Date: Jan 1, 1966
Weeks: 2
I confess that I've never much liked Simon and Garfunkel. I just find their music so slow and quiet and gentle and I've never found a situation in which I've wanted to listen to the type of music they're making. However, this is a case where sitting down and giving a song my undivided attention has paid off, because now that I'm actually paying attention, I find that I like this song far more than I expected to.
I wasn't helped by the opening of this song, which threatens to lull me to sleep. The vocals aren't exactly harmonious. They're kind of a counterpoint, working against each other. And in the opening 40 seconds, with nothing but a light strumming guitar behind them, I find the song to be grating and unpleasant. When the drums and bass join in, though, the song is complete and the voices are successfully separated in a pleasant and appealing way. The counterpoint works. And it makes the opening work in retrospect. The opening was building tension, and there is a satisfying release of that tension when the drums and bass join in.
I like the basic instrumentation of this song. Bass, guitar, drums, and voice. All of these parts contain a sufficient amount of variety to stay compelling. The bass line and the vocals create some particularly appealing sounds.
I think I'm completely unqualified to judge the lyrics. It's poetry, and the metaphors run deep. I will say that in terms of poetry, I do like the sound of the words. The beat and rhyme scheme is clever and diverse without feeling like they're cheating. The sound of the words is appealing, is my point, without having a need to understand what they mean.
From what I can distill from songfacts and Wikipedia, Paul Simon's lyrics are about people not communicating with each other. I can see that. "People talking without speaking. People talking without listening." It's a lament about people talking at cross-purposes without really trying to listen to and understand each other. It's a good sentiment that more people in our world could stand to take to heart, for sure.
My verdict: Like it. I'm not saying I'm going to suddenly add it to my driving-around playlist, but I certainly respect what they were going for and I think the song worked when I finally actually listened to it.
To me, this is more of a song about people being silent when they should speak up, about social issues and such. It's the "tenement halls" that gives me that feeling. The song seems to address so much grander a theme than just interpersonal communication.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I get a film noir sense from the song. In the light of a street lamp (so it's night), he's turning up his collar against the cold and damp (so it's possibly raining). And then he sees a neon sign.