Lyrics to
Families

This version of Families was released by Lou Reed in 1979.

Our Lou Reed Songs profile has Families lyrics from 1979 and most if not all of the lyrics by Lou Reed that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

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(How’s the family)
(How’s the family)

Mama, you tell me how’s the family
And papa, tell me how thing’s going by you
And little baby sister, I heard that you got married
And I heard that you had yourself a little baby girl, too
And here’s some uncles and some cousins I know vaguely
And would you believe my old dog Chelsea’s here, too
And would you believe nobody in this family
wanted to keep her
And now that dog’s more of a part of this family
then I am, too
I don’t come home much anymore
No-no-no I don’t come home much anymore
Mama

And mama, I know how disappointed you are
And papa, I know that you feel the same way, too
And no-no-no-no-no I still haven’t got married
And no-no-no there’s no grandson planned here for you
And by the way, daddy tell me how’s the business
I understand that your stock she’s growing very high
No, daddy, you’re not a poor man anymore
And I hope you’ll realize that before you die
Because I don’t come home much anymore
No-no-no-no-no I don’t come home much no more
But daddy

And please-please-please-please-please
come on let’s not start this business again
I know how much you resent the life that I have
But one more time, I don’t want the family business
Don’t want to inherit it upon the day that you die
Really, daddy should have given it to my sister
You know Elisabeth, you know Elisabeth
she has a better head for those things than I
She lives practically around the corner
That’s really the kind of child you could be proud of
But papa, I know that this visit’s a mistake
There’s nothing here we have in common, except our name
And families that live out in the suburbs
Often make each other cry
And I don’t think that I’ll come home much anymore
No-no, I don’t think I’ll come home much again
Mama
Papa
Families
Often make each other cry
No, I don’t think that I’ll come home much anymore
(How’s the families)

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Want more lyrics and songs by Lou Reed?

Lou Reed has released many songs over the years besides Families. Lou Reed released songs from 1972 to 2000 spanning across albums like Transformer, Lou Reed, Berlin, Sally Can't Dance, Rock 'n' Roll Animal, Coney Island Baby, Rock And Roll Heart, Street Hassle, The Bells, Growing Up In Public, The Blue Mask, Legendary Hearts, New Sensations, Mistrial, New York, Magic And Loss, Set The Twilight Reeling, and Ecstasy. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Lou Reed.

If you're a fan of popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1979 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Families by Lou Reed

When you decide to study the lyrics to Families, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1979 song by Lou Reed. Some of the lyrics to Families have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Lou Reed and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to Families if you take apart the structure of the words. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Families" means the words set to the music of Families, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Lou Reed. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Families and the lyrics to Families are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Lou Reed who came here looking just for the lyrics to Families, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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