I knew about that and thought about saying something, but the grief I am feeling is so intense, I was worried it would take over. So I made a reference to the news being unbearable without the deets. Brutal times. That's why we need music. I hope you and yours are well. I interviewed Simon for Harper's in 2011, and he has a very logical way of showing you how he does this magical thing. He's the opposite of Dylan. He doesn't try to confuse you. He lays it out there and says, this is how I do it. He wrote "Sounds of Silence" in his parents' bathroom when he was a Queens College senior living at home. The Kennedy Assassination was on his mind, but he took a cue from "Blowin' in the Wind" and didn't get too specific.
One more thing, and it is sad: You might want to do a postscript about how he sang "The Sound of Silence" at the funeral of Victoria Soto, the Sandy Hook first grade teacher who was shot to death while shielding her students from Adam Lanza. Paul Simon is the voice of isolation, and he describes the solitude I feel--the emptiness I inhabit--better than any psychologist who has ever tried to diagnose me. Yet, in the midst of the terrible tragedy of Sandy Hook, the incredible sadness of 26 funerals for children and the staff that protected them, Paul Simon stands up with his guitar and sings and his voice must have captured all the beauty and perfection of a loving teacher who gave her life for her students without hesitation. To have a voice that could speak to that love, to that selflessness, to someone who felt so connected to her children...
Thanks for this. It’s made me want to go back and listen to all the albums again. They become embedded in your history but sometimes you have to go back from where you are now, as opposed to where you were then.
Huge part of my childhood. Still listen to til this day. Way prefer S&G to just S though S was pretty darn good too! Oh, and did you mean Avedon instead of AveNdon? Pleasure meeting you the other day!!
I knew about that and thought about saying something, but the grief I am feeling is so intense, I was worried it would take over. So I made a reference to the news being unbearable without the deets. Brutal times. That's why we need music. I hope you and yours are well. I interviewed Simon for Harper's in 2011, and he has a very logical way of showing you how he does this magical thing. He's the opposite of Dylan. He doesn't try to confuse you. He lays it out there and says, this is how I do it. He wrote "Sounds of Silence" in his parents' bathroom when he was a Queens College senior living at home. The Kennedy Assassination was on his mind, but he took a cue from "Blowin' in the Wind" and didn't get too specific.
One more thing, and it is sad: You might want to do a postscript about how he sang "The Sound of Silence" at the funeral of Victoria Soto, the Sandy Hook first grade teacher who was shot to death while shielding her students from Adam Lanza. Paul Simon is the voice of isolation, and he describes the solitude I feel--the emptiness I inhabit--better than any psychologist who has ever tried to diagnose me. Yet, in the midst of the terrible tragedy of Sandy Hook, the incredible sadness of 26 funerals for children and the staff that protected them, Paul Simon stands up with his guitar and sings and his voice must have captured all the beauty and perfection of a loving teacher who gave her life for her students without hesitation. To have a voice that could speak to that love, to that selflessness, to someone who felt so connected to her children...
Exactly! Beautifully put.
Thanks for this. It’s made me want to go back and listen to all the albums again. They become embedded in your history but sometimes you have to go back from where you are now, as opposed to where you were then.
Huge part of my childhood. Still listen to til this day. Way prefer S&G to just S though S was pretty darn good too! Oh, and did you mean Avedon instead of AveNdon? Pleasure meeting you the other day!!
I am a rock
I am an island.
Now that’s isolation. Once again beautifully thought, written and executed.
You hit out of the park with this one. I'm playing everything in chronological order, S & G and Simon.