“Perfect Day” by Lou Reed

"Perfect Day" sits on Transformer, Lou Reed's second solo album after the Velvet Underground, released in 1972 with David Bowie and Mick Ronson producing. Ronson wrote the string arrangement and played the piano, and the whole thing moves at a slow, stately crawl, Reed's voice solemn and hushed over the keys.

Reed wrote it after spending a day in Central Park with his fiancée Bettye Kronstad, and on its face it's a plain, tender little song of devotion. But plenty of listeners hear shadows moving under the sweetness, the struggles with drugs, sexuality and ego that Reed carried around with him. It went out as a double A-side with "Walk on the Wild Side", and its use in the 1996 film Trainspotting sent a whole new generation looking for it.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.