The one song Lou Reed was desperate to be remembered for: “That’s my masterpiece”
Lou Reed never claimed to be the most competent musician in the world. As part of The Velvet Underground, Reed’s odes to life in the gutter provided the soundtrack for scores of rock fans who wanted to hear a heavier version of what The Rolling Stones had been doing years before.
Not many artists can leave this earth with their head held high and their artistic integrity intact. Even fewer can boast to have enjoyed success and not succumbed to it, chasing the high of popularity with every new release of their work. But if there is one thing Lou Reed can be sure of, he never bent over for the masses, he never gave his fans exactly what they wanted just because they wanted it, and he always delivered the songs and records that he truly adored. Although Reed remained proud of his work, one song stood out above all the rest.
Throughout his career, New York bled through every piece of what Reed had created. From songs about waiting for a man to score drugs to the different bondage gear that went into his early material, Reed had very little middle ground between beautiful songs and the most off-putting music ever made.
As he began venturing out into his solo records, Reed started to find a way to blend both of them under one roof on ‘Walk on the Wild Side’. Namechecking different scenesters he was friends with in the underground New York club scene, Reed made the idea of walking on the wild side of life alluring as the gentle strains of a bassline and rhythm guitar plod along in the background.
When looking back on his career, Reed would go on to say that ‘Wild Side’ is one of his definitive tracks, telling Classic Rock Stories, “If I was to retire now, ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ is the one I’d want to be known by. That’s my masterpiece.”
Although the song became a staple of Reed’s discography, it was never intended to be a single. When reading the book of the same name, Reed initially imagined creating a play out of the song title, using this tune as the de facto theme song for the final version.
While the play never came to fruition, Reed decided to press on anyway, remarking, “Nothing came out of the play, but I wasn’t going to waste the time and energy that I put into the song.” Cloaked under a smooth layer of cool, Reed could easily just be a passer-by looking on at the rest of the world as he encourages any prospective teamsters to join him on the wild side.
Despite his credentials as a rock ‘n’ roll singer, Reed’s tribute to the seedy side of the city remains one of the most beautiful songs he has ever written. Compared to the caustic production from most Velvet Underground projects, Reed’s minimal use of instruments is much more refreshing, as if you’re listening to him perform in a smoky bar.
Reed would later explain that each verse of the song refers to one of the “superstars” who regularly hung out at Andy Warhol’s Factory New York studio. Take, for example, “Holly” which refers to Holly Woodlawn, a transsexual actress who lived in Florida but hitchhiked her way to New York. The “Sugar Plum Fairy” reference was a nod of the head to actor Joe Campbell who appeared in Warhol’s 1965 film, My Hustler.
The fact that the track is so embedded in Reed’s actual life and yet feels so deeply universal is not only a mark of Reed’s songwriting skill but the genuine honesty with which he approached everything he did. With Bowie behind the mixing desk, Transformer gave Reed the solo career he desired.
Then again, Reed’s discography spoke to more than just one song or album. Throughout his time with The Velvets to his final tracks working with Metallica on Lulu, Reed was always looking to come at his art from different angles, trying to find a way to twist his narrative into a shape he had never seen before. Other songs may have been prettier, and some may have been more abstract, but none of them have felt more like a slice of life than ‘Walk on the Wild Side’.
