Lyrics to
Sally Can’t Dance

This version of Sally Can’T Dance was released by Lou Reed in 1974.

Our Decade Lyrics Lou Reed profile has all of the Sally Can’T Dance lyrics from 1974 and many more songs from the Lou Reed discography that we have on file.

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Sally dances on the floor
she says that she can’t do it anymore
She walks down St. Marks Place
and eats natural food at my place

Now Sally can’t dance no more
she can’t get off of the floor
Sally can’t dance no more
they found her in the trunk of a Ford
ooohhh, she can’t dance no more

Sally is loosing her face
she lives on St. Marks Place
In a rent-controlled apartment, eighty dollars a month
she has lots of fun, she has lots of fun, but

Sally can’t dance no more, ooohhh
Sally can’t dance no more
She took too much meth and can’t get off the floor
now Sally, she can’t dance no more

She was the first girl in the neighborhood
to wear tied-dyed pants, ah, like she should
She was the first girl that I ever seen
that had flowers painted on her jeans
She was the first girl in her neighborhood
who got raped on Tompkins Square, real good
Now she wears a sword, like Napoleon
and she kills the boys and acts like a son

Sally can’t dance no more, ooohhh, now
Sally can’t dance no more
She can’t get herself off the floor, ah, huh
Sally, ooohhh, she can’t dance no more

Watch this, now

Sally became a big model
she moved up to eighties and park
She had a studio apartment
and that’s where she used to ball, folk singers
and that’s where she used to ball, folk singers, but

Sally, she can’t dance no more
Sally, she can’t dance no more
Sally can’t get herself off of the floor
now, Sally, she can’t dance no more
(Sally can’t dance)
(Sally can’t dance)

She knew all the really right people
she went to Le Jardin
She danced with Picasso’s illegitimate mistress
and wore Kenneth Lane jewels, really it’s trash, but

Sally can’t dance no more, ooohhh
Sally can’t dance no more
She can’t get herself off of the floor
now, Sally, ooohhh, she can’t dance no more, no more
Dance, no more can’t …
(Sally can’t dance, Sally can’t dance)
(Sally can’t dance, Sally can’t dance)
(Sally can’t dance, Sally can’t dance)
(Sally can’t dance, Sally can’t dance)

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Want more lyrics and songs by Lou Reed?

Lou Reed has released many songs over the years besides Sally Can’T Dance. 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 1974 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Sally Can’T Dance by Lou Reed

The lyrics to Sally Can’T Dance are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Lou Reed used when the song was created in 1974. The lyrics to Sally Can’T Dance have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Lou Reed and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Sally Can’T Dance by Lou Reed. 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 Sally Can’T Dance" means the words set to the music of Sally Can’T Dance, 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 Sally Can’T Dance and the lyrics to Sally Can’T Dance 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 Sally Can’T Dance, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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