Lou Reed "Magic and Loss"

Lou Reed (ルー・リード)のアルバムでよく聞いたのが、"New York"と"Magic and Loss"の２枚。広島公演に行ったことも覚えている。あれから、もう20年近くも経ってしまったわけだが。"Sword of Damocles"（「ダモクレスの剣」）はギリシャ時代の挿話で、迫り来る危機のことを表しており、ケネディ大統領が演説の中で核時代に生きる人類を喩えて用いたことが知られている。天井から剣が紐に繋がれてぶら下がっており、それが今にも落ちてきそうな状況を表しており、死が目前に迫っていることのメタファーとして使われている。"No Chance"は病死した友人のことを歌っているのだが、皮肉なことに、これが自らの死に対するレクイエムとして聞こえてしまうのはなぜか。そう、いつでも気づいた時には遅すぎる。なぜなら「別れを告げる機会はなかった」(="I didn't get a chance to say good-bye")のだから。

"Sword of Damocles"

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 people 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

"No Chance"

"...No, I didn't get a chance to say good-bye..."