How did Paul Simon know? In 1973?

[DemoTex]

One of the best tunes from one of the best albums of my lifetime. So applicable today that it is scary.
Parts of this album were recorded at 3614 N Jackson Hwy, Sheffield, AL (the incredible Muscle Shoal Music Studio). It introduced us to the Roches, Magi & Terri (RIP).
Rhymin' Simon sez:
"And I don't know a soul who's not been battered
I don't have a friend who feels at ease
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
or driven to its knees .."
Me. You?
Then Fucking VOTE! Feel free to share.

[elleng]

1. THANKS, DemoTex.

[KT2000]

2. Good selection

and a sing-along for some of us.

[dalton99a]

3. 1974 performance on Dick Cavett show:

[idziak4ever1234]

4. He must have started wearing the bow tie years later.

[nuxvomica]

5. This is my all-time favorite song

It has never failed to speak to me, at any time.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

6. Song was written during Watergate and towards the end of the Viet Nam War

Last edited Fri Oct 23, 2020, 11:22 PM - Edit history (2)

Five years earlier two of our beloved leaders Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King were taken by assasain's bullets.

In 1970 students at Kent State were killed by National Guard troops.

Basically it was a turbulent time and the lyrics reflected how may felt at the time.

[Sogo]

17. All true; not to mention

the 10s of thousands of young men who had died in Viet Nam.

[moonscape]

21. And we thought we couldn't sink any lower than

Nixon and Watergate in 1973. Piling on to what we had gone through.

[2naSalit]

7. Great song!

I loved all of their music, and I recall how life was. It was the perfect song for the time... and still, always will be.

Thanks for the reminder!

[Chiyo-chichi]

8. Oh, but it's all right...it's all right... I'm just weary to my bones.

Still, when I think of the road we're traveling on, I wonder what went wrong. Can't help it, I wonder what went wrong.

I'm far from a professional musician, but it took me six months to learn to play American Tune on guitar note-for-note. Though it seems relatively simple, the fingerpicking patterns are killer. Wonderful lyrics and a great tune, which is based on the medieval Passion hymn, O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.

[lastlib]

22. Tomorrow's gonna be another workin' day.

(I'm postponing my rest until Joe Biden is in the White House, and AnusMouth is in the BIG house (and I ain't referring to Mar-A-Fuggo).)

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. This is also my favorite song of all time.

The lyrics that speak most to me are

We come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the Moon
We come in the age's most uncertain hour
and sing an American tune.

[Wounded Bear]

10. Loved S&G before they were cool...

[Laura PourMeADrink]

11. Beautiful and highly recommended 💗 DT

[Hekate]

12. This

This this

[Upthevibe]

13. DemoTex.....

What a beautiful and timely song. It's always been one of my favorites. Simon and Garfunkel are national treasures.
Thank you....

[George II]

14. A great song, way ahead of it's time. I recognized it right away - brings back memories...

That's from the Concert in Central Park - it took place on the Great Lawn, less than 500 feet from where I lived at the time on Central Park West.

I didn't think to go down there early, and when I did I couldn't get into the park - it was already at full capacity. So I went back home and watched it on cable (Showtime, I believe?)

At least in the opening overhead scene the camera passed over the building I live in!

Thanks for the memory, sir!

[regnaD kciN]

15. Excellent lyrics, but...

...that “American tune” is actually German – it was composed by Hans Leo Hassler in the 16th century, and Bach used it in, among other works, his St. Matthew Passion.

[burrowowl]

16. Yes!

[Chili]

20. this is one of those...

...posts that made me smarter! Thank you!

Don't remember this song, wish I did. Can sing Scarborough Fair, Songs of Silence, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Mrs. Robinson, but I missed this gem.

[Golfnbrew]

18. Love! This song.

One of my faves!

[lastlib]

23. Welcome to DU!

[OneBlueSky]

19. Thanks for posting . . . great song, great lyrics, great two-part harmony . . . (n/t)

[BComplex]

26. The two voices, Simon and Garfunkel, blended so beautifully.

The blending was awesome. I missed it when they split.

[JudyM]

24. Thought provoking, so evocative. An old favorite.

[3catwoman3]

25. Seldom have 2 voices blended so perfectly.

The lyrics and harmonies reach into my very cells.

[Music Man]

27. One of my all-time favorite songs.

Paul Simon is the single biggest songwriter influence on me.

I teach high school and often have music playing when the kids enter class. This was the song I had going the morning after in 2016.