coney island baby

The glory of love came shining through for Lou Reed in this sad and sweet testament to the coaches and princesses at PS 192 and the doo-wop music of his adolescence. Coney Island Baby sounds even sweeter after the difficult to digest acid wash feedback-drenched experimental art noise of Metal Machine Music, which was released earlier that year. Perhaps because that album was so extreme, this one comes off as his most commercial. It is not without the seedy characters that inhabit all of his albums, and yet there is a lightness to these sketches; although the dark and twisted 'Kicks' makes sure we don't forget the grit. The title track may be the most sensitive and intimate thing he's ever done.



Coney Island Baby was recorded at Mediasound Studios in New York City and features Lou Reed on vocals, rhythm guitar, and lead guitar (on "Crazy Feeling", "She's My Best Friend", "Kicks", "Coney Island Baby"), and piano; Bob Kulick on lead and slide guitar; Bruce Yaw on acoustic bass and electric bass; Michael Suchorsky on drums; and Joanne Vent, Michael Wendroff, and Godfrey Diamond on background vocals; with Doug Yule on bass on bonus tracks 2, 4-6, guitar on bonus tracks 4-6; Bob Meday on drums on bonus tracks 2, 4-6; Michael Fonfara on keyboards on bonus tracks 2, 4-6; and photography by Mick Rock, Reed co-produced the sessions with Godfrey Diamond.


Coney Island Baby went to number fifty-two in the UK, forty-one in the US, and twelve in France.






Reed would express: “Product can talk about product and artist can talk about art, but product cannot talk about art. That’s like margarine trying to talk about butter...I don’t know what decadence is. A lot of business men are decadent, too...The way I look at the world, everything is black and white...[Metal Machine Music] was misunderstood by RCA. They took it around to AM stations. Of course it didn’t go over. I like it a lot, play it all the time at home...[Coney Island Baby is] the other side of Metal Machine Music."








http://www.loureed.com/













You know, man, when I was a young man in high school
You believe it or not I wanted to play football for the coach
All those older guys
They said that he was mean and cruel, but you know
I wanted to play football for the coach
They said I was to little too light weight to play line-backer
So I'm playing right-end
Wanted to play football for the coach
'Cause, you know some day
You gotta stand up straight or else you're gonna fall
Then you're gonna die
And the straightest dude
I ever knew was standing right for me all the time
So I had to play football for the coach
I wanted to play football for the coach

When youre all alone and lonely
In your midnight hour
And you find that your soul
Its been up for sale

And you begin to think bout
All the things that youve done
And you begin to hate
Just bout everything

But remember the princess who lived on the hill
Who loved you even though she knew you was wrong
And right now she just might come shining through
And the -

- glory of love, glory of love
Glory of love, just might come through

And all your two-bit friends
Have gone and ripped you off
They're talking behind your back saying, man
You ain't never gonna be no human being
And you you begin to think 'bout all those things that you've done
And who it was and what it was
And all the different things you made every different scene

Ahhh, but remember that the city is a funny place
Somethin' like a circus or a sewer
And just remember different people have peculiar tastes
And the -

- glory of love, the glory of love
The glory of love, might see you through
Yeah, but now, now
Glory of love, the glory of love
The glory of love, might see you through
Glory of love, ah, huh, huh, the glory of love
Glory of love, glory of love
Glory of love, now, glory of love, now
Glory of love, now, now, now, glory of love
Glory of love, give it to me now, glory of love see you through
Oh, my coney island baby, now
(I'm a coney island baby, now)
I'd like to send this one out for Lou and Rachel
And all the kids and P.S. 192
Coney island baby
Man, I swear, I'd give the whole thing up for you



Coney Island Baby 
full album:





All tracks by Lou Reed.

"Crazy Feeling" – 2:56
"Charley's Girl" – 2:36
"She's My Best Friend" – 6:00
"Kicks" – 6:06
"A Gift" – 3:47
"Ooohhh Baby" – 3:45
"Nobody's Business" – 3:41
"Coney Island Baby" – 6:36





bonus tracks


"Nowhere at All" – 3:17 recorded November 18 & 21, 1975 at Mediasound Studios, NYC


"Downtown Dirt" – 4:18 recorded January 3 & 4, 1975 at Electric Lady Studios, NYC


"Leave Me Alone" – 5:35 recorded October 19 & 20, 1975 at Mediasound Studios, NYC


"Crazy Feeling" – 2:39 recorded January 3 & 4, 1975 at Electric Lady Studios, NYC


"She's My Best Friend" – 4:08 recorded January 4, 1975 at Electric Lady Studios, NYC


"Coney Island Baby" – 5:41 recorded January 6, 1975 at Electric Lady Studios, NYC