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Not Too Many Songwriters, When They Write Songs Go For Broke. When Someone Does Who's Really Good, It's Astonishing. There's A Reason A Three-minute Song Can Devastate You, Or Make You Get Up And Dance, Stop What You're Doing And Go, 'what Is That?' It Just Hits You. And It's A Very Potent Thing You're Playing Around With.

-Lou Reed

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Not Too Many Songwriters,

Lou Reed

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Not Too Many Songwriters, When They Write Songs Go For Broke. When Someone Does Who's Really Good, It's Astonishing. There's A Reason A Three-minute Song Can Devastate You, Or Make You Get Up And Dance, Stop What You're Doing And Go, 'what Is That?' It Just Hits You. And It's A Very Potent Thing You're Playing Around With.

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It's Fun To Be In A Small Club And To Be Able To Look Somebody Right In The Eye And Watch Them Just Freak. Then It's Fun To Be In Front Of Thousands Of People And Watch A Couple Of Hundred Freaking Out Of Their Minds.

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It's The Music That Kept Us All Intact, Kept Us From Going Crazy.

To Wish For The Crazy Times One Last Time And Freeze It In The Memory Of A Camera Is The Least A Great Artist Can Do.

Dear Pope, Send Me Some Hope Or A Rope.

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I Can't Tell The Difference Between Wrong And Right, Are You Laughing At Me?

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When The Past Makes You Laugh And You Can Savor The Magic That Lets You Survive Your Own War, You'll Find That That Fire Is Passion And There's A Door Up Ahead - Not A Wall.

Jealousy Endlessly Eats Through My Mind, And Jealously Endlessly Makes Me Be Unkind.

To Debate Political Objectives, Views, And Goals Is The Most American Thing Conceivable.

Rock & Roll Is So Great, People Should Start Dying For It. You Don't Understand. The Music Gave You Back Your Beat So You Could Dream...the People Just Have To Die For The Music. People Are Dying For Everything Else, So Why Not For Music? Die For It. Isn't It Pretty? Wouldn't You Die For Something Pretty?

But I'm Also Talented And I Know When I Created Something Great And Perfect Night Is Something Great, No Doubt, No But.

Life's Like A Mayonnaise Soda.

I Think That Everything Happens For A Reason, Everything Happens When It's Going To Happen.

Everything Happens For A Reason

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I Can Create A Vibe Without Saying Anything, Just By Being In The Room.

I've Made Love To My Mother, Killed My Father, And My Brother. What Am I To Do?

I Always Thought Martial Arts Was The Most Modern Choreography We Could Have Right Now, And I Always Wanted To Put It To Music.

When Critics Ask You If You Feel Vindicated By Other Critics - I Didn't Like Critics Then, And I Don't Like Them Now. There You Go. I've Always Been Outside The Mainstream, And It Stayed That Way.

Sound Is More Than Just Noise. Ordered Sound Is Music. My Life Is Music.

Some People Drink To Unleash Their Libidos, And Other People Drink To Prop Up Their Egos.

I Have No Control Over The Audience. I Have No Idea What They Think. My Heart's Pure. I Can't Do Anything. I Really Can't Do Anything. I Don't Know What Goes On In The Crowd.

I Don't Like The Word Rock Opera, But I'm Trying To Write On That Level That's Reserved For Plays Still, Or Novels.

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I Write Whatever Shows Up. That's Good Enough For Me. I'm Part Of The First Generation That Wants To Still Do Original Material And Not Tour Around As An Oldies Act.

When You Pass Through The Fire, You Pass Through Humble.

The Music Is All. People Should Die For It. People Are Dying For Everything Else, So Why Not The Music?

Valium Would Have Helped That Bash.

I'd Breed A Little Liberal Army In The Wood, Just Like These Redneck Lunatics I See At The Local Bar With Their Tribe Of Mutant Inbred Piglets.

I Wanna Hear Some Diana Ross, I Wanna Hear Some Marvin Gaye. I Wanna Hear A Song That Reminds Me Of A Better Day.

Meditation Doesn't Have To Be Complicated. What I Do Is About As Simple As You Can Get. You Could Just Count The Beads, One, Two, Three, With Your Eyes Closed Or Open, Whatever Makes You Happy.

I Like Druggy Downtown Kids Who Spray Paint Walls And Trains. I Like Their Lack Of Training, Their Primitive Technique. I Think It Hurts You, When You Stay Too Long In School.

There Are Problems In These Times, But None Of Them Are Minei'm Beginning To See The Light

I Wouldn't Want To Hear Beethoven Without Beautiful Bass, The Cellos, The Tuba. It's Very Important. Hip-hop Has Thunderous Bass. And So Does Beethoven. If You Don't Have The Bass, It's Like Being Amputated. It's Like You Have No Legs.

Some Even Claim That I'm A Terror, A Dictator And They're Right.

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Over What Guilty Spirit To Not Hear The Beating, To Not Hear The Beating, But Only Tears Of Perfect Moan, Only Tears Of Perfect Moan.

People Didn't Know Certain Things About Me, Which... I Was Out Of Creative Writing Class In School, Syracuse University; Had A B.a. In English And Wanted To Write The Great American Novel But I Also Loved Rock And Roll. I Was In Bar Bands All Through College, Playing Fraternities And Have To Know All The Songs In The Top 10. That Kind Of Thing.

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My God Is Rock'n'roll.

Perfect Night Has That Magic And It Has The Raw Energy That Grabs You By The Throat.

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Families That Live Out In The Suburbs Often Make Each Other Cry.

They Put The Thing Down Your Throat So You Don't Swallow Your Tongue, And They Put Electrodes On Your Head. That's What Was Recommended In Rockland State Hospital To Discourage Homosexual Feelings. The Effect Is That You Lose Your Memory And Become A Vegetable. You Can't Read A Book Because You Get To Page 17 And Have To Go Right Back To Page One Again.

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The Most Important Thing Is Work.

Important Things

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All The People Have Gone To War Leaving No Interrogator To Mind.

I Would Like To Live To A Ripe Old Age And Raise Watermelons In Wyoming.

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Eve Kissed Able, That's How He Got Murdered By Cain.

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I Don't Like Overdubs, Never Liked Them.

The Rich Son Waits For His Father To Die, The Poor Just Drink And Cry.

You've Gotta Blow The Roof Off Of Your Heart And Let The Universe In.

You Can't Always Trust Your Mother.

Me, I've Concentrated On Music Pretty Much To The Exclusion Of Other Things.

Senator, It Has Been Reported That You Have Had Illegal Congress With Your Mother.

I Shot A Vein In My Neck And Coughed Up A Quaalude.

I Never Liked The Beatles. I Thought They Were Garbage.

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Does Anyone Need Yet Another Politician Caught With His Pants Down And Money Sticking In His Hole?

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High Energy Does Not Necessarily Mean Fast, High Energy Has To Do With Heart.

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Looking Through The Viewfinder For Me Is Like Being In A Movie Theater. That's What I Like About It.

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Nothing Beats 2 Guitars, Drum And Bass.

There's A Bit Of Magic In Everything, And Some Loss To Even Things Out.

I Don't Really Think About What The Subject Of My Next Album Will Be. I Just Know That I'm Going To Make Another Album.

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It Always Bothers Me To See People Writing Rip When A Person Dies. It Just Feels So Insincere And Like A Cop Out. To Me, Rip Is The Microwave Dinner Of Posthumous Honours.

I Was A Product Of Andy Warhol's Factory. All I Did Was Sit There And Observe These Incredibly Talented And Creative People Who Were Continually Making Art, And It Was Impossible Not To Be Affected By That.

Speaking In A Common Tongue, Speaking Through Guitars And Drums.

You Can't Ask Me To Explain The Lyrics Because I Won't Do It.

And I Feel Just Like Jesus' Son

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Music Should Come Crashing Out Of Your Speakers And Grab You, And The Lyrics Should Challenge Whatever Preconceived Notions That Listener Has.

You Know, Some People Got No Choice, And They Can Never Find A Voice, To Talk With That They Can Even Call Their Own. So The First Thing That They See, That Allows Them The Right To Be, Why They Follow It, You Know, It's Called Bad Luck.

The President's Dead, No One Can Find His Head, Its Been Missing For Two Weeks. But No One Seemed To Notice It.

How Can Anybody Learn Anything From An Artwork When The Piece Of Art Only Reflects The Vanity Of The Artist And Not Reality?

I Think It's Important That People Don't Feel Alone.

I'm Still Not Sure I Didn't Die

Kill Them Now, Cause I Need Some Kicks. I Need Some Kicks, I'm Getting Bored.

I Think Life Is Far Too Short To Concentrate On Your Past. I Rather Look Into The Future.

The Music Business Doesn't Interest Me Anymore.

The Sickness Of The Mother Runs On Through The Girl, Leaving Her Small And Helpless. Liquor Flies Through Her Brain With The Force Of A Gun, Leaving Her Running In Circles.

I Like Mindless Disco... They Say The Lyrics Are Stupid And Repetitious. So What's Wrong With That? So Is Lying In The Sun. Not Everything Has To Be Serious.

Psychologically, It's Better That I Think That I'm Dirt.

You're A Musician: You Play. That's What You Do.

I Can Concentrate On My Art.

Electricity Comes From Other Planets.

I Wanted To Be An Actor. That Was My Real Goal. But I Wasn't Any Good At It, So I Wrote My Own Material And Acted Through That. That's My Idea Of Fun. I Get To Be All These Things In The Songs.

I Love Ornette Coleman. I Love Don Cherry. I Love The Way Those Guys Play.

Bodily Changes Take Place, Like The Thing With The Kick.

I Had Started Also Studying Because I Wanted To Learn More About Power And Fighting.

Perfect Night Is Minimalistic And That's What Makes It So Forceful.

I Cleaned Up My Act Because Otherwise I Would Have Kicked The Bucket.

Any Human Being Should Have A Tolerance For Anybody.

I Am Bigger And Stronger Than Ever. My Chen Taiji And Health Regimen Has Served Me Well All Of These Years, Thanks To Master Ren Guang-yi. I Look Forward To Being On Stage Performing, And Writing More Songs To Connect With Your Hearts And Spirits And The Universe Well Into The Future.

Herpes, Aids, The Middle East At Full Throttle. Better Check That Sausage Before You Put It In The Waffle.

As The Dead Rise To Live, The Live Sink To Die, The Currents Are Deep And Raging Inside.

I Don't Know Anyone Actually Who Does Care What A Critic Says.

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I'm Too Old To Do Things By Half

Life Is Like Sanskrit Read To A Pony.

I've Gone Out With My Shotgun. This Is Hunting Country Out There. You Better Run.

The Heart Says What Only The Heart Knows.

If It Has More Than Three Chords, It's Jazz.

Plucked Her Eyebrows On The Way, Shaved Her Legs And Then He Was A She. She Said, Hey Babe, Take A Walk On The Wild Side.

I Don't Like Nostalgia Unless It's Mine.

And No Kinds Of Love Are Better Than Others

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She Never Ever Lost Her Head Even When She Was Giving Head.

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How Could You Even Dream Or Think Something Of Someone Who Is As Uncommercial As I Am?

I Think It's Pretentious To Create Art Just For The Sake Of Stroking The Artists Ego.

These Are Really Terribly Rough Times, And We Really Should Try To Be As Nice To Each Other As Possible.

Raymond Chandler Managed To Write About L.a. His Whole Career. Should I Keep Going Writing About New York? Is That What I Should Be Doing? Songwriting Doesn't Work That Way.

Here Comes Jesse Jackson, He Talks Of Common Ground. Does That Common Ground Include Me, Or Is It Just A Sound?

I've Become Completely Well Adjusted To Being A Cult Figure.

I Take Drugs Just Because In The 20th Century In A Technological Age Living In The City There Are Certain Drugs You Have To Take Just To Keep Yourself Normal Like A Caveman. Just To Bring Yourself Up Or Down, But To Attain Equilibrium You Need To Take Certain Drugs. They Don't Getcha High Even, They Just Getcha Normal.

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Teach Them About Anger, The Sin That Comes With Dawning. Teach Them About Flowers, And The Beauty Of Forgiveness.

Underachievers Of The World Unite, You Have Nothing To Lose Except Your Fright.

People Think That I Work Out But It's All T'ai Chi.

Between Thought And Expression Lies A Lifetime.

I've Always Believed That There's An Amazing Number Of Things You Can Do Through A Rock'n'roll Song And That You Can Do Serious Writing In A Rock Song If You Can Somehow Do It Without Losing The Beat.

There's Only X Amount Of Time. You Can Do Whatever You Want With That Time. It's Your Time.

Do Whatever You Want

If Someone Teaches You Alignment And - I'm Not A Tai Chi Expert By Any Stretch - So Interviewing Me About Tai Chi Is Kind Of The Cart Before The Horse - But Just From My Point Of View As A Student, It's Simply That Master Ren Can Show You The Relationship Of Power, Stance And Form.

It's Depressing When You're Still Around And Your Albums Are Out Of Print.

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It's Interesting To Have A Conglomeration Of People That Covers The Strata From A To Z... There's A Certain Element Of The Audience That's Intellectually Oriented, Into The Lyrics... Then There's Another Element Of The Audience That's Into A Sex Trip. I'm Into Both Of Them.

I Can't Do Anything I Want To. I Mean, I Can't Have My Own Tv Show. I Can't Have My Own Movie. But Within My Little World, Nobody Tells Me What To Put On The Albums.

This Violent Rage That Turned Inward Cannot Be Helped By Drink.

Honey, I'm A Cocksucker, What Are You?

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When He Beat My Mother It Made Me So Mad.

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Things Always Seem To End Before They Start

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The Only Thing Constantly Changing Is Change, And Change Is Always Changing For The Worse.

Moving On Has Allowed Me To Know Who I Am And To Be Present In All That I Do. I Take This Forward In My Work And In My Personal Relationships. It Is A Powerful Program And I Highly Recommend It To Anyone Wanting To Move On With Their Life.

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