Walk on the Wild Side

Reed wrote in his book Between Thought and Expression that a musical was planned from Nelson Algren's novel A Walk on the Wild Side. When the project was dropped he took his song and changed the book's characters into people he knew from Warhol's Factory, adding that he did not like to waste things. Each verse names one of them: Holly Woodlawn, Candy Darling, Joe Dallesandro as Little Joe, Joe Campbell as Sugar Plum Fairy, and Jackie Curtis. Reed said it seemed fun to introduce people to characters they maybe had not met before.

David Bowie and Mick Ronson produced it. Herbie Flowers played both double bass and bass guitar, one line ascending and one descending, and was paid two session fees of 17 pounds. Ronnie Ross, who had taught Bowie the saxophone, played the baritone solo over the fade. Ronson played acoustic guitar, Thunderthighs sang backing vocals and Ritchie Dharma used brushes on the drums.

Released in November 1972 as a double A-side with Perfect Day, it peaked at 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1973. Its lyrics touch on transgender people and prostitution. RCA gave radio stations an edited version in 1972, but most kept playing the original, and in Britain the line about oral sex slipped past the censors. Nick Tosches in Rolling Stone called it another winner in 1973. Rolling Stone placed it 223rd on its 2010 list of the greatest songs, and it entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015. In 2007 Reed told the Guardian that even his hit was not a hit.

Live

A tape of Reed's show at Cleveland Music Hall on 22 December 1972 lists it at 7:43, between Satellite of Love and I'm So Free.