“Arguing With the Ghost of Peter Laughner About His Coney Island Baby Review” isn’t about that, obviously, but let’s also do that.

Track: “Arguing With the Ghost of Peter Laughner About His Coney Island Baby Review”
Album: Dark in Here (2021)

“Arguing With the Ghost of Peter Laughner About His Coney Island Baby Review” has nothing to do with Peter Laughner or Coney Island Baby. The liner notes for Dark in Here describe it as being for David Berman, who passed away in 2019 and was a massive figure in indie rock and the surrounding worlds. I’ll never forget finding Silver Jews and Pavement albums in the rack at my college radio station and having my mind blown. Berman’s death is a tragedy and the lyrical content here is a tribute to his life and the sadness of his passing.

The title is obviously something else, and the review in question is worth looking up if you don’t know it. I certainly did not, and it is truly out there. Someone claiming to be “approved by the estate of Peter Laughner” messaged John Darnielle a joke about the title here but you can also read the review itself and marvel at rock criticism in 1976. I think you can read multiple things into the title, but Peter Laughner died very young, David Berman was older but also died tragically, and Lou Reed at the time was seen as writing less-appreciated, more traditional stuff and creating a legacy not everyone was going to love after his origins as a genius and out-there. You can absolutely interpret this multiple ways, but Darnielle’s disagreement with the review is tangential to the message and that part is clear and beautiful.