Having played guitar and sung in doo-wop groups in high school, Reed studied poetry at Syracuse University under Delmore Schwartz, and had served as a radio DJ, hosting a late-night avant garde music program while at college. After graduating from Syracuse, he went to work for Pickwick Records in New York City, a low-budget record company that specialized in sound-alike recordings, as a songwriter and session musician. A fellow session player at Pickwick was John Cale; together with Sterling Morrison and Angus MacLise, they would form the Velvet Underground in 1965. After building a reputation on the avant garde music scene, they gained the attention of Andy Warhol, who became the band's manager; they in turn became something of a fixture at The Factory, Warhol's art studio, and served as his "house band" for various projects. The band released their first album, now with drummer Moe Tucker and featuring German singer Nico, in 1967, and parted ways with Warhol shortly thereafter. Following several lineup changes and three more little-heard albums, Reed quit the band in 1970.
After leaving the band, Reed would go on to a much more commercially successful solo career, releasing twenty solo studio albums. His second, Transformer (1972), was produced by David Bowie and arranged by Mick Ronson, and brought him mainstream recognition. The album is considered an influential landmark of the glam rock genre, anchored by Reed's most successful single, "Walk on the Wild Side". After Transformer, the less commercial but critically acclaimed Berlin peaked at No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart. Rock 'n' Roll Animal (a live album released in 1974) sold strongly, and Sally Can't Dance (1974) peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200; but for a long period after, Reed's work did not translate into sales, leading him deeper into drug addiction and alcoholism. Reed cleaned up in the early 1980s, and gradually returned to prominence with The Blue Mask (1982) and New Sensations (1984), reaching a critical and commercial career peak with his 1989 album New York.
Reed participated in the re-formation of the Velvet Underground in the 1990s, and made several more albums, including a collaboration album with John Cale titled Songs for Drella which was a tribute to their former mentor Andy Warhol. Magic and Loss (1992) would become Reed's highest-charting album on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at No. 6.
He contributed music to two theatrical interpretations of 19th century writers, one of which he developed into an album titled The Raven. He married his third wife Laurie Anderson in 2008, and recorded the collaboration album Lulu with Metallica. He died in 2013 of liver disease. Reed has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice; as a member of the Velvet Underground in 1996 and as a solo act in 2015.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Reed
Studio albums
Lou Reed (1972)
Transformer (1972)
Berlin (1973)
Rock 'n' Roll Animal (1974)
Sally Can't Dance (1974)
Metal Machine Music (1975)
Coney Island Baby (1975)
Rock and Roll Heart (1976)
Street Hassle (1978)
The Bells (1979)
Growing Up in Public (1980)
The Blue Mask (1982)
Legendary Hearts (1983)
New Sensations (1984)
Mistrial (1986)
New York (1989)
Magic and Loss (1992)
Set the Twilight Reeling (1996)
Ecstasy (2000)
The Raven (2003)
Hudson River Wind Meditations (2007)
The Last Shot
Lou Reed Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Pour another drink
Let's drink to the last shot
And the blood on the dishes in the sink
Blood inside the coffee cup
Blood on the table top
But when you quit, you quit, but you always wish
When you quit, you quit, but you always wish
That you knew it was your last shot
I shot blood at the fly on the wall
My heart almost stopped hardly there at all
I broke the mirror with my fall, with my -
- fall-fall-fall
Fall-fall-fall
Gimme a double, give yourself one two
Gimme a short beer, one for you too
And a toast to everything that doesn't move
That doesn't move
But when you quit, you quit, but you always wish
That you knew it was your last shot
When you quit, you quit, but you always wish
That you knew it was your last shot
Whiskey, bourbon, vodka and scotch
I don't care what it is you've got
I just want to know that it's my last shot
My last shot
I remember when I quit pretty good
See this here, this is where I chipped my tooth
Shot of vein in my neck and I coughed up a quaalude
On my last shot
My last shot
Here's a toast to all that's good
And here's a toast to hate
And here's a toast to toasting and I'm not boasting
When I say I'm getting straight
When I say I'm getting straight
But when you quit, you quit, but you always wish
That you knew it was your last shot
When you quit, you quit, but you always wish
That you knew it was your last shot
The Last Shot by Lou Reed is a melancholic reflection on addiction and the struggle with letting go of substance abuse. The song opens with the lyrics "Last shot sure killed me/Pour another drink", alluding to the destructive nature of addiction and the never-ending cycle of relapse. The repeated line "When you quit, you quit, but you always wish that you knew it was your last shot" speaks to the regret and longing for a chance to undo past mistakes.
The imagery in the song is visceral and gritty, with lines like "blood on the dishes in the sink/blood inside the coffee cup/blood on the table top" evoking a sense of desperation and despair. The chorus of the song features a toast to everything that doesn't move, a symbolic gesture to the sense of stasis and numbness that comes with addiction.
The second verse follows the increasingly erratic behavior of the singer, with lines like "I shot blood at the fly on the wall/my heart almost stopped hardly there at all/I broke the mirror with my fall" painting a vivid picture of self-destructive behavior. The final verse of the song offers a glimmer of hope, with the singer expressing their desire to get clean: "Here's a toast to all that's good/and here's a toast to hate/And here's a toast to toasting and I'm not boasting/When I say I'm getting straight".
Overall, The Last Shot is a powerful reflection on addiction and the struggle to overcome it, with Lou Reed's raw lyrics and haunting vocals lending the song an emotional weight that stays with the listener long after it's over.
Line by Line Meaning
Last shot sure killed me
I drank too much and it felt like I died
pour another drink
let's keep drinking and forget our problems
Let's drink to the last shot
let's celebrate our addiction and downfall
and the blood on the dishes in the sink
there's blood everywhere, showing how messed up our lives are
Blood inside the coffee cup
even our coffee is tainted with blood from our self-destructive behavior
blood on the table top
even our surroundings are covered in our own blood
But when you quit, you quit, but you always wish
that you knew it was your last shot
once you quit an addiction, you wish you knew which moment was your last, but it's never clear
I shot blood at the fly on the wall
my heart almost stopped hardly there at all
I broke the mirror with my fall, with my -
- Fall-fall-fall
fall-fall-fall
I'm so out of control that I'm shooting blood at the wall, my heart nearly stopped, and I even broke a mirror
Gimme a double, give yourself one two
gimme a short beer, one for you too
And a toast to everything that doesn't move
that doesn't move
let's have another drink and toast to anything that doesn't move, like our stuck lives
Whiskey, bourbon, vodka and scotch
I don't care what it is you've got
I just want to know that it's my last shot
My last shot
I don't care what alcohol it is, as long as it's my last drink
I remember when I quit pretty good
see this here, this is where I chipped my tooth
Shot of vein in my neck and I coughed up a Quaalude
On my last shot
my last shot
I remember quitting before, but it didn't last, and I even had a scary moment involving drugs
Here's a toast to all that's good
and here's a toast to hate
And here's a toast to toasting and I'm not boasting
When I say I'm getting straight
when I say I'm getting straight
let's toast to both good and bad, and toasting itself, because I'm finally quitting and getting straight
But when you quit, you quit, but you always wish
that you knew it was your last shot
When you quit, you quit, but you always wish
that you knew it was your last shot
repeating that once you quit, you wish you knew your final drink, but it's never that simple
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: LOU REED
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
mikeondabass mikeondabass
Love the way the drums sound on this - very natural but at the same time very tough.
Space Cadet Silver Boots
RIP Lou, got that last big shot. Love you.
Zahler
These guitar parts sound simple yet tech at the same time. Damn
Peter G
give me a double , give yerself one too ....., whiskey bourbon vodka scotch .... shot a vein in my neck and coughed up a Quaalude .....hard assed track .. Lou had that knack
uuuueber
I don’t believe your tryin to find no job
acediakills
I love this
punkrocker1974
Capolavoro
mica m
Thanks for making this!!! I looked awhile ago, nice!
punkrocker1974
Thanks for posting!
Marcelo Merino
....Goodbye dear Lou, your name will always be alive, your work...present......¿ who knows wich one becomes the last goodbye ? .... a phrase from P Hammil, now painfully aswered to you. God Bless You . Kisses to dear Laurie .