In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
You know, man, when I was a young man in high school
You believe in or not, that I wanted to play football for the coach
And 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 a little too lightweight to play lineback and so I'm playing right-end
Wanted to play football for the coach
'Cause, you know some day, man you gotta stand up straight unless you're gonna fall
Then you're going to 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
And I wanted to play football for the coach
When you're all alone and lonely
In your midnight hour
And you find that your soul
It has been up for sale
And you're getting to think about
All the things that you done
And you're getting to hate
Just about 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 are never going to be no human being"
And you start thinking again about all those things that you've done
And who it was and what it was
And all the different things that made every different scene
Ah, but remember that the city is a funny place
Something 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, uh, 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 to see you through, huh
Oh, my Coney Island baby, now
I'm a Coney Island baby, now
I'd like to send this one out to Lou and Rachel
And all the kids at P.S. one-ninety-two (Coney Island baby)
Man, I'd swear, I'd give the whole thing up for you
You believe in or not, that I wanted to play football for the coach
And 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 a little too lightweight to play lineback and so I'm playing right-end
Wanted to play football for the coach
'Cause, you know some day, man you gotta stand up straight unless you're gonna fall
Then you're going to 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
And I wanted to play football for the coach
When you're all alone and lonely
In your midnight hour
And you find that your soul
It has been up for sale
And you're getting to think about
All the things that you done
And you're getting to hate
Just about 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 are never going to be no human being"
And you start thinking again about all those things that you've done
And who it was and what it was
And all the different things that made every different scene
Ah, but remember that the city is a funny place
Something 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, uh, 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 to see you through, huh
Oh, my Coney Island baby, now
I'm a Coney Island baby, now
I'd like to send this one out to Lou and Rachel
And all the kids at P.S. one-ninety-two (Coney Island baby)
Man, I'd swear, I'd give the whole thing up for you
Lyrics submitted by spliphstar, edited by Ulmanor
Coney Island Baby Lyrics as written by Lou Reed
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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how to begin with the moodiest song of all time? even though I didn't even grow up in NYC...
My impression of Lou in general is of him being the good part of a century ahead of his time. Not a figure of speech, that's how much I'd say he was ahead. Normally for this sort of thing to happen, a person's got to have a kind of whacked up brain (like how so many genius scientists/mathematicians have had, for example), and Lou had one. It seems like he just couldn't relate to anything or anybody, except for the city of New York itself which came the closest. New York, as a menagerie of everything intelligent & unintelligent, a standard of culture and a collapse of culture, I think this is the image Lou started to have of his own brain, leading him on a search (most pronounced in his younger years) for the next buzz, to keep his mind occupied. I think later on though (he became big on tai chi, and you can hear this on his song Modern Dance), he started to accept the simple-minded, simple-hearted cravings he'd harbored his entire life for just natural and sane love, and the unironic things. One of my favorite things about his music is its almost-inscrutability in terms of sincerity, since he jumped so much between mocking songwriting and cheesy but sincere songwriting (e.g. Jesus and I Found a Reason). I think Coney Island Baby as an album seems to come in kind of half-way, or a little more, along the way between his eternally-unsatisfied state to where he was by the time of his way-later work (though he was by no means an all-enduring sage by then...)
Coney Island Baby (the song) shares the same backdrop as the story above.. the lonely and ironic New York which is the same soulful New York that probably everyone who's lived there bears the contradiction of inside of them. And this song is just like, a walk through those streets, it is exactly what it sounds like to walk through the city in the dark hour. I'll venture to say that this might be the soundtrack to other metropolises in the world too, on certain kinds of nights.