Lou Reed » Tracks » Perfect Day

Lou Reed – Perfect Day (3:45)

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About This Track

A song written by Lou Reed in 1972. Its fame was given a boost in the 1990s when it was featured in the 1996 film Trainspotting, and after its release as a charity single in 1997.

The song was originally featured on the 1972 album Transformer. The song’s lyrics are often considered to suggest simple, conventional romantic devotion, possibly alluding to Reed’s relationship with Bettye Kronstadt (soon to become his first wife) and Reed’s own conflicts with his sexuality, drug use and ego.

However, on a deeper reading of the song’s lyrics, amongst the idealized description of a “perfect day”, interposed lines such as “You just keep me hanging on”, and “I thought I was someone else, someone good” suggest a far deeper yearning than just the superficial romantic clichés, and allude to the underlying and painful bitterness of nostalgia often felt even as an event is lived - an event one knows or fears to be a mere distraction or illusion. The repeated last line ‘You`re going to reap just what you sow’ is very similar to Galatians 6:7.

Some commentators have further seen the lyrics as displaying Reed’s romanticised attitude towards a period of his own addiction to heroin. Critics of this view assert that Reed never tried to conceal his drug use, so the song does not have concealed meanings of this nature.

The song was featured on an AT&T commercial featuring snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler that ran during the 2010 Winter Olympics.
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Albums featuring this track

  • Transformer
    Lou Reed Play
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  • 100 Movie Hits
    Various Play
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  • Perfect Day
    Lou Reed Play
    Buy
  • Trainspotting
    Lou Reed Play
    Buy
See all 67 albums

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  • oyveychris

    This is perfect when Renton OD's in trainspotting.

    Friday afternoon

  • CrazyStar69

    Never heard this before, but it's amazing :)

    8 days ago

  • MonkeyKingApe

    Perfect :)

    12 days ago

  • abunono

    In a cave in the hills he dwelt alone

    14 days ago

  • thekills1985

    Just perfect

    24 days ago

  • ParadiseCove

    Honestly it is....

    26 days ago

  • nick_honest

    excellent

    27 days ago

  • Nefertiti18

    fechas que no reconozco

    last month

  • the_betterman

    trainspotting

    last month

  • gilliananne

    I still love the strings in this

    last month

  • yourrich

    sometimes i think of this song as being sarcastic...

    last month

  • BigLebowski74

    one of my favorite songs......indescribably good!!!

    last month

  • No_44

    "You made me forget myself. I thought I was someone else, someone good." I love it

    last month

  • DanLovesAlice

    How this was ever used as a charity single for the BBC, I'll never know. Did they think about the depth of the lyrics? It certainly isn't a happy, innocent song that's for sure.

    last month

  • nowave80

    High!

    March 2012

  • veronikesilva

    Linda!

    March 2012

  • Mishkamink

    This song makes me feel homesick.

    March 2012

  • loribra

    LOVE LOVE LOVE!

    March 2012

  • heavner72

    !!!

    March 2012

  • BlackPeople2000

    "IT;S THAA PERFECT DAAAY-AYYYY, NOTHIN'S STANDIN' IN MY WAY-AY"

    March 2012
See all 881 shouts

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