S.O.D. "Walk on the Wild Side" by Lou Reed

3/23/2015     Listed under the genre of glam rock or at least glam rock in those days, this tune describes a series of celebrities and their travels to New York City.  Quite the controversial number in the 70's, touching on issues of transsexuality, drugs, and male prostitution among other things.  Each character in the song is given a nickname.  Reed explains that the songs birth came from the 1956 novel, "A Walk on the Wild Side" by Nelson Algren.  

     The musicians featured for this tune are a gathering of the greats including Herbie Flowers, the famous English bassist, the all girl vocal group  Thunderthighs, who do the backing vocals, and renowned baritone saxophonist Ronnie Ross who played saxophone on the Beatles White Album and was David Bowie's saxophone tutor during Bowie's childhood.  

     Bowie along with Mick Ronson, who could play every instrument under the sun, produced "Walk on the Wild Side."  It charted in many countries but only went as high as #14 in the US and #10 in the UK.