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Sunday afternoon in autumn in America

Posted: 06 Nov 2016 20:30
by Sheila Klein
In his "Coney Island Baby" -- which I consider to be one of the masterpieces of the solo portion of his career -- Lou Reed speaks of having, back in his high school days, "wanted to play football for the coach". As if to let us know he means this literally rather than as a metaphor (even if it is ultimately a metaphor, perhaps for an unfulfilled desire to please his father), he adds some football detail: "I was a little too lightweight to play linebacker so I went out for right end".

Alas, there is no such position as right end in football. There is a tight end, but to call tight end "right end" would be like calling the right field baseball position "tight field". We could dismiss this as a simple slip of the tongue while recording the song's original studio version, but the fact he is the repeats the same "right end" in every version of the song I've ever heard.

Maybe if he'd made the squad, he'd have eventually learned the name of the damn position!