The American public took a “Walk on the Wild Side” this day in 1973… with the song of that name by Lou Reed peaking at #16. It was quite possibly the most unlikely hit of the decade in the U.S., and one might think no one would have been more surprised than Reed himself.
Reed was at the time 31 and was about two years out of the legendary Velvet Underground…a band which famously inspired a generation of new musicians but never quite came close to having a “hit” record in terms of sales let alone radio play. His first solo record in ’72 met with the same commercial response as the band’s had, and expectations for his second one, Transformer, weren’t much higher. One thing was different however, Lou got David Bowie and Mick Ronson (Bowie’s lead guitarist and frequent collaborator) to produce the album. The pair had both been big fans of the Velvet Underground.
“Walk on the Wild Side” had a slow, sultry sound quite unusual for mainstream radio at the time, highlighted by a great sax solo fading out at the song’s end (played by Ronnie Ross) and the prominent, funky bassline played by one of the best session bassists anywhere, Herbie Flowers. Flowers actually played two different basses – an old standup one and a typical Fender electric – hoping they would pay him double! That didn’t work apparently, and he got a flat rate 17 pounds (about $250 in current money) for his contribution. But they mixed the two tracks together to get the ominous rumbling sound that made the single stand out. Oh, and there were the lyrics as well!
Reed would call the song a “gay song…carefully worded so straights can miss out on the implications and enjoy (it) without being offended.” He got the basic idea after reading a novel of the same name, about a drifter who left Texas for New Orleans, seeking excitement along the way. But he wrote about people he’d known in New York, friends of Andy Warhol’s. Drag queens or transsexuals mainly, not the fare for most top 40 hits in the early-’70s! “I always thought it would be fun to introduce people to characters they might have met or hadn’t wanted to meet,” the singer said.
Among the real-life people populating the song were “Little Joe,” the “Sugar Plum Fairy” and “Holly.” Joe was Joe Campbell, a transsexual actor who’d made movies with Warhol (although some suggest his character was more a composite of Warhol hang-arounds and ‘Sugar Plum Fairy’ was a nickname for any drug dealer in their gang). Holly was Holly Woodlawn, a transgender person who left home in Miami at 15. “I was going to school, getting stones thrown at me , being beaten up by homophobic rednecks,” they recalled, so “I ran away from home and hitch-hiked across the U.S.A.” ending up with the Warhol gang in the Big Apple.
Despite its for-its-time shocking references to oral sex and cross-dressing, few censors seemed to have a problem with it. It was perhaps too outrageous and wild for them to really pick up on the content. The only thing some stations had a problem with was the phrase “the colored girls” in one line and a few stations beeped that out.
The song pushed the boundaries of radio…and Transformer to platinum status in the UK and his top-seller everywhere. Likewise, by hitting #16 in the U.S., #10 in Britain and #18 in Canada, “Walk on the Wild Side” was pretty much his only major hit single. Curiously, his second best-known song might be the one on the b-side to the 45 – “Perfect Day.”