lou reed "perfect day"

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why is this song so sad?

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Monday, 4 October 2004 06:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Heh heh. Cause he's tryin' ta fool ya.

― Bimble (bimble), Monday, 4 October 2004 06:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I like it during the Trainspotting "Renton ODs" sequence.
Not so much on the album - I can't really stomach Transformer much at all, maybe I'm missing something?

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Monday, 4 October 2004 07:06 (twenty-one years ago)

You're not missing much re: Transformer.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Monday, 4 October 2004 07:10 (twenty-one years ago)

its sad cos of the nudge nudge factor

― gaz (gaz), Monday, 4 October 2004 07:11 (twenty-one years ago)

x-post
Thanks! I thought I was going nuts, that CD is total wank to me, and I love the Velvets.

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Monday, 4 October 2004 07:11 (twenty-one years ago)

"I'm So Free" is good for putting a little pep into mix cds, but that's about it.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Monday, 4 October 2004 07:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Heh, I would never even put that in a mix.
Is there a really good Lou Reed album? What should I get next? Berlin? The Blue Mask?
Metal Machine Music even? (teehee)
I held off on exploring LR solo till recently as I've heard it can get pretty dire, as Transformer certainly is IMO.

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Monday, 4 October 2004 07:30 (twenty-one years ago)

The only song on Transformer I like is "Satellite of love", so you're not alone. The Blue Mask, Street Hassle, Berlin and Coney Island Baby are the ones I keep coming back to. They're the only ones I have, really.

― the todster (the todster), Monday, 4 October 2004 07:36 (twenty-one years ago)

berlin is a great record.

for a 16 year old.

― gaz (gaz), Monday, 4 October 2004 07:36 (twenty-one years ago)

the "...says" series of songs are pretty great. here continued.

the arrangements are a bit much.

― gaz (gaz), Monday, 4 October 2004 07:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree with that. It's very Bob Ezrin and makes me think of the old Alice Cooper stuff.

― the todster (the todster), Monday, 4 October 2004 07:41 (twenty-one years ago)

i LOVE berlin!!

― the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Monday, 4 October 2004 07:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Am I right in assuming Transformer is Lou Reed's best selling album due to the "hit" status of "Walk on the Wild Side"? I wonder how many people bought this and were totally turned off on Lou Reed for a good long while if not forever.
If I bought this when I was 14 instead of The Velvet Underground & Nico I would've thought, "Fuck this Lou Reed guy, he sucks."
I mean it almost makes me think that NOW.

Also, anyone else first hear "Walk on the Wild Side" as the Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch song?

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Monday, 4 October 2004 07:59 (twenty-one years ago)

jim i love berlin too. but i am preturnaturally stuck at 16.

― gaz (gaz), Monday, 4 October 2004 08:03 (twenty-one years ago)

also i like vicious

― gaz (gaz), Monday, 4 October 2004 08:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Vicious and Satellite are probably the best songs.

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Monday, 4 October 2004 08:17 (twenty-one years ago)

"You hit me with a flower .."

Haha.

― uIO, Monday, 4 October 2004 08:38 (twenty-one years ago)

You do it every HOUR

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Monday, 4 October 2004 08:40 (twenty-one years ago)

"Transformer" is fuggin' great, ya daffy bastards

― Didoismus (Dada), Monday, 4 October 2004 11:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Joy Division should have covered this song

― TOMBOT, Monday, 4 October 2004 14:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I love you, Suzanne.

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Monday, 4 October 2004 14:31 (twenty-one years ago)

His solo career is just bizarre...long, tons of albums, most of them not very good, low sales, and yet he got to do whatever he wanted and the labels never gave up on him. How does you explain this?

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 4 October 2004 15:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Why Lou Gets to do What He Wants

He was in this little band
with Andy Warhol's hand
firmly wedged in his man-valley

plus, magic and loss was okay.

― p.j. (Henry), Monday, 4 October 2004 15:17 (twenty-one years ago)

oh, wait this thread is about 'Perfect Day'...I like that too. He was still kinda singing his songs back then, wasn't he?

― p.j. (Henry), Monday, 4 October 2004 15:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Lou was OK until 1980 or so. Like Bowie, like the Stones, like lots of people who came of age sometime in the 60s.

Transformer, Berlin, Coney Island Baby, Street Hassle, The Bells... they're all great albums although some of them have become a bit stale due to overfamiliarity.

― Jonathan Z. (Joanthan Z.), Monday, 4 October 2004 15:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I had a good time with New Sensations three weeks ago.
The Raven is good for getting rid of late-night hangers on about the scene.

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Monday, 4 October 2004 16:06 (twenty-one years ago)

New York is probably my favorite solo Lou album. I like a lot of the old songs, but New York is the LR record I enjoy most from start to finish.

― subgenius (subgenius), Monday, 4 October 2004 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Who has touched and who has dabbled
here in the city of shows
Openings, closings, bad repartee
everybody knows

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 4 October 2004 17:15 (twenty-one years ago)

hey - is the romantic interest in "perfect day" cruel to the narrator?

"i thought i was someone else - someone good"
"you just keep me hanging on"
"youre going to reap just what you sow"

i always thought these three lines implied an unhealthy lou, inextricably connected to a woman/man who sort of despises him, but likes to have him around to fuck with. but the first line up there could be an earnest expression towards someone who makes him feel good about himself. the 2nd and third lines seem ominous and malicious, but i dunno - i dont think everyone interprets the lyrics like i do.

thoughts?

― peter smith (plsmith), Monday, 4 October 2004 17:29 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't know how else one would interpret them

i guess it's a song not about being in love but about being in love with being in love

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Monday, 4 October 2004 17:33 (twenty-one years ago)

right - ok. good.

― peter smith (plsmith), Monday, 4 October 2004 17:37 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, like: here are all the things people do when they're in love. let's do them. oh, what fun. a perfect day. (i'm convinced that it really *is* a really nice day in many ways.) but actually the relationship is pretty dysfunctional. i guess it's the distance that lou seems to be measuring between the rituals of romance and the knotty realities (which poke through only in those few stray lines) that makes the song kind of affecting.

also its really pretty melody.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Monday, 4 October 2004 17:39 (twenty-one years ago)

i've been through this sort of thing, maybe that's why it affects me?

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Monday, 4 October 2004 17:40 (twenty-one years ago)

"youre going to reap just what you sow" seems pretty fucking intense. it always switched from sad to subtly nutso-violent there for me.

― peter smith (plsmith), Monday, 4 October 2004 17:42 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah it's quite deadpan

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Monday, 4 October 2004 17:50 (twenty-one years ago)

"Uh, I wanna play football for the coach."

― Pauly, Tuesday, 5 October 2004 04:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Lou's biggest sellers are actually 'Rock n Roll Animal' and 'New York.'

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 04:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah i just read that on the other thread. Are those at least better than Transformer? Yeesh.

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 05:38 (twenty-one years ago)

i always thought these three lines implied an unhealthy lou

Not much implication required on that score. I thought it was about heroin anyway?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 09:25 (twenty-one years ago)

lou and heroin sipping sangria in the park?

that's a stretch

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 09:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Lou claims it's based on or inspired by, at least, Edward Albee's play, "The Zoo Story" - possible, but that sounds suspiciously like typical Lou bullshit

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 09:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Well I've read that it's about heroin. Certainly the whole song has a rather narcotic flavour and tempo, and the lines "You just keep me hanging on" and "you're going to reap just what you sow" are pretty suggestive. Even drinking booze in the park is sort of junky-esque. And the "heroin as a lover that's bad for you" trope is an old one of Lou's.

― Jonathan Z. (Joanthan Z.), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 10:20 (twenty-one years ago)

"You made me forget myself/ I thought I was someone else/ Someone good"

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 10:22 (twenty-one years ago)

i wuz talkin' to ed who'd been reported dead by mutual frendz

― er, Tuesday, 5 October 2004 22:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Mutual Frendz, is that RZA's new side project?

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 23:10 (twenty-one years ago)

always thought these three lines implied an unhealthy lou, inextricably connected to a woman/man who sort of despises him, but likes to have him around to fuck with. but the first line up there could be an earnest expression towards someone who makes him feel good about himself. the 2nd and third lines seem ominous and malicious

Okay, without wanting to be reductive, of course it's about heroin.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 23:31 (twenty-one years ago)

seven years pass...

Wow, i just saw that all-star 90s version for the first time. Infinitely cringeworthy.

― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 27 May 2012 01:14 (thirteen years ago)

Man, U2 fucking suck.

― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 27 May 2012 01:16 (thirteen years ago)

seven years pass...

LOL'ing so hard every time this hits the chorus: https://open.spotify.com/album/63HTj7d51dnlnoqKtEqdm8

― drunk on hot toddies (morrisp), Friday, 25 October 2019 21:39 (six years ago)

he he I knew what that was before clicking

― corrs unplugged, Tuesday, 29 October 2019 14:27 (six years ago)

two years pass...

lou reed "perfect day"

his son continued the tradition pic.twitter.com/zveDXybleY
— trevb (@trrvvb) November 1, 2021

― cwkiii, Tuesday, 2 November 2021 03:14 (four years ago)

WT…?

― Exploding Plastic Bertrand (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 2 November 2021 03:20 (four years ago)

there's a really good video essay about this song on the polyphonic youtube channel BUT BE WARNED THE NARRATOR NEEDS TO WORK ON THEIR WHINEY VOICE. they are very articulate and nuanced in their approach, but that voice . . . hoo boy.

― the beginning of the end of discourse. (Austin), Tuesday, 2 November 2021 15:58 (four years ago)

one year passes...

Reposting from the Al Green thread...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5NT_079_X0

― Random Restaurateur (Jordan), Tuesday, 22 August 2023 17:30 (two years ago)

Pity Lou didn't live to hear this, Al Green was one of his heroes apparently.

― Monthly Python (Tom D.), Tuesday, 22 August 2023 17:32 (two years ago)

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