Lou Reed Quotes

I love having those lyrics that at first make you think it's about one thing, but it's really about something so much more.

People ask me if I left the lyrics open to ambiguity. Of course I did. I wanted to make a whole series of complex statements. The lyrics had to do with the state of society at the time.

I've had a wordless phase, and that's still not entirely over: what I sing is not always literally meant that way, and you can hear that in the way it is sung.

I try not to be overly literal. When I'm writing songs, I write down a lot of words, and then I try to simplify it. I like to give people hints or words that make visual pictures for them.

If you actually dissect the lyrics in 'Motley Crue', you'll notice that there's a lot going on beneath the surface.

But it's not just a game of finding literary references.

It's amazing what some people read into songs.

When people ask what 'American Pie' is about, they're missing the point. The song isn't about the lines themselves - it's about what is between the lines. The song is about what isn't there.

'Simply the Best' has always been one of my favourite songs and a song that I've always thought was far deeper than what you imagine it to be at first listen. I found the lyrics to be really, oddly beautiful, considering you rarely stop and think about them.

I sometimes never really realize what lyrics are saying.

My writing is not just all facts and voices. I strive to create a text that works as a sign, pointing out undercurrents that lie beneath the facts.

It was a period when they used to read into our lyrics a lot, used to think there was more in them than there was.

The machinations of ambiguity are among the very roots of poetry.

Poetry is what gets lost in translation.

I'm an old English major from way back, so I do have fun tearing apart texts and trying to find the hidden secrets and the subtexts in there.

What you look for in a picture is a metaphor, something that means something more, that makes you think about things you've seen or thought about.

The secret of it is to read what you've got in front of you. Don't, if you suspect that something has a double meaning, don't pause. Don't put on a leery vocal expression if you know what I mean on radio. Don't sort of do anything other than read it.

A poem need not have a meaning and like most things in nature often does not have.

It is the test of a novel writer's art that he conceal his snake-in-the-grass; but the reader may be sure that it is always there.

I'm not the type of guy to go so deep with the concept songs, but there's deep thought in everything. Maybe it's not just a repetitive hook telling you what the song is about - you have to use your brain a little bit.

A poem can have an impact, but you can't expect an audience to understand all the nuances.

The poetic act consists of suddenly seeing that an idea splits up into a number of equal motifs and of grouping them; they rhyme.

The words of the songs speak for themselves.

An allegory is not meant to be taken literally. There is a great lack of comprehension on the part of some readers.

Sort of like, I have to make the Japanese lyrics really deep.