"The Blue Mask"
lyrics & music by Lou Reed

They tied his arms behind his back to teach him how to swim.
They put blood in his coffee, and milk in his gin.
They stood over the soldier, in the midst of a squalor.
There was war in his body, and it caused his brain to holler.

Make the sacrifice, mutilate my face
If you need someone to kill
I'm a man without a will.
Wash the razor in the rain, let me luxuriate in pain
Please don't set me free
Death means a lot to me.

The pain was lean and it made him scream
He knew he was alive.
He put a pin through the nipples on his chest
He thought he was a saint.
I've made love to my mother, killed my father and brother
What am I to do?
When a sin goes too far, it's like a runaway car
And cannot be controlled.
Spit upon his face and scream: There is no Oedipus today!
This is no play you're thinking you are in,
What will you say?
Take the blue mask down from my face
And look me in the eye
I get a thrill from punishment, I've always been that way.
I loathe and despise repentance,
You are permanently stained.
Your weakness binds indifference and indiscretion in the streets.
Dirty's what you are and clean is what you're not
You deserve to be soundly beat.

Make the sacrifice, take it all the way,
There is no 'won't' high enough
To stop this desperate day.
Don't take death away, cut the finger at the joint
Cut the stallion at his mount
And stuff it in his mouth.