SMALLTOWN
When you're growing up in a small town
You say no one famous ever came from here
When you're growing up in a small town
and you're having a nervous breakdown
and you think that you'll never escape it
Yourself or the place that you live
Where did Picasso come from
There's no Michelangelo coming from Pittsburgh
If art is the tip of the iceberg
I'm the part sinking below
When you're growing up in a small town
Bad skin, bad eyes - gay and fatty
People look at you funny
When you're in a small town
My father worked in construction
It's not something for which I'm suited
Oh - what is something for which you are suited?
Getting out of here
I hate being odd in a small town
If they stare let them stare in New York City
as this pink eyed painting albino
How far can my fantasy go?
I'm no Dali coming from Pittsburgh
No adorable lisping Capote
My hero - Oh do you think I could meet him?
I'd camp out at his front door
There is only one good thing about small town
There is only one good use for a small town
You know that you want to get out
When you're growing up in a small town
You know you'll grow down in a small town
There is only one good use for a small town
You hate it and you'll know you have to leave
OPEN HOUSE
Please, come over to 81st street
I'm in the apartment above the bar
You know you can't miss it,
it's across from the subway
and the tacky store
with the mylar scarves
My skin's as pale as outdoors moon
My hair's silver like a Tiffany watch
I like lots of people around me
but don't kiss hello
and please don't touch
It's a Czechoslovakian custom
my mother passed on to me
The way to make friends Andy
is invite them up for tea
Open house
I've got a lot of cats,
here's my favorite
she's lady called Sam
I made a paper doll of her - you can have it
That's what I did when
I had St. Vitus dance
It's a Czechoslovakian custom
my mother passed on to me
Give people little presents
so they remember me
Someone bring the vegetables,
someone please bring heat
My mother showed up yesterday
we need something to eat
I think I got a job today
they want me to draw some shoes
The ones I drew were old and used
They told me to draw something new
Fly me to the moon,
fly me to a star
But there are no stars
in the New York sky
They're all on the ground
You scared yourself with music
I scared myself with paint
I drew 550 different shoes today
It almost made me faint
STYLE IT TAKES
You've got the money,
I've got the time
You want your freedom
make your freedom mine
'Cause I've the style it takes
and money is all that it takes
You've got connections
I've got the art
You like my attention
and I like your looks
and I have the style it takes
and you know the people it takes
Why don't you sit right over there
we'll do a movie portrait
I'll turn the camera on
and I won't even be there
A portrait that moves
you look great I think
I'll put the Empire State Building
on your wall
For 24 hours glowing on your wall
Watch the sun rise
above it in your room
Wallpaper art, a great view
I've got a Brillo box
and I say it's art
It's the same one you can
buy at any supermarket
'Cause I've got the style it takes
And you've got the people it takes
This is a rock group called
The Velvet Underground
I show movies on them
Do you like their sound
'Cause they have a style that grates
and I have art to make
Let's do a movie here next week
We don't have sound
but you're so great
You don't have to speak
You've got the style it takes
(Kiss)
You've got the style it takes
(Eat)
You've got the style it takes
(Couch)
You've got the style it takes
(Kiss)
WORK
Andy was a Catholic
the ethic ran through his bones
He lived alone with his mother,
collecting gossip and toys
Every Sunday when
he went to Church
He'd kneel in his pew and say
"It's just work,
all that matters is work. "
Andy was a lot of things,
what I remember the most:
He'd say, "I've got to
bring home the bacon
someone's got to
bring home the roast. "
He'd get to the factory early
If you would ask him
he would tell you straight out
It's just work,
the most important thing is work
No matter what I did
it never seemed enough
He said I was lazy,
I said I was young
He said, "How many songs did you write?"
I had written zero,
I lied and said, "Ten. "
"You won't be young forever
You should have written fifteen"
It's work, the most important thing is work
"You ought to make things big
People like it that way
And the songs with the dirty words
- record them that way"
Andy liked to stir up trouble
he was funny that way
He said, "It's just work"
Andy sat down to talk one day
He said decide what you want
Do you want to expand
your parameters
Or play museums
like some dilettante
I fired him on the spot
he got red and
called me a rat
It was the worst word
that he could think of
And I've never seen him like that
It's just work,
I thought he said
it's just work
he said it's just work
Andy said a lot of things
I stored them all away in my head
Sometimes when I can't decide
what I should do
I think what would Andy have said
He'd probably say you think too much
That's 'cause there's work
that you don't want to do
It's work, the most important thing is work
TROUBLE WITH CLASSICISTS
The trouble with a classicist
he looks at a tree
That's all he sees, he paints a tree
The trouble with a classicist
he looks at the sky
He doesn't ask why
he just paints a sky
The trouble with an impressionist
he looks at a log
And he doesn't know who he is
standing, staring, at this log
And surrealist memories are
too amorphous and proud
While those downtown macho painters
are just alcoholic
The trouble with impressionist is
The trouble with impressionist is
The trouble with personalities
they're too wrapped up in style
It's too personal, they're in love
with their own guile
They're like illegal aliens
trying to make a buck
They're driving gypsy cabs
but they're thinking like a truck
The trouble with personalities is
The trouble with personalities is
I like the druggy downtown kids
who spray paint walls and trains
I like their lack of training
their primitive technique
I think sometimes it hurts you
when you stay too long in school
I think sometimes it hurts you
when you're afraid to be called a fool
The trouble with classicists is
The trouble with classicists is
STARLIGH Starlight open wide
starlight open up you door
This is New York calling
with movies from the street
Movies with real people
what you get is what you see
Starlight open wide
Andy's Cecil B. DeMille
Come on L.A. give us a call
We've got superstars who talk
they'll do anything at all
Ingrid, Viva, Little Joe,
Baby Jane, and Eddie S
But you better call us soon
before we talk ourselves to death
Starlight open wide
everybody is a star
Split screen 8-hour movies
We've got color, we've got sound
Won't you recognize us
we're everything you hate
Andy loves old Hollywood movies
he'll scare you hypocrites to death
You know that shooting up's for real
That person who's screaming
that's the way he really feels
We're all improvising
five movies in a week
If Hollywood doesn't call us
we'll be sick
Starlight open wide
Do to movies what you did to art
Can you see beauty in ugliness
or is it playing in the dirt
There are stars out on the New York streets
We want to capture them on film
But if no one wants to see them
We'll make another and another
Starlight let us in that magic room
We've all dreamt of Hollywood
it can't happen too soon
Won't you give us a
million dollars the rent is due
Andy will give you 2 movies and a painting
Starlight open wide!
FACES AND NAMES
Faces and names
I wish they were the same
Faces and names only
cause trouble for me
Faces and names
If we all looked the same
and we all had the same name
I wouldn't be jealous of you
or you jealous of me
Faces and names
I always fall in love
with someone who looks
the way I wish that I could be
I'm always staring
at someone who hurts
And the one they hurt is me
Faces and names,
to me they're all the same
If I looked like you
and you looked like me
There'd be less trouble you see
I'd disappear into that wall
and never talk
Faces and names
I wish I was a robot or a machine
Without a feeling or a thought
People who want to meet
the name I have
Are always disappointed
when they meet me
Faces and names,
I wish they were the same
Faces and names only
cause problems for me
Faces and names
I'd rather be a hole in the wall
looking out on the other side
I'd rather look and listen
listen and not talk
To faces and names
I had a breakdown when I was a kid
I lost my hair when I was young
If you dress older when you're not
as your really age you look the same
If we all looked the same
we wouldn't play these games
Me dressing for you and
you dressing for me
undressing for me
Faces and names
if they all were the same
You wouldn't be jealous of me
or me jealous of you
Me jealous of you - I'm jealous of you
Your face and your name
IMAGES
I think images are worth repeating
Images repeated from a painting
Images taken from a painting
From a photo worth re-seeing
I love images worth repeating
project them upon the ceiling
Multiply them with silk screening
See them with a different feeling
Some say images have no feeling,
I think there's a deeper meaning
Mechanical precision
or so it's seeming
Instigates a cooler feeling
I love multiplicity of screenings
Things born anew
display new meanings
I think images are worth repeating
and repeating and repeating
I'm no urban idiot savant
spewing paint without any order
I'm no sphinx,
no mystery enigma
What I paint is very ordinary
I don't think I'm old or modern
I don't think
I think I'm thinking
It doesn't matter
what I'm thinking
It's the images that are worth repeating
If you're looking for a deeper meaning,
I'm as deep as this high ceiling
If you think technique is meaning,
you might find me very simple
You might find that images are boring
Cars and cans and chairs and flowers
You might find me personally boring
Hammer, sickle, Mao Tse Tong
I think that it bears repeating
the images upon the ceiling
I love images worth repeating
and repeating and repeating
SLIP AWAY (A WARNING)
Friends have said to lock the door
and have an open house no more
They said the Factory must change
and slowly slip away
But if I have to live in fear
where will I get my ideas
With all those crazy people gone
will I slowly slip away
Still there's no more Billy Name
and Ondine is not the same
Wonton and the Turtle gone
Slowly slip away
If I close the Factory door and
don't see those people anymore
If I give in to infamy
I know it seems that friends are right
Hello daylight, goodbye night
But starlight is so quiet here
think I'll slowly slip away
What can I do by myself, it's good
to hear from someone else
It's good to hear a quiet voice
that will not slip away
a crazy voice that will not slip away
If I have to live in fear
my ideas will slowly slip away
If I have to live in fear
I'm afraid my life will slip away
If you can't see me past my door
Why your thoughts could slowly slip away
If I have to lock the door
another life exists no more
Slip away
Friends have said to lock the door
Watch out for what
comes through that door
The said the Factory must change
But I don't
IT WASN'T ME
It wasn't me who shamed you
it's not fair to say that
You wanted to work
I gave you a chance at that
It wasn't me who hurt you
that's more credit
that I'm worth
Don't threaten me with the
things you'll do to you
It wasn't me who shamed you
it wasn't me who brought you down
You did it to yourself
without any help from me
It wasn't me who hurt you
I showed you possibilities
The problems you had
were there before you met me
I didn't say this had to be
You can't blame these things on me
It wasn't, it wasn't me, it wasn't me
I know she's dead, it wasn't me
It wasn't me who changed you
you did it to yourself
I'm not an excuse for
the hole that you dropped in
I'm not simple minded
but I'm not father to you all
Death exists but you
do things to yourself
I never said give up control
I never said stick a needle in your arm
and die
It wasn't, it wasn't me, it wasn't me
I know he's dead but it wasn't me
It wasn't me who shamed you
who covered you with mud
You did it to yourself
without any help from me
You act as I could've told you
or stopped you like some god
But people never listen
and you know that that's a fact
I never said slit your wrists and die
I never said throw your life away
It wasn't, it wasn't me, it wasn't me
You're killing yourself
and it wasn't me
I BELIEVE
Valerie Solanis took the elevator
got off at the 4th floor
Valerie Solanis took the elevator
got off at the 4th floor
She pointed the gun at Andy
saying you cannot control me anymore
And I believe
there's got to be some retribution
I believe
an eye for an eye is elemental
I believe
that something's wrong
if she's alive right now
Valerie Solanis took three steps
pointing at the floor
Valerie Solanis waved her gun
pointing at the floor
From inside her idiot madness spoke
and bang
Andy fell onto the floor
And I believe
life's serious enough for retribution
I believe being sick is no excuse and
I believe I would've pulled
the switch on her myself
When they got him to the hospital
his pulse was gone
they thought that he was dead
His guts were pouring from
his wounds onto the floor
they thought that he was dead
Not until years later
would the hospital do to him
what she could not
Andy said, "Where were you,
you didn't come to see me"
Andy said, "I think I died,
why didn't you come to see me"
Andy said, "It hurt so much,
they took blood from my hand"
I believe there's got to be some retribution
I believe there's got to be some restitution
I believe we are all the poorer for it now
Visit me
visit me
why didn't you visit me
NOBODY BUT YOU
I really care a lot
although I look like I do not
Since I was shot
there's nobody but you
I know I look blase
party Andy's what the papers say
At dinner I'm the one who pays
for a nobody like you
nobody but you
nobody like you
Since I got shot
there's nobody but you
Won't you decorate my house
I'll sit there quiet as a mouse
You know me I like to look a lot
at nobody but you
I'll hold your hand and slap my face
I'll tickle you to your disgrace
Won't you put me in my proper place
- a nobody like you?
Sundays I pray a lot
I'd like to wind you up
and paint your clock
I want to be what I am not
- for a nobody like you
The bullet split my spleen and lung
the doctors said I was gone
Inside I've got some shattered bone
for nobody but you
I'm still not sure I didn't die
And if I'm dreaming
I still have bad pains inside
I know I'll never be a bride
to nobody like you
I wish I had a stronger chin
my skin was good, my nose was thin
This is no movie I'd ask to be in
with a nobody like you
all my life
- It's been nobodies like you
A DREAM
It was a very cold clear fall night
I had a terrible dream
Billy Name and Brigid were
playing under my staircase
on the second floor about
two o'clock in the morning
I woke up because Amos and
Archie had started barking
That made me very angry because
I wasn't feeling well and I told them
I was very cross the real me
that they just better remember
what happened to Sam the Bad Cat
that was left at home and got sick
and went to pussy heaven
It was a very cold clear fall night
Some snowflakes were falling
gee it was so beautiful
and so I went to get my camera
to take some pictures
And then I was taking the pictures
but the exposure thing wasn't right
and I was going to call Fred or Gerry
to find out how to get it set
but oh it was too late
and then I remembered
they were still probably at dinner
and anyway I felt really bad
and didn't want to talk to anybody
but the snowflakes were
so beautiful and real looking
and I really wanted to hold them
And that's when I heard the voices
from down the hall near the stairs
So I got a flashlight
and I was scared
and I went out into the hallway
There's been all kinds of
trouble lately in the neighborhood
and someone's got to
bring home the bacon
and anyway there were
Brigid and Billy playing
And under the staircase
was a little meadow
sort of like the park at 23rd street
where all the young kids
go and play frisbee
gee that must be fun
maybe we should do an article
on that in the magazine
but they'll just tell me
I'm stupid and it won't sell
but I'll hold my ground this time
I mean it's my magazine, isn't it?
So I was thinking that
as the snowflakes fell
and I heard these voices
having so much fun
Gee it would be so great
to have some fun
So I called Billy, but
either he didn't hear me
or he didn't want to answer
which was so strange because
even if I don't like reunions
I've always loved Billy
I'm so glad he's working
I mean it's different than Ondine
He keeps touring with those movies
and he doesn't even
pay us and the film
I mean the film's just going
to disintegrate and then what
I mean he's so normal off of drugs
I just don't get it
And the I saw John Cale
And he's been looking really great
He's been coming by the office
to exercise with me
Ronnie said I have a muscle
but he's been really mean
since he went to AA
I mean what does it mean
when you give up drinking
and then you're still so mean
He says I'm being lazy but I'm not
I just can't find any ideas
I mean I'm just not,
let's face it,
going to get any ideas
up at the office
And seeing John made me
think of the Velvets
and I had been thinking
about them
when I was on St. Marks Place
going to that new gallery
those sweet new kids had opened
but they thought I was old
and then I saw the old Dom
the old club where we
did our first shows
It was so great
And I didn't understand about
that Velvet's first album
I mean, I did the cover
and I was the producer
and I always see it repackaged and
I've never gotten a penny from it
How could that be
I should call Henry,
but it was good seeing John,
I did a cover for him,
but I did it in black and white
and he changed it to color
It would have been worth
more if he'd left it my way
but you can never tell anybody anything,
I've learned that.
I tried calling again to Billy and John
but they wouldn't recognize me
it was like I wasn't there
Why won't they let me in?
And then I saw Lou
I'm so mad at him
Lou Reed got married
and didn't invite me
I mean is it because he thought
I'd bring to many people
I don't get it. He could
have at least called
I mean he's doing so great
Why doesn't he call me?
I saw him at the MTV show
and he was one row away
and didn't even say hello
I don't get it
You know I hate Lou I really do
He won't even hire us for his videos
And I was so proud of him
I was so scared today
There was blood leaking through my shirt
from those old scars from being shot
And the corset I wear
to keep my insides in, was hurting
And I did three sets of fifteen pushups
and four sets of ten situps
But then my insides hurt
and I saw drops of blood on my shirt
and I remember the doctors saying
I was dead
And then later they had to
take blood out of my hand
'cause they ran out of veins
but then all this thinking
was making me an old grouch
and you can't do anything anyway
so if they wouldn't let me
play with them in my own dream
I was just going to have to make up another
and another and another
Gee wouldn't it just be so funny
if I died in this dream
before I could make another one up.
And nobody called
and nobody came
FOREVER CHANGED
Train entering the city
I lost myself
and never came back
Took a trip around the world
and never came back
Black silhouettes,
crisscrossed tracks
never came back
Forever changed
You might think I'm frivolous
uncaring and cold
You might think I'm frivolous
depends on your point of view
Society soiree
the gambles arranged,
the high and the low
I left my old life behind
and never turn back
Forever changed
Forever changed
Got to get to the city
to get a job
Got to get some work
to see me through
My old life is behind
I see it receding
My life's disappearing
disappearing from view
Hong Kong - and I was changed
Burma and Thailand
and I was changed
few good friends
to see me through
to see me through
Only art
can see me through
Only heart
can see me through
My life's disappearing from view
My old life disappearing from view
I was forever changed
HELLO IT'S ME
Andy, it's me
haven't seen you in a while
I wished I talked to you more
when you were alive
I thought you were self-assured
when you acted shy
Hello it's me
I really miss you,
I really miss your mind
I haven't heard ideas like that
in such a long, long time
I loved to watch you draw
and watch you paint
But when I saw you last
I turned away
When Billy Name was sick
and locked up in his room
You asked me for some 'speed'
I though it was for you
I'm sorry if I doubted your good heart
Things always seem to end
before they start
Hello it's me
that was a great gallery show
Your cow wallpaper and
your floating silver pillows
I wish I paid more attention
when they laughed at you
Hello it's me
"Pop goes pop artist,"
the headline said
"Is shooting a put-on,
is Warhol really dead?"
You get less time
for stealing a car
I remember thinking as I heard
my own record in a bar
They really hated you,
now all that's changed
But I have some resentments
that can never be unmade
You hit me where it hurts
and I didn't laugh
Your Diaries are not a worthy epitaph
Oh well now Andy -
guess we've got to go
I wish some way somehow
you like this little show
I know it's late in coming
but it's the only way I know
Goodnight, Andy