Lou Reed - Coney Island Baby Lyrics






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
All those older guys, they said 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-back
So I say I'm playing right-in
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 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
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 getting to think about, all the things you done
And you 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 a human being
And you start thinking again
About all those things that you've done
And who it was and who it was
And all the different things you 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, 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 the Lord appeared and he has one made of two
Coney Island baby
Man, I swear, I'd give the whole thing up for you





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Lou Reed Coney Island Baby Comments
  1. G.... B....

    I was listening to this in 1987. Not even the fucking 80s.

  2. M.... S....

    Cooler than a polar bear's chilly bits :)

  3. L.... P....

    Il Re...💜🍃

  4. n.... ....

    God I’ve always loved this song so much. It always makes me ugly cry, yet there’s a center of hope and transcendence that keeps me hanging on. And I love all these years later finding all these people on YouTube who love it so much too.

  5. r.... ....

    A beautiful song that so many people fail to understand. This isn't necessarily his specific dream of playing football for the coach. It's partly the flip side of take a walk on the wild side. Neither story is exactly him, he's just telling stories about how people see their world.

  6. P.... L....

    I love you

  7. J.... L....

    Thank you. I just heard this song and it is more than just good.

  8. j.... ....

    Love is all there is. Love, Love, Love...The glory of Love

  9. S.... M....

    Magik Atmosfere

  10. U.... T....

    This brilliant diamond of a song makes me feel sooo much gayer than I already am 💗🧡💛💚💙💜 !!!!!

  11. s.... h....

    So beautiful....forever.

  12. J.... L....

    My favourite Reed song. Beautiful, beautiful Heart.

  13. s.... k....

    i saw Lou Reed in London in the 70s - brilliant

  14. M.... Q....

    I can’t believe Lana Del Rey invented Lou Reed and Coney Island

  15. f.... r....

    put1 que c'est beau

  16. S.... H....

    love the build up

  17. G.... S....

    Rip Lou 😪😪✌✌✌😻😻😻😻💎

  18. S.... B....

    Levend sterft nooit.

  19. J.... M....

    Just remember the abuse Lou Reed endured throughout a career we know fuck all about. 'Sing heroin lou' when you are in 77 not 66. Velvets a great, great band but remember and listen to what came after.

  20. c.... d....

    Fsntastic fantástico Lou Redd 🎸🎶

  21. P.... S....

    You cant put a foot wrong Lou fucking blinding tune in fact the whole album is...........of the scale!

  22. B.... D....

    'Coney Island Baby', not even close !!! There is only one, recorded in 1962, by ' John Kuse & The Excellents' ...... Reed, should have found a different title ..............

  23. S.... R....

    Love Forever

  24. f.... d....

    For The Hitterchick Stuygal83 from The Coolbreeze Stuyboy63 --

  25. K.... J....

    yeah lou i admired you sorry because you died same year as my mother she never loved me so i grow up wild and fre have my own paths

  26. B.... O....

    Reality is a serious place, for retrobates like Denny Laine

  27. t.... ....

    the end of Sandman brought me here hahahah

    t.... ....

    thusano2 How’s that lol

    t.... ....

    @todd kuznitz In the last edition of the original Sandman run comic #75, the author Neil Gaiman has a whole section where he says his goodbyes,and in the liner notes he says something to the effect of, "I don't know what to say I expect I can find the right record to put on...I stick to Lou Reeds Coney Island Baby, comfort music just the right blend of cynicism and sentimentality." (paraphrasing.) I thought it was funny because I always threw on records while I was reading his comics anyway, and of course, Velvet was in the mix, so I thought, yep perfect hahah.

    t.... ....

    thusano2 that’s absolutely perfect lol, how did I miss that? I fucking love sandman

  28. P.... F....

    Even when you've failed at life, Lou Reed's music is always there for you and is comforting in some way.

    P.... F....

    Even the losers get Lucky sometimes.
    You cant judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree.

  29. S.... C....

    🙌🏻 " And right now She just might just come shining through " 🙏🏻 I can thank Dave Bothwell, a tall dark handsome man that turned me onto Lou Reed 💞
    Many trips & smokes & young love together 💞💥 Praise your Soul Dave, RIP ❤🙏🏻 I don't think I ever thanked you for this gift of Lou Reed appreciation. 🌠❤
    RIP Lou Reed too 🙏🏻💞 I love all your music & understand the highs & lows you had. Hope your partying with Bowie & all friends 💞🐱♏☯️🍄🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

  30. R.... R....

    This song did it for me, thank you Lou.

  31. D.... V....

    For more than 40 years, every time I hear this song, it is devastating and somehow it links me to something eternal.

    D.... V....

    It's not my favorite Lou Read song paragraph was just perfect Ignore my misspellings I'm trying to speak to text I recall listening to him going to a park with no street lights in Rochester eyes fog is the head and the lights are flashing on and off on my bike

  32. G.... S....

    black is the new tears. ged from rosneath.

  33. G.... S....

    love lou reed ....emotionally obligatory..ged from rosneath..

  34. F.... ....

    For my 23 years old life,in a milatiry camp , near Nimes in France, for 'The Mas CABANE" , for "Klennex",for 'Mémé", "Motte" and " Paqual",AND for "Freddy" and for the Sunday morning alone in a military bed , the life is too short ....

  35. R.... Y....

    I just realised Lana Del Rey mentioned this in Carmen

  36. G.... S....

    lou makes your soul ejaculate. on a bad night.the guy is love. ged from rosneath.

  37. M.... T....

    CHI METTE ..NON MI PIACE ..... NON CAPISCE DAVVERO UN CAZZO !!!

  38. M.... N....

    What a gem.

  39. �.... ....

    日曜深夜2時45分頃の陰鬱な気分が甦る、またレギュラーでやってほしい

  40. m.... ....

    Big Lou👌✌

  41. o.... d....

    The development of the lead guitar is like a story all it’s own that compliments Lou’s great lyrics so well. I am a Coney Island Baby, now...

  42. m.... m....

    Yes rain Indeed...

  43. A.... R....

    Rachel y Lou. Musica para despertar muy despacio.

  44. J.... R....

    I love this song

  45. G.... V....

    Masterpiece ❤️

  46. R.... A....

    when you're all alone and lonely...

  47. G.... S....

    lou reed ....... the best,untouchable as an artist. dirty purity. tears are the new black.
    trust me. ged from rosneath.

  48. M.... S....

    Lous best song ... beautiful .... thanks lou ....

  49. i.... ....

    Anyone who came here just to check whether this song is related or not with Barber Shop Quartet's Song (Goobye My Coney Island Babe) in the Simpsons?

  50. J.... S....

    one of his very best albums. as good as a Velvet Underground album, even. Right up there with Transformer and Berlin also. (His first self titled album Lou Reed is under appreciated, check that out. Magic and Loss is also under appreciated)

    J.... S....

    I have magic and loss,but have never played it yet

    J.... S....

    I have coney island baby,great cd.i have the one with the bonus tracks

  51. H.... L....

    When im see lou reed The first time in May 74 i was hookt and I still collect all VU and lou reed 50 years later im on that booth legg from 1974 live in Stockholm i belive lou was The best rock poet ever

  52. E.... v....

    Tão lindo é o subtil, são poucos , mas que energia tem para sentitir é a na única verdade, haverá.

  53. E.... v....

    que palavras tem que ser escritas!,se os seres quanta difilcuildade, tem se compreenderm a eles próprios,então, lá estam eles... a nos fazer projetar nos trabalhos essenciais, nos todos temos capacidade de fazer acontecer.,,,,,,,,é assim.....................

  54. L.... ....

    jejejejeje wanda blay boodbal 4 duh cooch

  55. j.... ....

    just might be Lou's best song

  56. J.... C....

    Tener la sensación de que ésta, u otra composición de él maestro LOU REED es la mejor, es mucho decir.. En mi opinión. Hay tantas.. Uffff.. Que no puedo decir con... Que es la...

  57. J.... M....

    Sublime guitar by Robert Quine. Such soul (post-post update: Bob Kulick, not Robert Quine. my mistake)

    J.... M....

    Is that who it is?? I didnt know he and lou went this far back...

    J.... M....

    @Chris M Hey, good catch. I was wrong on that. It is Bob Kulick.

  58. M.... B....

    My favourite LR song closely followed by everything on Berlin and the title track of Street Hassle. Desolation riffs all.

    M.... B....

    Plus some of new york .. rock n roll animal ....

    M.... B....

    @Mike S Not the first time New York singled out for my attn. I'll check out the tracks on his his 3CD compilation Between Thought and Expression I've got. ;As for Rock n' Roll Animal (thumping sound as I beat my forehead) that is my absolute favourite - the instrumental intro and then Sweet Jane, Heroin, Rock and Roll - everything on the reissue. He was not a consistent performer but this may be my favourite live rock concert of any artist. That band half of it of course. The DVD award winning doco Rock and Roll Heart revealing too.

    M.... B....

    @Mark Berthold your on yo it ... i love every song on RnR animal LOUD ...best intro of any song .. sweet jane .. but side 2 is just as good ..... theres a later lp of him live in london which is great too for a live lp ... and then theres .. take no prisoners which is worth it just for the live version of .. walk on wild side ... bit differant but .. tim buckley ,live in L.A. 1974 is a great lp too ...

  59. w.... v....

    He plays guitar while I sing Lou Reed 😍

  60. s.... p....

    Lou Reed at his best! Don't know too much about him, besides this song and Take a walk on the wild side! Must listen to more of
    his work!

    s.... p....

    Transformer .. rock n roll animal .. new york and this lp ... must haves ...

  61. s.... p....

    Diamond Dogs is a bad album! Only 3 good songs on the album! They can't all be great! Very difficult to accomplish that in a career!

  62. d.... j....

    Last great American whale. Easily as good as Dylan. Just had his own experience that he sang about.

    d.... j....

    Lous so under rated .. much more darkly emotional and beautiful tone than dlyan ...

    d.... j....

    All the right touches in right places ,,, wow ..

    d.... j....

    lou reed's voice at times has that Dylan sound

  63. G.... ....

    Excellent

  64. K.... J....

    do not play footbal like bob marley lou my precious angel oh how i wish that bob dylan marry me that would be glory of love we are internal loverswild horses all the horses on the sun tired ones

    K.... J....

    Come again.

  65. s.... ....

    I had forgotten just how wonderful this song was and still is.

  66. j.... ....

    Atemporal un lienzo lleno de notas

  67. J.... K....

    Very relaxing

  68. W.... p....

    Today such a crappy day, but hopefully with this song we can make it better

    W.... p....

    Got overpaid by work, although maybe it's karma paying me the correct amount which i totally deserve (:

  69. J.... M....

    This is boring. Its like listening to nothing. Does he have any other tuneful albums like Transformer?

    J.... M....

    But I guess your a bigger fan of upbeat music and yes he does look it up

    J.... M....

    @Elizabeth Garcia I need it written in the old verse verse chorus verse way. I want songs I can sing along to over and over. Transformer had a lot of songs like that.

    J.... M....

    @Johnny MFan I understand I still stand by my point though

    J.... M....

    @Elizabeth Garcia Ok. Thank you.

    J.... M....

    Guess it's all a matter of taste but try the live album Rock and Roll Animal. It has the best intro I have ever heard leading into Sweet Jane. But I do agree that Transformer is a work of art.

  70. T.... ....

    Love is the greatest painkiller. It aiint no Disneyland out there folks. R.I.P. Lou. RIP it up lad.....

    T.... ....

    Nicely said ... some of us are creatures of the dark ....

  71. A.... S....

    Pristine

  72. H.... H....

    Such a melancholy ride

  73. D.... ....

    I remember rushing out to buy the album when it came out. Blew my mind and still does today. Lyrically Lou was on another planet and miss his genius.

    D.... ....

    👍👍👍🎼🎶🎵💣

  74. R.... G....

    I love you Lou...I feel like you..thanks..

  75. J.... L....

    The nightmarish interview in the Lou Reed Lowest form of life (short documentary) is interesting.

  76. A.... T....

    After the Velvet Underground phase grew on me, and after I enjoyed classics like "Sunday Morning", "Venus In Furs", "Heroin", and thinking "hell yea he was a real rocker", I suddenly discovered this beautiful song.

    I do not know why this makes me feel sad, maybe because I can relate to the "playing football for the coach" thing, like I have always wanted to be part of something (though I am still quite young to feel identified with the rest of the song, as I have yet to walk a bit the road of life to find the glory of love).

    He looks so mysterious and dark in that picture, yet that makes him more appealing. It is so nice that he expressed his feelings in this song, it is so sublime. It is not even among my favourite songs, but since I discovered it (very recently), it has not stopped playing in my head.

    A.... T....

    אביאל טיקאס it will become one of your favorite songs, I can promise you, as life moves on and things go sideways as they always do

    A.... T....

    Your listening to the right music .. try ... tim buckley .. greetings from L.A. 1974 ....

  77. D.... R....

    A beautiful album dedicated to his love at that point in time... He/She (everyone's forgot his/she's name) ... Poetry at it's best... R.I.P.

    D.... R....

    Rachel Humpfreys, I guess (at least that's her female name).

    D.... R....

    @Abiel Ticas you bet me to it ... beautiful darkly emotional song .. lou at his best ..

  78. A.... A....

    thank u lyynch for introducing this legend in ur movie

  79. r.... ....

    an' I wanna play football fuh th' coach...

  80. K.... J....

    ywah lou

  81. T.... ....

    i saw 2 beavers having sex on the back of a persons house once! that event 20 years ago brought me to this tune right now!

  82. o.... ....

    Something like a circus or a sewer. That was and is my New York.

    o.... ....

    Highly recommended, a masterpiece: 'New York Tendaberry' (1969) by the Bronx prodigy and genius Laura Nyro. An album that will floor you. More intense than Berlin. The Track 'Captain for Dark Mornings' is one of Joni Mitchell's top ten ever.

  83. P.... P....

    iMagine All De Peopulllll

  84. M.... D....

    their football team must have sucked

  85. E.... v....

    O subtil navega, aporta em portos mas só fica se o acolherem.

  86. R.... F....

    İ dreamt this man tonight. He was living the simple life in a village in the Alps, İtaly.

    R.... F....

    come si può non amare uno che scrive una canzone così? ogni volta piango

  87. D.... ....

    Dire sttaights

  88. s.... h....

    Repeat play tonight.

  89. s.... h....

    so good.

  90. J.... L....

    A grim tune. As harsh as the Nick Cave Let It Be (The Beatles) cover?

    J.... L....

    I find it gritty and realistic but ultimately uplifting.

  91. A.... W....

    This song just gets straight under your skin, into your guts, then reaches up and grabs your heart and gives it a great big squeeze.

    A.... W....

    Couldn't have put it better myself.

    A.... W....

    Hits those dark emotions ... so beautifully worded ...

  92. A.... I....

    Me: Carmen and Brooklyn Baby exists about this guy.

  93. D.... D....

    its the guitar replies that make it

  94. D.... J....

    Chill Lou

  95. K.... ....

    >cancer ensues
    >this song
    >heroin
    >goodbye

  96. J.... L....

    Some diners are strange places, almost like jungle where wildlife gather to feed. Some get misanthropic in there. But they shouldn´t. There`s often a table at the back where they can see things from another perspective. In the end perhaps their hatred will vanish like mist in early morning sunshine.