The Story Behind: "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed

Perfect Day is a song by American songwritter Lou Reed. It was released in 1972 as a single from the second solo album Transformer, together with his big hit »Walk On The Wild Side«.

Production/Recording

The song/album was produced by the legendary David Bowie and his guitarist Mick Ronson, whom greatly influenced all of the work that Reed had done with his band The Velvet Underground in the 1960's. Bowie was also influenced by Reed in his songwritting, refrencing the Velvet Underground in his album Hunky Dory and adding songs »White Light/White Heat« and »I'm Waiting for the Man« in his setlist in the early 1970's.

While Bowie had influenced the songwritting style of Reed, guitarist Mick Ronson is responsible for a big part of the production aspect of the song/album, as well as being the primary session musician on the song/album, playing guitar,piano and singing the backing vocals. 

The recording took place at the Trident Studios in London. The work that Ronson had done on the song/album was lauded by Reed on the documentary series Classic Albums, where he praised the songwritting and the talent he had shown on all of the instruments he played on the album. 

The Lyrics

The song was written by Reed when him and his then-fiancée and first wife were spending a day in Central Park in New York. The lyrics talk about simple romantic relations to his wife and about Reed's conflicts with his drug use and sexuality.  

Though many people belive that is the meaning of the song, some fans also belive that the song is actually about Reed's love towards heroin in his drug filled period of life. The song later became as an ode to addiction and was also included in the soundtrack of the 1996 film Transpotting, which talks about the life of heroin addicts. 

BBC Version

In 1997 BBC released a version of the song as a promotion of its diverse music coverage on their channel. The song featured many top class artists: Bono, Elton John, David Bowie, Tom Jones and many others. Lou Reed even stated  "I have never been more impressed with a performance of one of my songs." The song was later released also as a single for the charity Children in Need and has raised over 2 million pounds and sold over 1.5 million copies.