Edgar Allan Poe

Lou Reed

These are the stories of Edgar Allan Poe

Not exactly the boy next door



He'll tell you tales of horror

Then he'll play with your mind

If you haven't heard him

You must be deaf or blind.



These are the stories of Edgar Allen Poe

Not exactly the boy next door



He'll tell you about Usher

Whose house burned in his mind

His love for his dear sister

Her death would drive him wild

The murder of a stranger

The murder of a friend

The callings from the pits of hell

That never seem to end.



These are the stories of Edgar Allan Poe

Not exactly the boy next door

These are the stories of Edgar Allan Poe

Not exactly the boy next door



The diabolic image of the city and the sea

The chaos and the carnage that reside deep within me

Decapitations – poisonings –hellish not a bore

You won't need 3D glasses to pass beyond this door.



These are the stories of Edgar Allan Poe

Not exactly the boy next door



No Nosferatu Vincent Price or naked women here

A mind unfurled a mind unbent is all we have here

Truth, fried orangutans flutter to the stage

Leave your expectations home

And listen to the stories of Edgar Allan Poe.



We give you the soliloquy the raven at the door

The flaming pits the moving walls no equilibrium

No ballast no bombast

The unvarnished truth we've got

A mind that swoons guiltily at night

Cooking ravings in a pot.



A tell-tale heart a rotting cask

A valley of unrest

A conqueror worm devouring souls

Keep the best for last

Rings for Annie Lee

As Poe's buried alive

Regretting his beloved's death in all her

Many guises.



These are the stories of Edgar Allan Poe

Not exactly the boy next door