Walk on the Wild Side

“Walk on the Wild Side” is a Lou Reed song from his 1972 sophomore solo album Transformer. It was produced by David Bowie. The song received wide radio coverage, despite its touching on topics such as transsexuality, drugs, and oral sex, and is usually regarded as Reed’s best-known solo work.

The lyrics tell of a series of individuals and their journeys to New York City, and is a thinly-veiled biography of several of the regular “superstars” at Andy Warhol’s studio in New York The Factory, namely Holly Woodlawn, Candy Darling, Joe Dallesandro, Jackie Curtis and Joe Campbell (referred to in the song by his nickname Sugar Plum Fairy). Candy Darling was also the subject of Reed’s song Candy Says.