewer50.6K views
The Black Angel’s Death Song Lyrics
[Verse 1]
The myriad choices 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
[Verse 2]
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 redlined with the time
Effused with the choice of the mind on ice skates scraping chunks
From the bells
[Verse 3]
Cut mouth bleeding razors
Forgetting the pain
Antiseptic remains coo goodbye
So you fly
To the cozy brown snow of the east
Gonna choose, choose again
The myriad choices 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
[Verse 2]
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 redlined with the time
Effused with the choice of the mind on ice skates scraping chunks
From the bells
[Verse 3]
Cut mouth bleeding razors
Forgetting the pain
Antiseptic remains coo goodbye
So you fly
To the cozy brown snow of the east
Gonna choose, choose again
[Verse 4]
Sacrificials remain make it hard to forget
Where you come from the stools of your eyes
Serve to realize pain
Choose again
And Robermans' 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
[Verse 5]
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
[Outro]
I che che, che che I
Che che che, ka tah koh
Choose to choose
Choose to choose, choose to go
Sacrificials remain make it hard to forget
Where you come from the stools of your eyes
Serve to realize pain
Choose again
And Robermans' 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
[Verse 5]
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
[Outro]
I che che, che che I
Che che che, ka tah koh
Choose to choose
Choose to choose, choose to go
About
This song bio is unreviewed
Genius Annotation
“The Black Angel’s Death Song” is the penultimate track on the Velvet Underground’s debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. It was written by Lou Reed and John Cale, and recorded in April 1966 at Scepter Studios in Manhattan.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
What did The Velvet Underground say about "The Black Angel's Death Song"?
Genius Answer
In the book Between Thought and Expression: Selected Lyrics of Lou Reed, he wrote, “The idea here was to string words together for the sheer fun of their sound, not any particular meaning. I loved the title.”
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Credits
Producers
Guitar
Vocals
Electric Viola
Bass
Percussion
Recorded At
Scepter Studios, Manhattan, New York City, New York (April 1966)
Release Date
March 12, 1967
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The Black Angel’s Death Song Translations
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