I have always loved this seemingly simple song. Paul Simon wrote it at some indeterminate time in the 1960's. It was partly inspired by a road trip he took in 1964 with his then British girlfriend - Kathy Chitty. Neither of them had much money so they hitchhiked and took Greyhound buses. I referred to Kathy in a previous post.
I appreciate the juxtaposition of what is arguably a big and perhaps surreal thing - looking for America and such trivial matters as getting a cigarette from a raincoat or chattering about fellow passengers aboard a long distance bus. Poetically, the contrast is very clever in my opinion.
They may have been looking for America but of course they were destined never to find it - not a definitive version anyway. It would and will always remain elusive - just an idea, a notion or an imagining:-
"I'm empty and aching and I don't know why"
Saginaw, Michigan
Thanks YP. I am now singing that song in my head.... over and over...
ReplyDeleteNorthsider's last chosen song -"I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself" played in my head for days.
DeleteI have always loved that song as well. These days it brings tears to my eyes as I really think we are in such trouble as a country. I used to feel a very accepting spirit in my area where I am adjacent to NYC and know people from almost every imaginable part of the world. Things feel fractured now when out and about. I can't really explain it well but it feels so different from the "we are all in this together" days.
ReplyDelete"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."
DeleteI love Paul Simon. Great choice for a singalong!
ReplyDeleteIt was long before your time wasn't it Jennifer? You are so young.
DeleteThat last paragraph is quite telling. I don't know how things are in your country, but the US is such a varied place (whether in region/location, race, or any other type of diversity) that it's no wonder it's elusive.
ReplyDeleteI guess there are so many versions of America and it is the same here in England.
DeletePerhaps my favorite Simon & Garfunkel song. It's not really about finding "America," per se, but about yearning, and not knowing why -- the need to find a place of emotional security. Emotional exploration as much as physical or geographical exploration, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteYou nailed it Steve.
DeleteSheer poetry.
ReplyDeleteSome of Paul Simon's lines are haunting.
DeleteI've always liked Simon and Garfunkel.
ReplyDeleteMany memorable songs.
DeleteVery emotional song. My paternal family is in Saginaw.MI.
ReplyDeleteI note that Saginaw's population has decreased since its height in the early 1960's.
DeleteI love Paul Simon. The idea of a search for America is interesting, is there one America? theres certainly not one Australia!
ReplyDeleteMaybe every country is just the ideas we create in our heads.
DeleteThis was one of my favorite songs of theirs. Very catchy.
ReplyDeleteYou have good taste Margaret.
DeleteI've heard that song more times than I can probably easily count but I never really paid attention to the lyrics. They are beautiful indeed.
ReplyDeleteYou should learn it and sing it to your wife and children on your next road trip Ed.
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