Lyrics Romeo Had Juliette - Live at Warner Theatre, Washington, DC 3/14/1989 - Lou Reed

Hello, hello up there
Nice to see you all
Good to see you
I think we're gonna spend some time together tonight
I just wanna tell you how this is gonna work
We're gonna do the my new album, the "New York" album, from beginning to end
Oh, good, good
And then we'll take a little break and come back and play some older thing for you
And this is called "Romeo Had Juliette"
One, two, three, four

Caught between the twisted stars, the plotted lines, the faulty map
That brought Columbus to New York
Betwixt between the East and West, he comes to her wearing a leather vest
The earth squeals and shudders to a halt

A diamond crucifix in his ear is used to help ward off the fear
That he has lost his soul in someone's rented car
Inside his pants, he hides a mop to clean the mess that he has dropped
Into the life of lithesome Juliette Bell

And Romeo wanted Juliette
And Juliette wanted her Romeo
And Romeo wanted Juliette
And Juliette wanted her Romeo

Romeo Rodriguez squares his shoulders and curses Jesus
Runs his hand through his black pony-tail
He's looking 'round his dirty room, the sink nearby the bed gives off a stink
Then he smells her perfume in his eye, voice's like a bell

Outside the streets are steaming, the crack dealers are dreaming
Of an Uzi, someone had just scored
I betcha I could hit that light with my one good arm behind my back
Says little Joey Diaz

Hey, brother, give me another tote, you know those downtown hoods are no damn good
Those Italians need a lesson to be taught
That cop who died in Harlem, I hope he got the warnin'
I was laughing when his brains run in the street

And Romeo wanted Juliette
And Juliette wanted her Romeo
And Romeo wanted Juliette
And Juliette wanted her Romeo

I'll take Manhattan in a garbage bag with Latin written on it, that says
"It's hard to give a shit these days"
Manhattan's sinking like a rock, into the filthy Hudson, what a shock
They wrote a book about it, they said it's like ancient Rome

The perfume burned his eye
Holding gently to his thighs
And something flickered for a minute
Then it vanished and was gone