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… every now and then you hear a song that you know in 20 years from now people will be picking as a highlight of 2023… So much of what we hear from the previous year you know, someone realized it was going to be a highlight when it first came out… this is one of those songs it fits in with your slower, song, selections! th-cam.com/video/Skd0XR3twCA/w-d-xo.html
Polo…. in doing a little research on the song, I found out that it won a Grammy for song of the year… no AI… No autotune… Just talent… I didn’t think a song like this could possibly win any longer… A consummate player a consummate Singer, a consummate performer… One of the very, very, very best!
check out For Emily wherever I may find her, off the greatest hits album though , the original cuts seem lacking, but the greatest hits version is beautiful
Bernie Sanders used this song in a campaign ad that was basically just a collage of Americans of all different races/ethnicities/backgrounds while this chorus played. Probably the most (only?) beautiful campaign ad ever.
I really like how that sudden, seemingly unrelated-to-anything confession is actually by implication connected with the search for something called 'America'... What is this thing, 'America' that the writer's seeking? Is it some sort of a codeword for humanity's perennial search for individual authenticity, yet at the same time something greater than oneself, some ideal a sensitive person can honestly believe in and aspire to? But why do we feel empty and ache for something we can barely even name? And why are all those diverse people in the cars on the New Jersey turnpike apparently searching for the same thing? To me, this theme may be just as meaningful in today's deeply politically and culturally divided world, as it was in the 1960s when it was first written, when America was being torn apart with internal conflict over the war in Vietnam and other polarising issues.
"Cathy I'm lost, i said, though i knew she was sleeping." - That is the line that makes this whole story so human for me. It is the small touches like that which define Paul Simon's greatness. Thank you!!
"She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy. I said be careful his bowtie is really a camera." The playful nature of these two young people caught between childhood and adulthood is beautifully captured by Paul in this song.
Why does it seem that yes, Paul is a prolific writer but I hear Art being slighted way too often. I'm not sure we would ever have had one without having the other. Who knows.
This song is special, though. I mean, most people are so entranced that they don’t even notice it doesn’t rhyme. And it’s a love song and a dirge for a time and place that never quite existed, almost but not quite. It begins with unmitigated optimism for a world the protagonist believes in and then, as the cigarettes run out, it all falls apart. She isn’t even looking for America anymore, she’s reading a magazine; he’s still looking, but he starts noticing that so many people are looking for what he is looking for and it just isn’t out there. The music perfectly reflects the optimism, the joy, the sense of loss and disappointment with resignation. Meanwhile, the production is just as complex as anything that happened on SGt Pepper’s, but if you just sing the melody (and it isn’t super easy to sing either: the patterns of melody that we expect in a pop song and that help us along aren’t there to help or they’re changed slightly from line to line or verse to verse, just like the rhymes are missing, too; notes go in different directions than we expect, melody is almost the same from one line to another, then moves back to something totally different)- but yes, if you sing just the melody, it is a beautiful pop/folk song that stands alone. Meanwhile, it’s almost three loosely related songs in one. Or two at least. I’m not sure this is my all time favourite S&G song, but it is an absolute masterpiece of its time. S&G threw away almost every pop convention of the time it was made and the time before and still crafted and incredibly infectious and memorable song, that is also incredibly moving. One of the few songs that can make me cry more than half the time when I hear or even just happen to hum it to myself. Especially the “Kathy, I’m lost , I said, though I knew she was sleeping” and the “counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike” climactic point.
@@pennymcneela7095in my not so humble opinion every Paul Simon song is a top five. Lincoln Duncan Old Friends 59th bridge song Mrs Robinson Etc etc etc!!
You definetly need to hear their song, “Scarborough Fair”. It’s a song sung with Simon singing one story and Garfunkel singing another song simultaneously. One is about a soldier. Definetly haunting and beautiful…
Much as I LOVE Simon/Garfunkel…when ya have some time 😎 PLEASE check-out Paul Simon’s album Graceland…beyond phenomenal-for me, anyway. Love your Posts, Sir, thank you 💕🙏💕
I'm 72 and I've been listening to Simon and Garfunkel since the 60's!! And what astounds me is that there music has never become irrelevant!! The timelessness of their songs!! My grandchildren are amazed today as I was almost 60 years ago.
The flip in the lyrics, where the narrator observes the cars on the New Jersey turnpike, and realizes "they've all come to look for America"... that's the hope and the light in this. We're all kind of lost, together. It's an amazing sketch of America and who we are.
As someone who had to ride on a bus from California back to Michigan, this song always takes me back to that. A series of poetic thoughts of what you're observing around you while feeling lost about where you're really going in life. Try putting yourself in that bus seat, close your eyes and listen again. Also, to get another great feel of these guts, watch the movie The Graduate. Their soundtrack there is an amazing fit and feel for that great classic Dustin Hoffman movie ❤
I think nobody in America had ever heard the term "World Music" before Paul Simon brought us Ladysmith Black Mambazo on "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes". He introduced us to Andean folk tunes with "El Condor Pasa". "Mother and Child Reunion" had a reggae beat a year before Eric Clapton covered "I shot The Sherriff". Most white people hadn't paid much attention to gospel singers before they heard "Love Me Like A Rock". If you feel the alienation of the city in "Sounds Of Silence" and "Patterns", the lost wanderings of the entire Viet Nam era generation in "America", the shock and violence of "The Boxer" and "Save The Life Of My Child"... you come at last to their magnum opus, "Bridge Over Troubled Water". It has been called Simon & Garfunkel's gift to a hurting country. A soothing anthem of reassurance in troubled times. First, you listen to the studio album version. After that, you can check out the cover by a capella group VoicePlay. We needed that song in 1971, we may need it more now.
My mom(RIP) absolutely loved this song, America. She was a native American with a strong Cherokee heritage but was also a patriot that loved her country. ❤
Polo, About anything at all written by Paul Simon is worth your time and attention. All of his pieces are so personal, observant, accurate, emotional, deeply considered and amazingly orchestrated into melodies that can make you smile, dance or cry, and sometimes, all at once. Listen to the lyrics of LATE IN THE EVENING, or ME AND JULIO, STILL CRAZY. He draws the listener into his world and mood. What a gift he’s given us.
My Dad, who would be over 100 yrs old now, introduced me to Simon and Garfunkel early 70s, just before he died in 76. I was 16. I met my husband in 77 when I was 17 and this became 'our song'. I would make a phonecall to the nearest payphone to his house and play this from our stereo. Still married to him.
Paul’s guitar playing is often overlooked as well as his perfectionism in the studio. Can you imagine being at a small get together around a bonfire getting high and having Paul just piddling around on his guitar and singing unwritten tunes just floating around in his cranium 😮
Paul says he’s retired from touring now, but I wonder if he’d reconsider if he thought it possible to just travel the country playing around campfires while smoking a joint or two 🤔
This album is subliminally ingrained in my head. When I was a baby, I would not sleep at night, and my poor mom would play this for her to keep her sanity, and to hope I would just fall the f to sleep! I break down and cry when I hear these songs sometimes, not pain tears, but love tears.
This! Well I love and adore Simon and Garfunkel, the cover version by yes is better! It's a musical masterpiece and Jon Anderson did such an outstanding job lyrically with it.
Exactly! Yes’s version was my absolute favorite song for many years. I had an old version (perhaps the original) of it on vinyl and have been disappointed that none of the digital versions I can find are the same edit…it feels like they took a section of it away. Regardless, even the new edits are spectacular!
In addition to "America", Simon and Garfunkel have a song called "American Tune" which is worth a listen as well. I have been playing that song in a guitar/vocal duet with a buddy for over 30 years. It's one of my favorites in our repertoire.
Paul Simon's Graceland is a must. Like every other S & G album, Graceland is thick with classic songs. Recorded in South Africa during apartheid, the album tingles with the colorful rhythms of that country.
Early in their careers they made an appearance in Saginaw Michigan, at the temple theater ... the local radio DJ Dave Dyer suggested they make a song with Saginaw in it.... this was the result ... written in the Saginaw YMCA kitchen in a day ....
A traveling song for sure.I was listening to this in a car when I hitchhike out to California in 1980.The guy that picked me up was listening to it on the radio.I was in Illinois.
I just got back from a year and half in South America living as a nomad and I'm about to go to Vietnam. I'm from Michigan. I can't tell you how much it seems like a dream to me now. We are all a whole lot of different people over the course of our lives. What's important for us to keep growing is that we remember all of the people that we have been and that we accept that fact that the "you" who you are now will only ever be that person once. Change is melancholy, but it's necessary. Nothing grows from stagnation, but leaving something familiar always hurts. That pain shows us who we are, and it reminds us that we're a lot stronger than we think we are.
Heard it when I was 12 , on the family radio, , in London, my Dad passed his love of music on to me . and watching Kojak on a Saturday evening ... I dreamt of counting the cars on the New Jersey turnpike . Have now, at the age of 64 travelled USA East to West,by train...and been to my true hearts desire ..New York and boroughs .,Beooklyn is my favourite, and have counted the cars on the NJT ...I must be a true romantic and still have my childlike dreams and personality to find such joy in these things .!! Despite the bad press and nonsense, you guys live in the most beautiful country in the 🌎 And you are smashing people too for the most part . Thank you ❤
Two young lovers yearning for meaning in their lives in a very confusing world. It may not have the sophistication of other Paul Simon songs but for those of us who have taken that journey, in search of America, we understand. 😉 On a side note, Yes covered this song and if a band like Yes, decides to cover your song, then you're doing something extremely right.
"...and the moon rose over an open field..." Love the imagery and harmonies. I like to watch your eyes as you listen, can tell what you are thinking. Keep delving into this catalogue, Polo.
I think its safe to say that most of us who grew up with them, can sing their songs by heart. Im 66. I was in Concert Choir from Elementry School into high school. We ALWAYS sang S&G songs and Beatles. My favorites always were Scarborough Fair and I Am A Rock. In
Paul Simon’s “Obvious Child” needs to be reviewed. Brest drum featured song. Every marching band should have an arrangement of this song in their program.
Always one of my favorites. I remember when it came out in '68. I was 12. The 60s and 70s were filled with so much uncertainty, too. I remember 2 of my older brothers started hitchhiking. Many people did then, seeking something to be hopeful for in the counter culture. This song perfectly shows that contrast of hope and feeling lost back then. There weren't any cellphones, social media and this emulates how people dealt with those times. Through a lot of great music, each other; many protests, too. Thanks for reacting to this. ❤
Cant get much more powerful than "Bridge over troubled Water", but "America" is close, about youth, free spirits roaming the country...searching for meaning...
This song always spoke to me - it's very time reflective of back in an era when people hitchhiked and could smoke on a greyhound. And also to all those that went searching for America - which I did in the summer of 1978...it was life changing.
I hope that by now you have watched the Simon & Garfunkel concert in Central Park, from the 1980's. You should check out the Art Gunfunkel album Angel Clair. It is a beautiful piece of art
You should react to “Late in the Evening”. The drummer is Steve Gadd, which is a legend in his specialty and for this song he used a Mozambican style in which he used two sets of sticks to make that unique sound
Of the less-often played S&G songs, I like, "A Poem on the Underground Wall," "The Dangling Conversation," "Sparrow," "Kathy's Song," "Save the Life of My Child," "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright," "Song For the Asking," "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her," and "The Only Living Boy In New York."
@@baritonoid "...Like the pieces of a puzzle or a child's uneven scrawl." Love Patterns, and forgot about Bleeker Street! Beautiful song. Baby Driver is fun. "...once upon a pair of wheels I hit the road and I'm gone..." "I'm not talking about your pigtails, but I'm talking about your sex appeal..."
I've been following you for a while and really enjoy your reactions to the music from the 60s and 70s. I grew up in those times and just thought that music would always be like that. I found that you have to be intentional in your search for significant songs and artists. Keep up the good work. Your journey is facinating.
I loved this song ever since I heard it when I was a child in the 70’s . My mom had a Simon & Garfunkel greatest hits album. I like the line “ counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike “ because I’m born and raised in New Jersey. Another good song is “My Little Town “
I'm so happy you reacted to this song!!! There is a cute little ditty on the same album called Punky's Dilemna I think you'd find fun." ✌️🎶 The next song I'd suggest for your reaction is "Homeward Bound." The harmonies are incredible!
Try Paul's Graceland (song & LP). The whole album was done with an amazing Sourh African vocal group - Ladysmith Black Mambazo. It won the Album Of The Year Grammy!
There is such a huge list of songs from them to chack out. Mrs Robinson I am a Rock (a bit of The Boxer feel). The 59th Street Bridge Song They are great starts.
5 studio albums between 1964 and 1970. Listen to them in order as they progress from a folk duo mixing covers with a few original compositions to beautifully mature artists writing, arranging, and producing their own sound. Art had the voice of an angel, and Paul Simon is a musical genius. His lyric writing is comparable to Dylan. He went on to an even bigger solo career for decades after.
My parents had an 8 track of S&G’s greatest hits, so grateful this was the soundtrack of my youth. ❤️ suggestion for more S&G- Fakin’ It, Hazy Shades of Winter, or Scarborough Fair. But anything from their vast catalog is worth a listen 👂
Graceland.. I'm sure it's already been said.. but this one deserves a full album reaction.. remember how much you liked Paul's last solo album.. this one climbs the ladder. love your videos Polo Man!
Beautiful, and heartbreakingly sad song. Travelling across country to find the reality of the country they're in, and discovering that it's just an illusion. Paul Simon is a, A-class songwriter, and Art Garfunkel's vocals (in this case just backing) are shimmeringly angelic. Try their "The Only Living Boy in New York" or "Homeward Bound", or Paul's solo "Loves Me Like a Rock".
I think we’re around the same age (I’m 32) but I grew up on Simon and Garfunkel cause my parents are hippies from back in the day. Lol. This song honestly played a big part in my inspiration to go hitchhiking around the country when I was 19. The playful games they do like the guy being a spy secretly, just the way he worded everything and sings it captures what traveling with a partner in that way is like. The whole song though is just so perfect and after traveling, especially once I went out alone, the song hit a lot different and even more deeply. One of my favorite songs of all time. The way they sing that line “and the moon rose over an open field”, along with the melody, is so painfully beautiful. I heard you mention in your reaction video for the Boxer that you have a playlist for the soundtrack of your life. I do too! This song and the Boxer are both on mine. I have the line from the Boxer “but the fighter still remains” tattooed actually. Glad you’re getting into them. Paul Simon’s solo work is also incredible. A little different, it’s less mellow folk, it’s more upbeat. He’s done some very interesting projects like his album Graceland that he went to South Africa to record with artists down there and it’s a very, very fun album and widely regarded as one of the best albums ever recorded. Try his live performance of Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes with the musicians he worked with in South Africa.
I´m half a century and became a fan as a ten year old. I don´t consider this grandma music, but the person who introduced me to them was in fact my grandma (born in 1918.. so actually a generation older than S&G). Beside the Simon&Garfunkel records and a copy of Sound of music, she only had classical symphonic music (hundreds of records). This song is one of their growers that gets better with age and repeated listens. Paul is one of the great American genius composers for sure. Some of the production and instrumentation may sometimes sound a bit dated but there´s a lot of truly timeless quality stuff in their output.
When I was younger I don’t like this song. I thought it was slow and boring. Now that I’m older, I love this song. Now Neil Diamond’s song America is immediately fantastic.
I grew up in the 80’s I loved folk like John Denver, Simon & Garfunkel and Jim Croce and I also loved heavy metal like Iron Maiden, Metallica and Megadeth. I grew up listening to Oldies, Motown, classic rock, etc. I’ve always loved many different types of music cause every genre has some masterpieces.
A great song from their album Bookends which I consider one o' the perfect albums first note to last. Two other tracks I highly recommend you hear from Bookends are Fakin' It 'n A Hazy Shade O' Winter. Another perfect album first note to last is Bryter Layter by Nick Drake...fantastic!!!
Have you heard Kathy's Song? One of Simon's best about a real love affair with a girl from England. Also Punky's Dilemma is a funny story ....great lyrics.
"And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night."
Also love “Old Friends” It is very unexpected and it is one that I have listened to many times. “ Me and Julio Down by the School yard” is another surprise!
They were a bit before my time but I grew up in a household with many varied musical tastes, from as early as the 50s cos of my parents and then other eras because of older siblings, and I have to say these have always been a favourite of mine.❤
Was before my time but when I was in high school I was given a cassette of their concert in Central Park, and every single live track on the album is vastly improved by being the live version. Amazing stuff. All the favourite is An American Tune, it is sublime
Thanks for the reaction. I love this song. Always have. If you're interested in a very, very different take on it that is still respectful of the original, the band 'Yes' built a nice 10-minute cover of it back in the 70s. Here you go: th-cam.com/video/3CACWj18ruk/w-d-xo.html
![ค้างคืนโรงเก็บกระสวยอวกาศร้างกลางทะเลทราย [Around The World Ep. 3]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/E5bWZQhABJE/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks for watching! Most of my requests come from here. To support the show here www.patreon.com/poloreacts or show your love for the channel by buying me a coffee www.buymeacoffee.com/poloreacts 🤞🏾
… every now and then you hear a song that you know in 20 years from now people will be picking as a highlight of 2023… So much of what we hear from the previous year you know, someone realized it was going to be a highlight when it first came out… this is one of those songs it fits in with your slower, song, selections! th-cam.com/video/Skd0XR3twCA/w-d-xo.html
Polo…. in doing a little research on the song, I found out that it won a Grammy for song of the year… no AI… No autotune… Just talent… I didn’t think a song like this could possibly win any longer… A consummate player a consummate Singer, a consummate performer… One of the very, very, very best!
check out For Emily wherever I may find her, off the greatest hits album though , the original cuts seem lacking, but the greatest hits version is beautiful
Bernie Sanders used this song in a campaign ad that was basically just a collage of Americans of all different races/ethnicities/backgrounds while this chorus played.
Probably the most (only?) beautiful campaign ad ever.
"Kathy I'm lost, I said though I knew she was sleeping. I'm empty and aching and I don't know why"
That just hits me so hard every time.
Yes❤❤❤
The BEST
I really like how that sudden, seemingly unrelated-to-anything confession is actually by implication connected with the search for something called 'America'...
What is this thing, 'America' that the writer's seeking?
Is it some sort of a codeword for humanity's perennial search for individual authenticity, yet at the same time something greater than oneself, some ideal a sensitive person can honestly believe in and aspire to?
But why do we feel empty and ache for something we can barely even name?
And why are all those diverse people in the cars on the New Jersey turnpike apparently searching for the same thing?
To me, this theme may be just as meaningful in today's deeply politically and culturally divided world, as it was in the 1960s when it was first written, when America was being torn apart with internal conflict over the war in Vietnam and other polarising issues.
I Love that line too ~ ~ ~
Where is the American Dream?
My favorite line from any song ever: "And the moon rose over an open field". Exquisite moment. Inconsolable longing in one sentence.
"Cathy I'm lost, i said, though i knew she was sleeping." - That is the line that makes this whole story so human for me. It is the small touches like that which define Paul Simon's greatness. Thank you!!
"She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy.
I said be careful his bowtie is really a camera."
The playful nature of these two young people caught between childhood and adulthood is beautifully captured by Paul in this song.
Why does it seem that yes, Paul is a prolific writer but I hear Art being slighted way too often. I'm not sure we would ever have had one without having the other. Who knows.
Anything Simon and Garfunkel is a good choice
Agreed!
Paul Simon - 50 Ways & Diamonds is worth the price of admission.
You Can Call Me Al is just a freebie!
It's nearly impossible to have a favorite Simon and Garfunkel song. Paul has written so many masterpieces, this one is easily in the top 5.
Paul Simon = Legend..❤
One of my favourites is ~ The Obvious Child...
The Boxer is my favorite. I cried my heart out listening to it in concert. ❤
This song is special, though. I mean, most people are so entranced that they don’t even notice it doesn’t rhyme. And it’s a love song and a dirge for a time and place that never quite existed, almost but not quite.
It begins with unmitigated optimism for a world the protagonist believes in and then, as the cigarettes run out, it all falls apart. She isn’t even looking for America anymore, she’s reading a magazine; he’s still looking, but he starts noticing that so many people are looking for what he is looking for and it just isn’t out there.
The music perfectly reflects the optimism, the joy, the sense of loss and disappointment with resignation.
Meanwhile, the production is just as complex as anything that happened on SGt Pepper’s, but if you just sing the melody (and it isn’t super easy to sing either: the patterns of melody that we expect in a pop song and that help us along aren’t there to help or they’re changed slightly from line to line or verse to verse, just like the rhymes are missing, too; notes go in different directions than we expect, melody is almost the same from one line to another, then moves back to something totally different)- but yes, if you sing just the melody, it is a beautiful pop/folk song that stands alone. Meanwhile, it’s almost three loosely related songs in one. Or two at least.
I’m not sure this is my all time favourite S&G song, but it is an absolute masterpiece of its time. S&G threw away almost every pop convention of the time it was made and the time before and still crafted and incredibly infectious and memorable song, that is also incredibly moving. One of the few songs that can make me cry more than half the time when I hear or even just happen to hum it to myself. Especially the “Kathy, I’m lost , I said, though I knew she was sleeping” and the “counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike” climactic point.
@@pennymcneela7095in my not so humble opinion every Paul Simon song is a top five.
Lincoln Duncan
Old Friends
59th bridge song
Mrs Robinson
Etc etc etc!!
" Cathy Im lost I said, though I knew she was sleeping, an Im empty and aching and I don´t know why " Gets to me every time ,,
You definetly need to hear their song, “Scarborough Fair”. It’s a song sung with Simon singing one story and Garfunkel singing another song simultaneously. One is about a soldier. Definetly haunting and beautiful…
I agree with "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" as a MUST listen. Beautiful yet tragic.
Gotta be Scarborough Fair/ Canticle. Without Canticle it is only a beautiful song rather than a work of art.
And the one where they perform with Andy Williams on his TV show. Incredible.
“The Boxer” still gives me goosebumps, even after 50 years.
This song just does something for me. Gets me choked up.
I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why, always gets me. Feel the same way sometimes.
Much as I LOVE Simon/Garfunkel…when ya have some time 😎 PLEASE check-out Paul Simon’s album Graceland…beyond phenomenal-for me, anyway. Love your Posts, Sir, thank you 💕🙏💕
I'm 72 and I've been listening to Simon and Garfunkel since the 60's!! And what astounds me is that there music has never become irrelevant!! The timelessness of their songs!! My grandchildren are amazed today as I was almost 60 years ago.
I’m 60 and I just had the exact same thought. Their music, as well as their lyrics, are timeless
I'm in tears. Love this song so much
The flip in the lyrics, where the narrator observes the cars on the New Jersey turnpike, and realizes "they've all come to look for America"... that's the hope and the light in this. We're all kind of lost, together. It's an amazing sketch of America and who we are.
"Kathy, I'm lost, I said, though I knew she was sleeping." That line always struck me
As someone who had to ride on a bus from California back to Michigan, this song always takes me back to that. A series of poetic thoughts of what you're observing around you while feeling lost about where you're really going in life. Try putting yourself in that bus seat, close your eyes and listen again. Also, to get another great feel of these guts, watch the movie The Graduate. Their soundtrack there is an amazing fit and feel for that great classic Dustin Hoffman movie ❤
."And the moon rose over an open field" is one of the most extraordinary lines ever!
Lyrically, America is one of the best songs ever written
And completely out of their usual realm, NOTHING rhymes.
I think nobody in America had ever heard the term "World Music" before Paul Simon brought us Ladysmith Black Mambazo on "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes". He introduced us to Andean folk tunes with "El Condor Pasa". "Mother and Child Reunion" had a reggae beat a year before Eric Clapton covered "I shot The Sherriff". Most white people hadn't paid much attention to gospel singers before they heard "Love Me Like A Rock".
If you feel the alienation of the city in "Sounds Of Silence" and "Patterns", the lost wanderings of the entire Viet Nam era generation in "America", the shock and violence of "The Boxer" and "Save The Life Of My Child"... you come at last to their magnum opus, "Bridge Over Troubled Water". It has been called Simon & Garfunkel's gift to a hurting country. A soothing anthem of reassurance in troubled times. First, you listen to the studio album version. After that, you can check out the cover by a capella group VoicePlay. We needed that song in 1971, we may need it more now.
Still Crazy After A These Years is a beautiful Simon piece. Scarborough Fair is beautiful.
Dude, you made me spit my whiskey when you said they "always sound like they are singing in their pajamas" 🤣
They may not have been singing in their pajamas but I sure listened to them in mine many, many times.
My mom(RIP) absolutely loved this song, America. She was a native American with a strong Cherokee heritage but was also a patriot that loved her country. ❤
Polo, About anything at all written by Paul Simon is worth your time and attention. All of his pieces are so personal, observant, accurate, emotional, deeply considered and amazingly orchestrated into melodies that can make you smile, dance or cry, and sometimes, all at once. Listen to the lyrics of LATE IN THE EVENING, or ME AND JULIO, STILL CRAZY. He draws the listener into his world and mood. What a gift he’s given us.
YES!!! Late In The Evening is an absolute vibe!
My Dad, who would be over 100 yrs old now, introduced me to Simon and Garfunkel early 70s, just before he died in 76. I was 16. I met my husband in 77 when I was 17 and this became 'our song'. I would make a phonecall to the nearest payphone to his house and play this from our stereo. Still married to him.
One of my favorites is “Only Living Boy in New York”
i feel like you'd really love Slip Slidin' Away, which is solo Simon. the lyrics, the vibe. outstanding.
Paul’s guitar playing is often overlooked as well as his perfectionism in the studio. Can you imagine being at a small get together around a bonfire getting high and having Paul just piddling around on his guitar and singing unwritten tunes just floating around in his cranium 😮
I can…and I thank you for the visual!
Paul says he’s retired from touring now, but I wonder if he’d reconsider if he thought it possible to just travel the country playing around campfires while smoking a joint or two 🤔
Someone asked "where's the American dream?" And I do believe you've answered it. 😉
My favorite S&G song... love the harmony, the poetic lyrics don't rhyme (and you don't even realize it) and the emotional build is perfection.
This album is subliminally ingrained in my head. When I was a baby, I would not sleep at night, and my poor mom would play this for her to keep her sanity, and to hope I would just fall the f to sleep! I break down and cry when I hear these songs sometimes, not pain tears, but love tears.
" Singing in their pajamas." Just excellent!!!!
Yes (yes, Yes) did an amazing, ten minute cover of “America.” Required listening!
Yes, it will blow Polo's mind.
Agreed. I love both versions. They are both alphabetically back-to-back on my flash drive with the S&G version playing first.
Definitely give that a listen for sure... It's on another level.
This! Well I love and adore Simon and Garfunkel, the cover version by yes is better! It's a musical masterpiece and Jon Anderson did such an outstanding job lyrically with it.
Exactly! Yes’s version was my absolute favorite song for many years. I had an old version (perhaps the original) of it on vinyl and have been disappointed that none of the digital versions I can find are the same edit…it feels like they took a section of it away. Regardless, even the new edits are spectacular!
In addition to "America", Simon and Garfunkel have a song called "American Tune" which is worth a listen as well. I have been playing that song in a guitar/vocal duet with a buddy for over 30 years. It's one of my favorites in our repertoire.
Yes. I love American Tune. It was PUl who dis that track in his solo career. Its about the settlers arriving and finding their promised land ❤
@@sallybannister6224lts much more profound than that if you listen to the lyrics
American Tune +1. Actually the Indigo Girls cover is probably my equal favorite with Simon's original recording.
Paul Simon's Graceland is a must. Like every other S & G album, Graceland is thick with classic songs. Recorded in South Africa during apartheid, the album tingles with the colorful rhythms
of that country.
Early in their careers they made an appearance in Saginaw Michigan, at the temple theater ... the local radio DJ Dave Dyer suggested they make a song with Saginaw in it.... this was the result ... written in the Saginaw YMCA kitchen in a day ....
The Only Living Boy in New York... My favorite!!! ❤️🔥👍🏻💯😎
A traveling song for sure.I was listening to this in a car when I hitchhike out to California in 1980.The guy that picked me up was listening to it on the radio.I was in Illinois.
I just got back from a year and half in South America living as a nomad and I'm about to go to Vietnam. I'm from Michigan. I can't tell you how much it seems like a dream to me now. We are all a whole lot of different people over the course of our lives. What's important for us to keep growing is that we remember all of the people that we have been and that we accept that fact that the "you" who you are now will only ever be that person once. Change is melancholy, but it's necessary. Nothing grows from stagnation, but leaving something familiar always hurts. That pain shows us who we are, and it reminds us that we're a lot stronger than we think we are.
Heard it when I was 12 , on the family radio, , in London, my Dad passed his love of music on to me . and watching Kojak on a Saturday evening ... I dreamt of counting the cars on the New Jersey turnpike . Have now, at the age of 64 travelled USA East to West,by train...and been to my true hearts desire ..New York and boroughs .,Beooklyn is my favourite, and have counted the cars on the NJT ...I must be a true romantic and still have my childlike dreams and personality to find such joy in these things .!! Despite the bad press and nonsense, you guys live in the most beautiful country in the 🌎 And you are smashing people too for the most part . Thank you ❤
Two young lovers yearning for meaning in their lives in a very confusing world.
It may not have the sophistication of other Paul Simon songs but for those of us who have taken that journey, in search of America, we understand. 😉
On a side note, Yes covered this song and if a band like Yes, decides to cover your song, then you're doing something extremely right.
"...and the moon rose over an open field..." Love the imagery and harmonies. I like to watch your eyes as you listen, can tell what you are thinking. Keep delving into this catalogue, Polo.
“Kathy I’m lost, I said, though I knew she was sleeping..”
IDK. I think I'm ready for some Me and Julio with just Paul.
I think its safe to say that most of us who grew up with them, can sing their songs by heart. Im 66. I was in Concert Choir from Elementry School into high school. We ALWAYS sang S&G songs and Beatles. My favorites always were Scarborough Fair and I Am A Rock. In
Paul Simon’s “Obvious Child” needs to be reviewed. Brest drum featured song. Every marching band should have an arrangement of this song in their program.
Always one of my favorites. I remember when it came out in '68. I was 12. The 60s and 70s were filled with so much uncertainty, too. I remember 2 of my older brothers started hitchhiking. Many people did then, seeking something to be hopeful for in the counter culture.
This song perfectly shows that contrast of hope and feeling lost back then. There weren't any cellphones, social media and this emulates how people dealt with those times. Through a lot of great music, each other; many protests, too.
Thanks for reacting to this. ❤
this is right on and beautiful
This has always been one of my favorite songs. So descriptive of my life in my late teens and 20s.
Cant get much more powerful than "Bridge over troubled Water", but "America" is close, about youth, free spirits roaming the country...searching for meaning...
This song always spoke to me - it's very time reflective of back in an era when people hitchhiked and could smoke on a greyhound. And also to all those that went searching for America - which I did in the summer of 1978...it was life changing.
I hope that by now you have watched the Simon & Garfunkel concert in Central Park, from the 1980's. You should check out the Art Gunfunkel album Angel Clair. It is a beautiful piece of art
I can FEEL that bus ride everytime I hear this song ~ ~ ~
A beautiful and atmospheric short song that I've loved for years. Never tire of hearing S & G together
You should react to “Late in the Evening”. The drummer is Steve Gadd, which is a legend in his specialty and for this song he used a Mozambican style in which he used two sets of sticks to make that unique sound
Try Paul Simon solo artist too. An American Tune is a beautiful track ...❤
Of the less-often played S&G songs, I like, "A Poem on the Underground Wall," "The Dangling Conversation," "Sparrow," "Kathy's Song," "Save the Life of My Child," "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright," "Song For the Asking," "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her," and "The Only Living Boy In New York."
Bleecker Street, Patterns, and Baby Driver. I spent that entire movie just waiting for the song
@@baritonoid "...Like the pieces of a puzzle or a child's uneven scrawl." Love Patterns, and forgot about Bleeker Street! Beautiful song. Baby Driver is fun. "...once upon a pair of wheels I hit the road and I'm gone..." "I'm not talking about your pigtails, but I'm talking about your sex appeal..."
I've been following you for a while and really enjoy your reactions to the music from the 60s and 70s. I grew up in those times and just thought that music would always be like that. I found that you have to be intentional in your search for significant songs and artists. Keep up the good work. Your journey is facinating.
I loved this song ever since I heard it when I was a child in the 70’s . My mom had a Simon & Garfunkel greatest hits album. I like the line “ counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike “ because I’m born and raised in New Jersey. Another good song is “My Little Town “
I'm so happy you reacted to this song!!! There is a cute little ditty on the same album called Punky's Dilemna I think you'd find fun." ✌️🎶
The next song I'd suggest for your reaction is "Homeward Bound." The harmonies are incredible!
Try Paul's Graceland (song & LP). The whole album was done with an amazing Sourh African vocal group - Ladysmith Black Mambazo. It won the Album Of The Year Grammy!
The imagery you get when listening to these guys is stunning. One of my all-time favorites and yes it will grow on you quickly.
There is such a huge list of songs from them to chack out.
Mrs Robinson
I am a Rock (a bit of The Boxer feel).
The 59th Street Bridge Song
They are great starts.
Simplicity in its magnificence...master storyteller with a profound message. This is like Steinbeck set to music...
"Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" should get a listen. It's a cute story with fascinating and unusual musical underpinnings.
5 studio albums between 1964 and 1970. Listen to them in order as they progress from a folk duo mixing covers with a few original compositions to beautifully mature artists writing, arranging, and producing their own sound. Art had the voice of an angel, and Paul Simon is a musical genius. His lyric writing is comparable to Dylan. He went on to an even bigger solo career for decades after.
1 of my favorites they did is Scarborough Fair. A good 1 Simon did himself is You Can Call Me Al.
My parents had an 8 track of S&G’s greatest hits, so grateful this was the soundtrack of my youth. ❤️ suggestion for more S&G- Fakin’ It, Hazy Shades of Winter, or Scarborough Fair. But anything from their vast catalog is worth a listen 👂
Graceland.. I'm sure it's already been said.. but this one deserves a full album reaction.. remember how much you liked Paul's last solo album.. this one climbs the ladder. love your videos Polo Man!
Beautiful, and heartbreakingly sad song. Travelling across country to find the reality of the country they're in, and discovering that it's just an illusion. Paul Simon is a, A-class songwriter, and Art Garfunkel's vocals (in this case just backing) are shimmeringly angelic. Try their "The Only Living Boy in New York" or "Homeward Bound", or Paul's solo "Loves Me Like a Rock".
@jamesdignanmusic2765, yes the reality of the country they're living in is just an illusion .... hits hard right about now ....
I think we’re around the same age (I’m 32) but I grew up on Simon and Garfunkel cause my parents are hippies from back in the day. Lol. This song honestly played a big part in my inspiration to go hitchhiking around the country when I was 19. The playful games they do like the guy being a spy secretly, just the way he worded everything and sings it captures what traveling with a partner in that way is like. The whole song though is just so perfect and after traveling, especially once I went out alone, the song hit a lot different and even more deeply. One of my favorite songs of all time.
The way they sing that line “and the moon rose over an open field”, along with the melody, is so painfully beautiful. I heard you mention in your reaction video for the Boxer that you have a playlist for the soundtrack of your life. I do too! This song and the Boxer are both on mine. I have the line from the Boxer “but the fighter still remains” tattooed actually. Glad you’re getting into them. Paul Simon’s solo work is also incredible. A little different, it’s less mellow folk, it’s more upbeat. He’s done some very interesting projects like his album Graceland that he went to South Africa to record with artists down there and it’s a very, very fun album and widely regarded as one of the best albums ever recorded. Try his live performance of Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes with the musicians he worked with in South Africa.
This song hit home to me the first time I heard it, especially the ending and the cute bells at around 3;23 of this song
I´m half a century and became a fan as a ten year old. I don´t consider this grandma music, but the person who introduced me to them was in fact my grandma (born in 1918.. so actually a generation older than S&G). Beside the Simon&Garfunkel records and a copy of Sound of music, she only had classical symphonic music (hundreds of records). This song is one of their growers that gets better with age and repeated listens. Paul is one of the great American genius composers for sure. Some of the production and instrumentation may sometimes sound a bit dated but there´s a lot of truly timeless quality stuff in their output.
The Boxer shocked audiences and one of their best.
I am delighted with your previous reactions to Simon & Garfunkle! I love their music!
When I was younger I don’t like this song. I thought it was slow and boring. Now that I’m older, I love this song. Now Neil Diamond’s song America is immediately fantastic.
I grew up in the 80’s I loved folk like John Denver, Simon & Garfunkel and Jim Croce and I also loved heavy metal like Iron Maiden, Metallica and Megadeth. I grew up listening to Oldies, Motown, classic rock, etc. I’ve always loved many different types of music cause every genre has some masterpieces.
This is my favorite of their songs. It’s lyrically flawless.
Appreciate your kind and intelligent reactions! Bowie did a haunting version of this live after 9/11 at The Concert for New York.
A great song from their album Bookends which I consider one o' the perfect albums first note to last. Two other tracks I highly recommend you hear from Bookends are Fakin' It 'n A Hazy Shade O' Winter. Another perfect album first note to last is Bryter Layter by Nick Drake...fantastic!!!
You should, please, check out the Yes cover of this. (In the studio version) I love both versions.
Have you heard Kathy's Song? One of Simon's best about a real love affair with a girl from England.
Also Punky's Dilemma is a funny story ....great lyrics.
If you want to do solo Garfunkel, he had a hit with 99 Miles from LA. That angel's voice. Also "atmospheric".
So drifty.....thank you for this reaction. Just a great time for all types of sounds and the music.
Loved this song ever since its release way back in '68. The group YES does a GREAT cover of it.
Definitely one of my favourites of their songs. Remember working it out on the guitar and singing it. Such a great melody.
I'm impressed that this song did not make you cry. Makes me weep every time.
Beautiful song. David Bowie sang this on stage for the Concert for New York City. I thought it was moving.
Now that was awesome!
"And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night."
YES has a cover of this which is outstanding!
This song gives me the chills.
My Little Town - Simon & Garfunkel from Simon’s Solo Album Still Crazy After All These Years and Garfunkel’s Breakaway
Check out "An American Tune" the lyrics seem so perfect for today, but it was written over 50 years ago ...
“The moon rose over an open field.” Supposedly Paul’s favorite lyric that he ever wrote.
Also love “Old Friends” It is very unexpected and it is one that I have listened to many times. “ Me and Julio Down by the School yard” is another surprise!
They were a bit before my time but I grew up in a household with many varied musical tastes, from as early as the 50s cos of my parents and then other eras because of older siblings, and I have to say these have always been a favourite of mine.❤
Along with Sounds Of Silence,it is my favourite S AND G. song..
As for Paul,it has to be Kodachrome.What a happy,fun song:)
Was before my time but when I was in high school I was given a cassette of their concert in Central Park, and every single live track on the album is vastly improved by being the live version. Amazing stuff. All the favourite is An American Tune, it is sublime
Growing up just off of exit 15W on the New Jersey Turnpike and having a girlfriend in high school named Kathy... this song kills me every time.
One of my all time favorite songs.
Thanks for the reaction. I love this song. Always have. If you're interested in a very, very different take on it that is still respectful of the original, the band 'Yes' built a nice 10-minute cover of it back in the 70s. Here you go: th-cam.com/video/3CACWj18ruk/w-d-xo.html
You must find their "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" - it is utterly stunning.