This song is more significant-- if at all-- for its music than its lyrics, which are either off-handed or half-hearted, depending on your level of generosity.
The bright spots are the inventive rhymes: "jungle/hungry," "write me/brighten," "sign/iodine." Also, the device of rhyming the end of one line with the middle of the next is quite clever.
Musically, the song hearkens back to earlier rock sounds while its loose ranginess looking forward to Simon's international explorations. And then the whole ending is rapped.
The notion that this song is aimed at Garfunkel-- that he left for Mexico and refused to get in touch from there-- seems hard to prove. First of all, he sings on the track itself. Second, the song is framed as a request for correspondence from a lover, not a friend.
The album is so strong overall that it is hard to fathom how this number crept in. It's not as if there weren't other fun songs included, such as "Baby Driver" and "Customer." And "Bye Bye Love" covers the duo as far as sending a salute to the sounds that inspired them.
Place this one in the column with "Groovey Thing" and "Pleasure Machine" as the sound of a songwriter having fun and blowing off creative steam.
Oh, and the title was "borrowed" from a doo-wop song by a group called The Jacks.
(I did not expect to be able to post an "Impact" for this song, but I just learned that Olivia Newton-John covered it. I had to listen to that. So I can, sadly, tell you that you don't have to.)
Next song: Song for the Asking
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Oh no I love this song! :(
ReplyDeleteCertainly Confused: As I said, you are not alone. The jazz-vocal ensemble New York Voices covers this song on their Songs of Paul Simon album. Taste is a highly personal thing.
ReplyDeleteYou are wrong - this song is about Art Garfunkel. See pages 4 & 5 in his book & he talks about it (What is it all but Luminous). Why don’t you write me? Maybe I wanted to “sock it to him” why didn’t I write?
ReplyDeleteAnon-- It makes sense to read Garfunkel's take on things too, and that was a lapse of mine. There are, of course, at least two sides to every story, right?
ReplyDeleteOf course, Garfunkel saying he knew it was about himself only raises more questions.
You would find it hard to imagine a singer asking someone in the room why he doesn't communicate. I mean... he's right there.
And if Garfunkel hated the message of the song so much, why did he participate in it? Surely by this point he had some veto power over a song's inclusion on an album, or at least his own participation in it.
Lastly, If someone asks "Why don't you write? I miss you," isn't that a nice thing to say? If I left a friend in a huff, then came back and they said "Why didn't you call? I missed you," I would have one of two reactions: "Why? HERE's why!" or "Oh, I guess we ARE still friends. If he could let it go, maybe I can, too."
But I'm not gonna sing his song about me not writing to him.
If anything, I would explain why I felt I had to leave, and that I'm willing to recommit to the friendship-- if his behavior changes. I have done that in relationships: "I will take you back, but you have to tell me what is going to change."