Shot by: Godlis - Happy Rosh Hashanah

Coney Island, 1979, ©Godlis

NYNS - Coney Island Baby

Coney Island is an idea that lives inside all of us. The idea of Coney Island, even if you've never been there, captures the imagination & speaks to a nostalgia that can't exist anywhere else other than the heart & mind. Here are three songs all with the same title: Coney Island Baby.

The first, by the Excellents, from 1961 or 1962, is straight up doo wop. The musical equivalent of Coney Island to a degree.



Lou Reed's Coney Island Baby was the title track from his 1976 album, and followed his most extreme album in Metal Machine Music. With dashes of doo wop, Lou paints a personal picture...striving for some sort of meaning in life without coming across as corny. As only a great songwriter can do.

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And last but not least, Mr. Tom Waits brings us his Coney Island Baby from his 2002 album, Blood Money. As only Tom Waits can, he combines a pastiche of "old time" music with a sincere and heartfelt lyric that seems to work every time.

She's My Coney Island Baby

Click on over to the New York Nobody Sings for a quick trip out to Coney Island.