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Rating: In the mid-70s, Lou Reed was in a rather strange period, a sort of middle ground between the success of the “cursed rocker” persona and the madness that led him to produce that Metal Machine Music which alienated him from many within his record company, as well as among his fans. He was therefore in a period where he himself needed a change, even musically, and the change came.
Indeed, he came out with this Coney Island Baby, a light and beautiful record, although in some way it anticipates the “stupid music” of Rock’n’Roll Heart that would soon follow.
It is possible that he did it also to at least partially compensate RCA for the terrible failure of Metal Machine Music, but it doesn’t matter, any reason for such a record is good.
The lightness is immediately felt in the first two tracks of the album, “Crazy Feeling” and “Charley’s Girl”, two excellent easy-listening songs, pleasantly rocked and highly catchy, music, to quote Lou, “to listen to at the bar while reading, just for enjoyment
”. “She’s My Best Friend” is one of my favorite Lou Reed songs, a typically Reedian rock, with a final guitar explosion that certainly places it among his most prestigious pieces ever.
“Kicks”: if I were a director making a film about a serial killer, I couldn’t find a better soundtrack than this song, an anthem to depravation, vice, and total derailment. Lou Reed candidly confesses “I’m a gift for the women of this world
”, (“A Gift”), one should ask for information from Laurie Anderson, his current partner.
Then comes the simple and straightforward rock’n’roll of “Ooohhh Baby”, with driving rhythm and guitars and Lou’s lazy and casual voice. “Nobody’s Business” is a slow piece that never particularly impressed me, while the finale “Coney Island Baby” is the Stroke of Genius, an autobiographical and effective slow song that leaves you stunned for its intensity and for the involvement with which Lou tells his story through a song, with even adolescent memories (“I wanted to play football just for the coach…
”).
A record that perhaps was meant to be just a transition and instead turned out to be much more, especially in light of what happened after, and it is an album that, in the Lou Reed catalog, shines with its own light and, to this day, can be listened to with extreme pleasure.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
04 Kicks (06:06)
Hey man, what's your style
How you get your kicks for living
Hey man, what's your style
How you get your adrenalin flowing now
How you get your adrenalin flowing
Hey man, what's your style
I love the way, try to call now
Hey man, what's your style
I ain't jealous of the way you're living
I ain't jealous of the way you're living
When you cut that dude with just a little mania
You did it so, ... ah
When the blood comma' down his neck ...
Don't you know it was better than sex, now, now, now
It was way better than getting mean
'cause it was, the final thing to do, now
Get somebody to come on to you
and then you just get somebody to
to now, now, come on to you
And then you kill 'em, yeah
You kill 'em, now, now, cause I need kicks ...
I'm getting bored, I need, need, need, need now, now some kicks
Oh, give it, give it, give it, give it to me now, now, kicks
Hey man, what's your style
How you get your kicks for living
Hey man, what's your style
How you get your adrenalin flowing now, now, now, now, now
How you get your adrenalin flowing
Hey man, what's your style
You know, I love the way you drive your car now
Hey man, what's your style
I ain't jealous of the way you're living
Ain't jealous of, now, now, the way you're living
Hey, newspaper ...
You did it so, wow, crudely, now
With that blood coming down his chest
It was way better than sex, now, now
It was way better than getting mean
It was the final thing to do
Get somebody to came, come on to you, then
Get somebody to, ah, come on to you
Better kill them now
Better kill him now, now
Yeah, yeah, yeah, kill him now, now
'Cause I need kicks
I need some kicks
I'm getting bored
I need, need, need, need, need, need, need some kicks
Yeah, need, need, need, need, need, need, need some kicks
Oh, give it now, kicks
Yeah, need some kicks
Yeah, need some k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k, kicks
Oh, give it me now, now
Kicks, kicks, kicks, kicks ...
05 A Gift (03:47)
I'm just a gift to the women of this world
I'm just a gift to the women of this world
Responsibility sits so hard on my shoulder
like a good wine, I'm better as I grow older, and now -
- I'm just a gift to the women of this world
I'm just a gift to the women of this world
I'm just a gift to the women of this world
It's hard to settle for second best
after you've had me, you know that you've had the best
and now you know that -
- I'm just a gift to the women of this world
(I'm just a gift to the women of this world)
(I'm just a gift to the women of this world)
Responsibility sits hard on my shoulder
like a good wine, I'm better as I get older, and now -
- I'm just a gift to the women of this world
You know that I'm just a gift to the women of this world
just a gift now
(I'm just a gift to the women of this world)
(I'm just a gift to the women of this world)
(I'm just a gift to the women of this world)
(I'm just a gift to the women of this world, just now)
(I'm just a gift to the women of this world, just a gift)
(I'm just a gift to the women of this world)
I'm just a gift to the women of this world
I'm just a gift to the women of this world
....
07 Nobody's Business (03:41)
Hey, if you're moving too fast
don't you want this thing last
But if you start moving slow and -
hey, pretty mama, you just will have to go, because -
It's nobody's business but my own
It's nobody's business but my own
No-no-no-no-no-no-no, no-no-no-no, no-no-no
No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no, no-no-no-no, no-no-no
But if you start acting mean
then I'll have to mess up the scene
But if you start treating me nice
hey, now baby, I'm gonna have to raise your price
Because it's nobody's business but my own
It's nobody's business but my own
No-no-no-no-no-no-no, no-no-no-no, no-no-no
No-no-no-no, no-no-no, no-no-no
Nobody's business
nobody's business, come on now
Hey, nobody's business, yeah, but my own
nobody's business, oh, my, no-no-no
Nobody's business, no-no-no-no-no
hey, nobody's business, yeah, but my own
Nobody's business, my own
no-no, no-no-no
No-no-no, no-no-no
Nobody's business
nobody's business
Nobody's business
nobody's business, but my own, now
...
08 Coney Island Baby (06:36)
You know, man, when I was a young man in high school
you believe in or not I wanted to play football for the coach
And all those older guys
they said he was mean and cruel, but you know
wanted to play football for the coach
They said I was to little too light weight to play line-backer
so I say 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 gone 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's been up for sale
And you begin to think 'bout
all the things that you've 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're never going to be no human being
And you start thinking again
'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
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 all the kids and P.S. 192
Coney Island baby
Man, I'd swear, I'd give the whole thing up for you
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Other reviews
By stellameringa
This title contains the strength of the artistic and human rebirth of a man now on the brink of self-destruction.
"Coney Island Baby" becomes a sort of anthem to homosexuality, but at the same time celebrates love 360° without compromises and without inhibitions.
