{"id":38647,"date":"2017-05-24T03:00:16","date_gmt":"2017-05-24T07:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=38647"},"modified":"2017-05-23T09:10:30","modified_gmt":"2017-05-23T13:10:30","slug":"i-dont-know-if-lou-would-be-cracking-up-about-this-or-crying-because-its-just-too-stupid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2017\/05\/24\/i-dont-know-if-lou-would-be-cracking-up-about-this-or-crying-because-its-just-too-stupid\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;I don\u2019t know if Lou would be cracking up about this or crying because it\u2019s just too stupid&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Reactions to the University of Guelph student association&#8217;s characterizing Lou Reed&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/music\/2017\/may\/20\/lou-reed-walk-wild-side-transphobic-lyrics-canada\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Walk on the Wild Side&#8221;<\/a> as transphobic:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Friends of the late Lou Reed responded on Saturday with disbelief to a claim by a Canadian student body that the singer\u2019s 1972 hit Walk on the Wild Side contains transphobic lyrics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know if Lou would be cracking up about this or crying because it\u2019s just too stupid,\u201d the singer\u2019s longtime producer, Hal Willner, told the <em>Guardian<\/em>. \u201cThe song was a love song to all the people he knew and to New York City by a man who supported the community and the city his whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Guelph Central Student Association, a group at the University of Guelph in Ontario, apologised for including the song on a playlist at a campus event.<\/p>\n<p>In an apology published to Facebook and subsequently removed, the group said: \u201cWe now know the lyrics to this song are hurtful to our friends in the trans community and we\u2019d like to unreservedly apologize for this error in judgement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The lyrics in question focus on Reed\u2019s friends from Andy Warhol\u2019s Factory, among them transgender \u201csuperstars\u201d Holly Woodlawn and Candy Darling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHolly came from Miami, FLA,\u201d Reed sings. \u201cHitchhiked her way across the USA\/ Plucked her eyebrows on the way\/ Shaved her legs and then he was a she\/ She says, \u2018Hey, babe, take a walk on the wild side.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"853\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0KaWSOlASWc\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Uploaded on 19 Nov 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>***Rest in Peace to Holly [Woodlawn] who came from Miami, F-L-A, and who Lou first mentions in the opening lines of the song***<\/p>\n<p>**Congratulations (a long overdue one at that) to the Newest Member of the Rock &#038; Roll Hall of Fame: Lou Reed!**<\/p>\n<p>*So sad to hear about Lou&#8217;s passing today at the age of 71. There will never be another one like you Lou. A true original and pioneer. Like The Who said in their Facebook status: &#8220;Walk On the Peaceful Side&#8221;*<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Walk On The Wild Side&#8221; from Lou Reed&#8217;s 1972 second solo album, <em>Transformer<\/em>, (after leaving the Velvet Underground) did not chart in the top 10 on Billboard. Some of the songs that year that did chart in the top 10 were: Gilbert O&#8217;Sullivan&#8217;s &#8220;Alone Again (Naturally),&#8221; Mac Davis &#8220;Don&#8217;t Get Hooked On Me,&#8221; and Wayne Newton &#8220;Daddy Don&#8217;t You Walk So Fast.&#8221; I&#8217;d say &#8220;Walk On The Wild Side&#8221; is just as memorable, if not more so than those ones. My favorite part of the song is probably the saxophone solo at the end 3:44.<\/p>\n<p>To say the least, this song was highly controversial when it came out considering it is about transvestites who come to NYC for prostitution. They would say to their potential customers, &#8220;Take a walk on the wild side!&#8221; Lou Reed once said about the song: &#8220;I always thought it would be fun to introduce people to characters they maybe hadn&#8217;t met before, or hadn&#8217;t wanted to meet.&#8221; What an amazing storyteller and lyrical genius Lou Reed was.<\/p>\n<p>Try to find another song from this time period where the artist talks so openly about subjects such as oral sex, transvestites, and drug use, there weren&#8217;t very many others. He was writing about things in a style that, frankly, almost no other artist at that time would even consider writing or singing about. Lou was well before his time, and has inspired countless artists from all genres. What a classic, classic song! Still no song like it to this day. What artist other than Lou could get away with lyrics like: &#8220;And the colored girls go doo do doo, doo do doo, doo do doo&#8221;?! The lyrics are way too clever and fun not to post in the description so here they are:<\/p>\n<p>Lyrics:<\/p>\n<p>Holly came from Miami, F.L.A.<br \/>\nHitch-hiked her way across the U.S.A.<br \/>\nPlucked her eyebrows on the way<br \/>\nShaved her legs and then he was a she<br \/>\nShe says, &#8216;Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side&#8217;<br \/>\nHe said, &#8216;Hey honey, take a walk on the wild side&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Candy came from out on the island<br \/>\nIn the backroom she was everybody&#8217;s darlin&#8217;<br \/>\nBut she never lost her head<br \/>\nEven when she was giving head<br \/>\nShe says, &#8216;Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side&#8217;<br \/>\nHe said, &#8216;Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>And the colored girls go<br \/>\nDoo do doo, doo do doo, doo do doo<\/p>\n<p>Little Joe never once gave it away<br \/>\nEverybody had to pay and pay<br \/>\nA hustle here and a hustle there<br \/>\nNew York City&#8217;s the place where they said<br \/>\n&#8216;Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side&#8217;<br \/>\nI said, &#8216;Hey Joe, take a walk on the wild side&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Sugar plum fairy came and hit the streets<br \/>\nLookin&#8217; for soul food and a place to eat<br \/>\nWent to the Apollo, you should&#8217;ve seen &#8217;em go go go<br \/>\nThey said, &#8216;Hey sugar, take a walk on the wild side&#8217;<br \/>\nI said, &#8216;Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side&#8217;<br \/>\nAlright, huh<\/p>\n<p>Jackie is just speeding away<br \/>\nThought she was James Dean for a day<br \/>\nThen I guess she had to crash<br \/>\nValium would have helped that bash<br \/>\nShe said, &#8216;Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side&#8217;<br \/>\nI said, &#8216;Hey honey, take a walk on the wild side&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>And the colored girls say<br \/>\nDoo do doo, doo do doo, doo do doo<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reactions to the University of Guelph student association&#8217;s characterizing Lou Reed&#8217;s &#8220;Walk on the Wild Side&#8221; as transphobic: Friends of the late Lou Reed responded on Saturday with disbelief to a claim by a Canadian student body that the singer\u2019s 1972 hit Walk on the Wild Side contains transphobic lyrics. \u201cI don\u2019t know if Lou [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,79,28],"tags":[52,254,794,196,200,764],"class_list":["post-38647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cancon","category-education","category-media","tag-absurd","tag-gender","tag-guelph","tag-lgbt","tag-music","tag-university"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/favicon.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-a3l","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38647"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38648,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38647\/revisions\/38648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}