#233: Bookends- Simon & Garfunkel

Listened to: CD

Ok, I will not hide my utter admiration for Paul Simon as a songwriter and lyricist, and this album is one of his best. After the thirty minute theme and “Save The Life Of My Child”, which is a great track in it’s own right, we get to “America”. “America”, to me, is a poem to this country that Whitman would be proud of. Not only that, if you call my cell phone, it plays “America” while you wait. That oughta tell you something. But when you hear this song, admit it, you think of Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous. “Over’s” is more a poem set to decent music than an amazing song, but with such a softly abrupt ending, it gets you ready for the experimental nature of the next track, Art’s sole composition on the album, “Voices Of Old People”. “Old Friend” is one of those soft, folk ballads Simon & Garfunkel cut their teeth on, those type that make you question your life and the brevity of it all. Art’s voice is at it’s best, besides Bridge Over Troubled Water obviously, and the musicality of the track is sweeping. After returning again to the “Bookends Theme”, with that haunting harmony on the line “Time it was…”, we move on to “Fakin’ It”, with a backstory far more witty than any commentary on the track itself would be. Turns out they purposefully mislabeled the track as 2:57 (instead of 3:14) so that radio stations would play it. The track itself is a bit of a throw away, but you can allow one of two throwaways when one of the masters is behind the wheel, you know? “Punky’s Dilema” is a fun, bouncy kind of track common for Paul to write, but uncommon for listeners to really enjoy. It’s a good track, but nothing mind-blowing like some of the other sounds capes crafted by Simon.

Before I even address this next song, let me first address the fact that The Graduate is my favorite movie of all time, and I’ve seen it over thirty times. So it should come as no shock that the inclusion of the finished version of “Mrs. Robinson” (the song wasn’t completed in time for the movie, so they only used snippets) makes me ecstatic. Even though it’s upbeat nature may be misleadingly simple, the lyrics, involving the loss of classic America, fit with the film and fit with the times, while staying true to this day. Every once and a while, Simon would dip into Byrds-esque psychedelic, and that’s how you get a track like “A Hazy Shade Of Winter”. The final track, “At The Zoo” happens to be about going to the Central Park Zoo high, not that I’ve ever done that…anyway, it’s a fun little ditty, not the best album closer, but for an album with such sharp compositions, I guess Simon wants you to leave on a fun note.

So, I cannot recommend this album enough. Highly worth listening to. Simon truly earns his place among the greats like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen.

-Mike

See you tomorrow for one of my favorites, #41: Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols.