Posted On: Saturday - September 10th 2022 8:52PM MST
In Topics: Music
... learn how to fall.
Because music aficionado and commenter Ganderson didn't know this song, I figure I'd better put it up here. I was not aware enough to have known the duet Simon & Garfunkle during their time. Their 2nd half of the 1960s music was some of the best soft music of the time. The duet split up in 1970, the same year as a famous quartet you may have heard of did.
I had Paul Simon's Greatest Hits album on record format before I knew anything else of his solo songs, but then came upon There Goes Rhymin' Simon on a cassette tape some years later. It's a hell of an album, with arguably only 2 weak songs (Tenderness and Something so Right) and the other 8 very good ones. I highly recommend it.
That album was released in early May of 1973, so Paul Simon was likely writing some of those songs right at 50 years ago.
You got to learn how to fall
before you learn to fly.
And Mama, Mama, it ain′t no lie.
Before you learn to fly,
learn how to fall.
You got to drift in the breeze, oh,
before you set your sails.
Oh, it's an occupation where the wind prevails.
Before you set your sails,
drift in the breeze.
Oh, and it′s the same old story
ever since the world began.
Everybody's gotta run for glory.
Nobody stop and scrutinize the plan.
Nobody stop and scrutinize the plan.
Nobody stop and scrutinize the plan.
You got to learn how to fall
before you learn to fly.
The tank towns, they tell no lie.
Before you learn to fly,
learn how to fall.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Peakers. We're gonna hit on that inflation topic again next week, especially with regard to prepping. The Kung Flu stupidity is still not over, and then a comparison of Donald Trump and Rick DeSantis is in order. Have a happy Sunday.
PS: I got some of the lyrics wrong in my comment a few days back.
Comments:
MBlanc46
Monday - September 12th 2022 11:24AM MST
PS Yeah, it’s the subway walls and tenement halls that really gets me. But, to me, at least, the whole thing is simply saccharine. Same with Bridge Over Troubled Waters. Shallow attempts at being profound. Just about all “singer-songwriter” stuff or mid-20th-century “folk songs” fit into that category. Pretty much all Pop music tends that way. Which is perhaps why I much prefer blues or bluegrass or cajun—American roots music.
Moderator
Monday - September 12th 2022 7:53AM MST
PS: Mr. Blanc, regarding "The Sound of Silence" in particular, I never really thought much about the lyrics, as the melody and sound is what I like about it. Besides the lyrics about graffitti, which I can't stand, I don't know which part it is you figure is evil.
I went to this site, which has some of Paul Simon's thoughts on the song (along with the lyrics): https://genius.com/Simon-and-garfunkel-the-sound-of-silence-lyrics
I have not gone through my favorite songs written by Paul Simon to see what you mean, but I will point out his "American Tune" one of my favorites. I embedded that along with 2 other songs from 3-4 decades ago that are "doomer" songs about the US. (The other 2 were the obscure Neil Young's "Coming Apart at Every Nail" and Merle Haggard's "Are the Good Times Really Over for Good?")
https://www.peakstupidity.com/index.php?post=257
https://www.peakstupidity.com/index.php?post=258
https://www.peakstupidity.com/index.php?post=259
"American Tune" with the melody taken, well, to quote Wiki: "However, the melody of "American Tune" is best known by modern listeners as a modified version of Bach's St Matthew Passion", to me is a pro-American song that just laments the way it's (WAS, because this was from the same almost 50 y/o album) changing for the worse.
"We came on the ship they called the Mayflower. We came on a ship that sailed the moon. We came in the age's most uncertain hour, to sing an American Tune..."
"Oh, it's all right, it's all right. You can't be forever blessed. But, tomorrows's gonna be another working day, and I'm tryin' to get some rest. That's all, I'm tryin'... to get some rest."
I would welcome your candidate songs that back up your point - I really haven't thought about it.
I went to this site, which has some of Paul Simon's thoughts on the song (along with the lyrics): https://genius.com/Simon-and-garfunkel-the-sound-of-silence-lyrics
I have not gone through my favorite songs written by Paul Simon to see what you mean, but I will point out his "American Tune" one of my favorites. I embedded that along with 2 other songs from 3-4 decades ago that are "doomer" songs about the US. (The other 2 were the obscure Neil Young's "Coming Apart at Every Nail" and Merle Haggard's "Are the Good Times Really Over for Good?")
https://www.peakstupidity.com/index.php?post=257
https://www.peakstupidity.com/index.php?post=258
https://www.peakstupidity.com/index.php?post=259
"American Tune" with the melody taken, well, to quote Wiki: "However, the melody of "American Tune" is best known by modern listeners as a modified version of Bach's St Matthew Passion", to me is a pro-American song that just laments the way it's (WAS, because this was from the same almost 50 y/o album) changing for the worse.
"We came on the ship they called the Mayflower. We came on a ship that sailed the moon. We came in the age's most uncertain hour, to sing an American Tune..."
"Oh, it's all right, it's all right. You can't be forever blessed. But, tomorrows's gonna be another working day, and I'm tryin' to get some rest. That's all, I'm tryin'... to get some rest."
I would welcome your candidate songs that back up your point - I really haven't thought about it.
MBlanc46
Sunday - September 11th 2022 11:08AM MST
PS I was putting Mme B’s car away the other evening, and the oldies station that she listens to was on the radio. They were playing “Sounds of Silence”. I’d heard it dozens, maybe hundreds, of times back when it was a Top 40 hit, but this was the first time that I realized what an evil piece it is. Art Garfunkel had a decent voice for “meaningful” songs (i.e., the ones that make me want to puke), but Paul Simon was a crappy, yet anti-American, song writer.
Moderator
Sunday - September 11th 2022 9:52AM MST
PS: Mr. Hail, OF COURSE I've heard of the Wilma Mankiller quarters!
That's ONLY because my kid has better close-vision than I do, and he's been into coin collecting for the last 2 months, mind you. Without that, I'd have had no idea and been happier.
I try swiping two fingers on stuff to read things better, such as the "vdb" on 1909 pennies. Nope, no such technology. ;-}
That's ONLY because my kid has better close-vision than I do, and he's been into coin collecting for the last 2 months, mind you. Without that, I'd have had no idea and been happier.
I try swiping two fingers on stuff to read things better, such as the "vdb" on 1909 pennies. Nope, no such technology. ;-}
Moderator
Sunday - September 11th 2022 9:49AM MST
PS: The Art Garfunkle look-alike at the theater could have been blocking your uncle's and aunt's view. Of course, so did any tall black person's fro back then. "Down in Front!" Pretty soon you'll be singing "lie le lie lele lie le-lie-lele lie le lie ..."
Hail
Sunday - September 11th 2022 9:09AM MST
PS
For the Peak Stupidity general-reference file:
I discovered a new U.S. twenty-five-cent piece the other day, newly minted for 2022 under President Biden.
It has an image one of America's truly greatest heroes, a great hero with a name that symbolizes the age and the goals of the culture. The name is:
WILMA MANKILLER
Why haven't you heard of this great hero?
For the Peak Stupidity general-reference file:
I discovered a new U.S. twenty-five-cent piece the other day, newly minted for 2022 under President Biden.
It has an image one of America's truly greatest heroes, a great hero with a name that symbolizes the age and the goals of the culture. The name is:
WILMA MANKILLER
Why haven't you heard of this great hero?
The Alarmist
Sunday - September 11th 2022 5:13AM MST
PS
My aunt tells the story where she and my uncle went to see Catch 22 (it was probably Carnal Knowledge, but she needed to keep the story G-rated), and my uncle made a rude comment about the character played by Art Garfunkle, only to have the white guy with an afro of sorts sittin a row ahead of him turn around to give him a piece of Art Garfunkle’s mind.
My aunt tells the story where she and my uncle went to see Catch 22 (it was probably Carnal Knowledge, but she needed to keep the story G-rated), and my uncle made a rude comment about the character played by Art Garfunkle, only to have the white guy with an afro of sorts sittin a row ahead of him turn around to give him a piece of Art Garfunkle’s mind.