Basslines #2: It’s got to be Herbie Flowers’ distinctive sliding bass on the memorable intro to Lou Reed’s breakthrough solo single Walk On The Wild Side.

The British session man played it not once but twice – once on his upright double-bass, then a second time on an electric bass. And, for that matter, it spawned two hit singles.

After giving Reed his only Top Ten hit single in 1973, peaking at No.10, it was famously sampled by A Tribe Called Quest for their hip-hop classic Can I Kick It, which reached No.15 in 1991.

A formidable legacy for 20 minutes work.

Recording the portamento bassline twice – once ascending, then descending – was a canny move by Flowers because under Musicians’ Union rules it earned him twice the session fee of £17. Not that he would be buying a yacht with his pay packed for 20 minutes work – just £34.

It seems meagre reward for creating one of the most memorable basslines in history, and kickstarting Reed’s post-Velvets career; even though the curmudgeonly Reed once complained that the song would be remembered not for the bassline but for the “coloured girls” (aka backing trio Thunderthighs) going: “Doo, de-doo, de-doo, doo-di-doo dooooo….”

Of course it’s more than that: not least the pitch-perfect production by David Bowie and Mick Ronson (who plays the acoustic guitar), the subtle accent of those strings, the brushed drums by Ritchie Dharma, and the closing baritone sax solo by Bowie’s childhood sax teacher Ronnie Ross. 

In a depressing sign of our times today, a student body in Canada recently apologised for including the song on a playlist after complaints that it was “transphobic” rather than what it actually was – an affectionate tribute to Reed’s many gay and trans friends in New York by Lou, who was himself bisexual and lived for years with a trans woman called Rachel.