<P> Like many of Reed's songs, "Walk on the Wild Side" is based on a plagal cadence, alternating from C to F. The F is played as a sixth chord . The pre-chorus introduces the major second, D Major, although in some live performances this was changed to D minor, resulting in a completely diatonic song . </P> <P> The song is also noted for its twin interlocking bass lines played by Herbie Flowers on double bass and overdubbed on a stacked knob 1960 fretless Fender Jazz Bass . In an interview on BBC Radio 4 (Playing Second Fiddle, aired July 2005), Flowers claimed that the reason he came up with the twin bass line was that as a session musician he would be paid double for playing two instruments on the same track, thus likely totalling his pay to £ 34 (equivalent to £ 400 in 2016). </P> <P> In the 2001 documentary Classic Albums: Lou Reed: Transformer, Reed says that it was Nelson Algren's 1956 novel, A Walk on the Wild Side (itself titled after the 1952 song "The Wild Side of Life"), that was the launching point for the song, even though, as it grew, the song became inhabited by characters from his own life . As with several other Reed songs from the 1970s, the title may also be an allusion to an earlier song, in this case Mack David and Elmer Bernstein's song of the same name, the Academy Award - nominated title song of the 1962 film based on Algren's novel . During his performance of the song on his 1978 Live: Take No Prisoners album, Reed humorously explains the song's development from a request that he write the music for the never - completed musical version of Algren's novel . </P> <P> Each verse refers to one of the "superstars" at Andy Warhol's New York studio, The Factory . </P>

Sugar plum fairy walk on the wild side