musings on Simon and Garfunkle
Jun. 23rd, 2002 12:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katsterSo. I'm sitting here listening to mp3s of Simon and Garfunkle, ripped from my Old Friends CDs. This music means a hell of a lot. It's gotten me through a lot of hard times, and I'm thankful for it.
I discovered Simon and Garfunkle sorting through my mother's record collection and finding their greatest hits. Well, I take that back. When I was a kid, my dad worked for a rent a car company, and would oft have to go retrieve cars from random locations in California, and us kids got to go a lot of the time. So, we passed the miles, in the backseat of a car, with the radio blasting oldies and the scenery being boring and dull Interstate 5 through the valley. And so I got to know Simon and Garfunkle, and the Beatles, and the Monkees and the Rolling Stones and all those other great bands from the radio.
But I fell in love with Paul Simon's songwriting in high school. Alienated teenager, finding comfort in the poetry of Simon's lyrics. About this time, we got our first CD players. My mother, to celebrate, went out and bought a box set of Paul Simon, which included a lot of his early works writing for Simon and Garfunkle. And wow. I've talked about the poetry in the lyrics, but...to a teenager alone and alienated, it was a light. Look at me, look at this, see, somebody knows my pain! And this continued through high school. The music is beautiful, the editing is elegant, but it's the *words* that sucked me in. I mean...here's a lyric set from "A Poem on the Underground Wall"
And the train is gone suddenly
On wheels clicking silently
Like a gently tapping litany
And he holds his crayon rosary
Tighter in his hand
Isn't that beautiful? As a budding writer, I appreciate the plays on words and the imagry of a common subway vandal shrouded in religious terms. It's a beautful song, if you can find it, I highly recommend it. And it's not just in the obscure songs. Listen closely to the words in "Sounds of Silence" or "The Boxer" or even "Bridge over Troubled Waters". Heck, go listen to "Mrs. Robinson".
Granted, I'm the Paul Simon fangirl, but ... wow. Just wow. And Art has a pretty voice to couple with Simon's guitar, which is just brilliant.
And the years are rolling by me
They are rocking evenly
And I'm older than I once was
And younger than I'll be
But that's not unusual
Nor is it strange
After changes upon changes
We are more or less the same
After changes, we are more or less the same
--The missing verse of the Boxer.
I discovered Simon and Garfunkle sorting through my mother's record collection and finding their greatest hits. Well, I take that back. When I was a kid, my dad worked for a rent a car company, and would oft have to go retrieve cars from random locations in California, and us kids got to go a lot of the time. So, we passed the miles, in the backseat of a car, with the radio blasting oldies and the scenery being boring and dull Interstate 5 through the valley. And so I got to know Simon and Garfunkle, and the Beatles, and the Monkees and the Rolling Stones and all those other great bands from the radio.
But I fell in love with Paul Simon's songwriting in high school. Alienated teenager, finding comfort in the poetry of Simon's lyrics. About this time, we got our first CD players. My mother, to celebrate, went out and bought a box set of Paul Simon, which included a lot of his early works writing for Simon and Garfunkle. And wow. I've talked about the poetry in the lyrics, but...to a teenager alone and alienated, it was a light. Look at me, look at this, see, somebody knows my pain! And this continued through high school. The music is beautiful, the editing is elegant, but it's the *words* that sucked me in. I mean...here's a lyric set from "A Poem on the Underground Wall"
And the train is gone suddenly
On wheels clicking silently
Like a gently tapping litany
And he holds his crayon rosary
Tighter in his hand
Isn't that beautiful? As a budding writer, I appreciate the plays on words and the imagry of a common subway vandal shrouded in religious terms. It's a beautful song, if you can find it, I highly recommend it. And it's not just in the obscure songs. Listen closely to the words in "Sounds of Silence" or "The Boxer" or even "Bridge over Troubled Waters". Heck, go listen to "Mrs. Robinson".
Granted, I'm the Paul Simon fangirl, but ... wow. Just wow. And Art has a pretty voice to couple with Simon's guitar, which is just brilliant.
And the years are rolling by me
They are rocking evenly
And I'm older than I once was
And younger than I'll be
But that's not unusual
Nor is it strange
After changes upon changes
We are more or less the same
After changes, we are more or less the same
--The missing verse of the Boxer.
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no subject
Date: 2002-06-23 12:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-06-24 02:02 am (UTC)Some people never say the words
"I love you"
It's not their style to be so bold
Some people never say those words
"I love you"
But, like a child, they're longing to be told
Alas, I don't really like his latest album. It feels like the lyrics have lost their compact beauty and have a rambling quality that I don't care for.
And the very first time I ever danced.
Date: 2002-06-24 09:56 am (UTC)The only person who comes near to equalling him as a poet/songwriter is Joni Mitchell, and there is no equal as a musician. (Thus spake Lirazelthustra!)
All's I can say is, Sir Paul McCartney, eat your heart out!