Perfect day - Lou Reed acoustic guitar cover

"Perfect Day" is a song written by American musician Lou Reed in 1972. It was originally featured on Transformer, Reed's second post-Velvet Underground solo album, and as B-side of his major hit, "Walk on the Wild Side". Its fame was given a boost in the 1990s when it was featured in the 1996 film Trainspotting and after a star-studded version was released as a BBC charity single in 1997, reaching number one in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Norway. Reed re-recorded the song for his 2003 album The Raven.
Recording and composition
The original recording, as with the rest of the Transformer album, was produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson (who also wrote the string arrangement and played piano on the track). The song has a sombre vocal delivery and a slow, piano-based instrumental backing.
The song was written after Reed and his then fiancée (later his first wife), Bettye Kronstad, spent a day in Central Park. The lyric is often considered to suggest simple, conventional romantic devotion, possibly alluding to Reed's relationship with Kronstad and Reed's own conflicts with his sexuality, drug use and ego.[3]
Some commentators have further seen the lyrical subtext as displaying Reed's romanticized attitude towards a period of his own addiction to heroin. This popular understanding of the song as an ode to addiction led to its inclusion in the soundtrack for Trainspotting, a film about the lives of heroin addicts.[4] However, this interpretation, according to Reed himself, is "laughable". In an interview in 2000, Reed stated, "No. You're talking to the writer, the person who wrote it. No that's not true. I don't object to that, particularly...whatever you think is perfect. But this guy's vision of a perfect day was the girl, sangria in the park, and then you go home; a perfect day, real simple. I meant just what I said."[5]
In other media
The song has featured in commercials such as an AT&T advertisement which ran during the 2010 Olympics,[6] and an advertisement by Sony for the launch of the PlayStation 4 in October 2013, two weeks before Reed's death.[7] The song has also appeared in TV shows including Fear the Walking Dead,[8] the season one finale of The Mist, Doom Patrol,[9] and Our Flag Means Death.[10] In 2015, the song appeared as ironic counterpoint to the main character's demotion in the season 2 premiere of the TV series Gotham.[11] The song was also featured in the 2020 TV series, Brave New World, based on the book by Aldous Huxley.[12][13]
In 2020, the song was performed by a choir of past and present cast members of Saturday Night Live on the show's April 11 episode as a tribute to the show's longtime music producer Hal Willner, following his death from COVID-19 earlier in the week.[14] In 2021, a cover version by Scala & Kolacny Brothers was used in the trailer for the 2021 film Spencer.[15]
An orchestral version of the song by composer Ramin Djawadi was featured on the 5th episode on season 4 of Westworld.[16] The original version is also used in the teaser trailer.[17]
The song is featured in the 2023 film Perfect Days by Wim Wenders.[18]
Personnel
Lou Reed - vocals
Mick Ronson - piano, string arrangements
David Bowie - keyboards
Trevor Bolder - trumpet
Herbie Flowers - tuba
Klaus Voormann - bass
John Halsey - drums

[@Dr.No_guitar]

Beautiful 🤩

[@joseluiselvirad]

Magnífica interpretación acústica, me ha gustado mucho Ricky, enhorabuena desde Madrid y gracias, like 8

[@Jorinde.Imwald]

Wow, this is so beautiful!😍