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"Candy Says" is the first track on the Velvet Underground's self-titled third album. It is one of four songs that Reed explicitly wrote in the voice of a female character, in the case of "Candy Says", a transgender woman, telling her experiences. Each would begin with the woman's name and then be followed by the verb "says". "Stephanie Says" was the first (later adapted into "Caroline Says" on his solo album Berlin).

The song is based on a real person, as it addresses trans woman Candy Darling's desire to escape her gender assigned at birth. Reed insisted that Doug Yule take the lead vocal on the song.

Reed said the song was also "about something more profound and universal, a universal feeling I think all of us have at some point. We look in the mirror and we don't like what we see...I don't know a person alive who doesn't feel that way."

Alternate versions

• 1970: On the live album Live at Max's Kansas City
• 1972: On the live album Le Bataclan '72
• 2003: Anohni on Reed's live album Animal Serenade
• In 2005, Lou Reed joined Antony and the Johnsons for a rendition of "Candy Says" on stage at Anohni's Carnegie Hall show.
• 2006: Anohni and Reed on his live album Berlin: Live At St. Ann's Warehouse
• Reed's last public performance, seven months before his death in October 2013, was also "Candy Says" with Antony and the Johnsons, this time in Paris on March 6 of that year.

In popular culture

Anohni's 2003 live version of the song was featured in the 2022 interactive film video game Immortality.

References

1. ^ Brown, Bill (December 2013). Words and Guitar: A History of Lou Reed's Music. Colossal Books. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-615-93377-1.
2. The Guardian, December 7 2015
3. 'Lou Reed, a Life', Anthony DeCurtis, p.121
4. Greene, Andy (27 October 2015). "Flashback: Lou Reed Plays 'Candy Says' At his Final Performance". Rolling Stone.

• 1969 songs
• Songs written by Lou Reed
• The Velvet Underground songs
• Transgender-related songs
• Songs about real people
• LGBTQ-related songs