The Proposition

You can't have the flower without the root You can't have the fire without the soot Even a stripper needs her red tasseled suit And we were meant to be In every war the North needs the south And everyone knows all assholes have a mouth Without mystery what would writers talk about And we were meant to be An apple needs pits the way melons need seed Your foot needs your arm and your arm needs your knee And one of these days I know you will need me We were meant to be You're mother's an ogre your father's a scamp You won't see my parents honored on any stamp But just like a bulb screws into a lamp We were meant to be The way the AIDS needs a vaccine Somewhere a vaccine needs AIDS The way a victim needs life A life needs to be saved And out of all of this Will come a better way We were meant to be So you can go to Europe , Los Angeles or Mars You can stand on a building throwing cinder blocks on cars You can practice deep voodoo But like me you'll see We were meant to be We were meant to be --- The Proposition - Lou Reed