Lyrics to
Wild Child

This version of Wild Child was released by Lou Reed in 1972.

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I was talkin’ to Chuck in his Genghis Khan suit
and his wizard’s hat
He spoke of his movie and how he was makin’
a new sound track

And then we spoke of kids on the coast
and different types of organic soap
And the way suicides don’t leave notes
Then we spoke of Lorraine
always back to Lorraine

I was speakin’ to Phil who was given to pills
and small racing cars
He had given them up since his last crack-up
had carried him too far

Then we spoke of the movies and verse
and the way an actress held her purse
And the way life at times can get worse
Then we spoke of Lorraine
always back to Lorraine

Ah, she’s a wild child
and nobody can get at her
She’s a wild child
oh, and nobody can get to her

Sleepin’ out on the street
Oh, livin’ all alone
without a house or a home
and then she asked you, please
hey, baby, can I have some spare change
Oh, can I break your heart?

She’s a wild child, she’s a wild child

I was talkin’ to Betty about her auditions
how they made her ill
But life is the theater, is certainly fraught
with many spills and chills

But she’d come down after some wine
which is what happens most of the time
Then we sat and both spoke in rhymes
Till we spoke of Lorraine
ah, always back to Lorraine

I was talking to Ed who’d been reported dead
by mutual friends
He thought it was funny that I had no money
to spend on him

So we both shared a piece of sweet cheese
and sang of our lives and our dreams
And how things can come apart at the seams
And we talk of Lorraine
always back to Lorraine

She’s a wild child
oh, and nobody can get at her
She’s a wild child
oh, and nobody can get to her

Sleepin’ out on the street
Oh, livin’ all alone
without a house or a home
and then she asked you, please,
oh, baby, can I have some spare change
Now can I break your heart?”

She’s a wild child, she’s a wild child

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Lou Reed has released many songs over the years besides Wild Child. Lou Reed released songs from 1972 to 2000 spanning across albums like Transformer, Lou Reed, Berlin, Sally Can't Dance, Rock 'n' Roll Animal, Coney Island Baby, Rock And Roll Heart, Street Hassle, The Bells, Growing Up In Public, The Blue Mask, Legendary Hearts, New Sensations, Mistrial, New York, Magic And Loss, Set The Twilight Reeling, and Ecstasy. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Lou Reed.

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About Lyrics and Wild Child by Lou Reed

When you decide to study the lyrics to Wild Child, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1972 song by Lou Reed. Some of the lyrics to Wild Child have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Lou Reed and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to Wild Child if you take apart the structure of the words. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Wild Child" means the words set to the music of Wild Child, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Lou Reed. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Wild Child and the lyrics to Wild Child are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Lou Reed who came here looking just for the lyrics to Wild Child, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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