The Big Apple Songs: Walk on the Wild Side

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Truthfully, this song is so New York City that I’d almost have to include it even if it didn’t explicitly mention the Big Apple. Late 60s counterculture and art crammed into one song…along with one of the greatest bass lines ever. Here’s today’s trip to New York. Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed For those who don’t know, Lou Reed was a member of the Velvet Underground. That band was closely tied to Andy Warhol’s “Factory.” Warhol’s “Banana” was the cover of The Velvet Underground and Nico. So for Reed to pay homage to the people he met while at the Factory with the Velvet Underground was only natural. Who’d guess that it would turn into such a classic. I personally credit that bass lines, by the late Herbie Flowers (I wrote about that bass line when he passed away back in 2024). Ronnie Ross’ sax at the end is pretty good, too. Mostly, though, this introduced the world to real people who’d never been imagined in middle America. “I always thought it would be kinda fun to introduce people to characters they maybe hadn’t met before,” Reed was quoted as saying in a 1994 biography, “or hadn’t wanted to meet.” It’s still a classic. Walk on the Wild Side Written by Lou Reed Recorded by Lou Reed From Transformer, 1972 NYC LYRICS: New York City’s the place where they say hey babe, take a walk on the wild side