Today we continue our journey through the miscellany of songs about walking. Yesterday we travelled from the 1920’s to the mid 1960’s and today we move into the 1970’s and beyond.
Walk on the Wild Side” is a song by Lou Reed from his second solo album, Transformer (1972). It was produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson, and released as a double A-side with “Perfect Day”. The song received wide radio coverage and became Reed’s biggest single, despite its touching on taboo topics such as transgender people, and and male prostitution. In the United States, RCA also released a “cleaned up” version of the single without the reference to oral sex or “coloured girls”, but most radio stations continued to play the unedited version. In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked it at number 223 in its list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
“Walk This Way” is a song by the Areosmith. Written by Steve Tyler and Joe Perry, the song was originally released as the second single from the album Toys in the Attic (1975). It peaked at number 10 on the Billboard in early 1977, part of a string of successful hit singles for the band in the 1970s. In addition to being one of the songs that helped break Aerosmith into the mainstream in the 1970s, it also helped revitalize their career in the 1980s when it was covered by hip hop group Run DMC. on their 1986 album Raising Hell. This cover was a touchstone for the new musical subgenre of rap rock. It became an international hit.
“Walking on Sunshine” is a song written by Kimberley Rew for Katrina and the Waves’ 1983 debut album. The re-recorded version was at first released on the band’s 1985 self titled as the album’s second single and reached No. 4 in Australia, No. 9 in the United States, and No. 8 in the United Kingdom. It was the Waves’ first US top 40 hit, and their biggest success in the United Kingdom until “Love Shine a Light” (1997). Originally conceived of as a ballad, Katrina Leskanich decided to belt the song out as a more upbeat song. In a 2012 interview, however, Leskanich denied this, saying, “Nope, never. Never a ballad. In fact, the original [1983 version] is much faster.”[
“Walk of Life” is a song by the Dire Straits, the third track on their fifth studio album Brothers in Arms (1985). It subsequently appeared on their live album On the Night (1993). It was released as a single in November 1985, but had first been available as the B-side of “So Far Away” released in advance of Brothers in Arms. The track peaked at number seven in the US charts and was their biggest commercial hit in the UK, peaking at number two. The track also appeared on three compilation albums.
“Walk Like an Egyptian” is a song recorded by the American band the Bangles. It was released in 1986 as the third single from the album Different Light. It was the band’s first number one single, being certified gold by the RIAA, and became Billboard’s number-one song of 1987. It debuted on the Billboard in September 1986. The song reached a peak of number three in the UK in November 1986 and reached number one in the US in December, staying at the top of the Hot 100 for four weeks, carrying it over into January 1987.
“Walk the Dinosaur” is a song by Was (Not Was), released in 1987, from their album What Up Dog? The song features a tight, funky sound, punctuated by horns and a cowbell. When released in the UK in 1987, the song reached No. 10 on the singles chart, becoming the group’s first UK top 10 hit. The music video featured four scantily clad ‘cavewomen’ dancing to the song while a Flinstones-style TV played clips from Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur. Modern people danced to the song in the “Everybody walk the dinosaur” part. The video received heavy rotation on MTV. The song reached No. 7 on the US chart in 1989, two years after its UK success. The song became the band’s biggest hit single in their home country.
