7. "Charley's Girl"
Album:
Coney Island Baby (1975) After recording a double album of unlistenable guitar feedback that lost his record label thousands of dollars, Lou was left penniless and stranded in a New York hotel room, trying to fight off a lawsuit filed by ex-manager Dennis Katz. He had pissed away all the success he had experienced in the early '70s and would have been lucky if RCA let him make another album at all. Luckily, one of the label fat cats decided they had nothing left to lose with Lou Reed and gave him one final shot. The result was
Coney Island Baby. "Charley's Girl" is the second track on the album and is definitely its most charming. With sparse, easy-going production (with cowbell!) and playful lyrics, it was enough to make anyone (including
Rolling Stone) forgive Lou for his earlier ego-driven missteps. And it proved that Lou could write powerful pop music with only the slightest effort. It's a sun-baked sing-along that delivers pure pleasure for two and a half minutes and it came from one of the darkest souls in rock and roll. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHYE0D6FjXw