Sword of Damocles - Externally - Lou Reed

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