( a nice song by a couple of nice Jewish boys)In 1975, Paul Simon had a decent solo career and several hits and albums under his belt since the breakup of Simon and Garfunkel in 1970.
Also in 1975, Art Garfunkel was still struggling, only hitting the charts a few times.
Paul wrote a song for "Artie," as he called him, and decided that since Art sang such syrupy songs, he needed to sing about anger, desperation and dark ideas.
In my little town, I grew up believing
God keeps his eye on us all
And he used to lean upon me
As I pledged allegiance to the wall
Lord I recall my little town
Coming home after school
Riding my bike past the gates of the factories
My mom doing the laundry
Hanging out shirts in the dirty breeze
And after it rains there's a rainbow
And all of the colors are black
It's not that the colors aren't there
It's just imagination they lack
Every thing's the same back
In my little town
In my little town, I never meant nothing
I was just my father's son
Saving my money
Dreamin' of glory
Twitching like a finger on a trigger of a gun...
Nothing but the dead and dying back in my little town
Nothing but the dead and dying back in my little town
Nothing but the dead and dying back in my little town...
God keeps his eye on us all
And he used to lean upon me
As I pledged allegiance to the wall
Lord I recall my little town
Coming home after school
Riding my bike past the gates of the factories
My mom doing the laundry
Hanging out shirts in the dirty breeze
And after it rains there's a rainbow
And all of the colors are black
It's not that the colors aren't there
It's just imagination they lack
Every thing's the same back
In my little town
In my little town, I never meant nothing
I was just my father's son
Saving my money
Dreamin' of glory
Twitching like a finger on a trigger of a gun...
Nothing but the dead and dying back in my little town
Nothing but the dead and dying back in my little town
Nothing but the dead and dying back in my little town...
Talk about your youth-filled angst! This is a great song because it ramps you up and leaves you wanting to hear more about the loneliness and isolation of living inowhere with nothing to look forward to, and of the narrator's honesty, as the music begins slowly and builds up with the tone of the lyrics and the singers with a sweet harmony that only comes along only very rarely. You've also got to remember, these were two life-long pals from New York who wrote, sang and (as of 2009) have been performing together off and on for over 40 years.
After they recorded the song, although they were still technically broken up, they both featured the song on their solo albums and the song is listed as performed by "Simon and Garfunkel."
It was performed live for the first time on Saturday Night Live in 1975 with Art being the "surprise guest" with Paul, and the crowd predictably went wild. It became a number one hit for them worldwide of course, and of course they also realized one thing - they could NEVER not be without each other, it would be like the Oreo cookie without the creamy center.
(Here is a Garfunkel-less version from around that same time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMyzDekZAN0
Sorry if I don't know how to post videos from YouTube etc. - yet)
This is one of my very favorite songs, from one of my favorite years for popular music. If you look at the Billboard charts top 100 for 1975, you'd understand: Elton John was still hitting the number one charts almost quarterly; The Carpenters and Tony Orlando and Dawn were coming along, an upstart alt-country-rock band called The Eagles were just starting their rise, Earth Wind and Fire, Wings, The Bee Gees and so many other groups and solo artists that came along with one hit wonders that you still hear even now played the music that fills the oldies sections and still can be played with a freshness you can't say about the year 2000 in music.
I hope you agree with me that this song is one of the greatest tunes ever written, because it became a kind of a sort of a bridge between the old and the new for Paul and Art, and it also showed that their special kind of songwriting and singing talent is timeless.
After they recorded the song, although they were still technically broken up, they both featured the song on their solo albums and the song is listed as performed by "Simon and Garfunkel."
It was performed live for the first time on Saturday Night Live in 1975 with Art being the "surprise guest" with Paul, and the crowd predictably went wild. It became a number one hit for them worldwide of course, and of course they also realized one thing - they could NEVER not be without each other, it would be like the Oreo cookie without the creamy center.
(Here is a Garfunkel-less version from around that same time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMyzDekZAN0
Sorry if I don't know how to post videos from YouTube etc. - yet)
This is one of my very favorite songs, from one of my favorite years for popular music. If you look at the Billboard charts top 100 for 1975, you'd understand: Elton John was still hitting the number one charts almost quarterly; The Carpenters and Tony Orlando and Dawn were coming along, an upstart alt-country-rock band called The Eagles were just starting their rise, Earth Wind and Fire, Wings, The Bee Gees and so many other groups and solo artists that came along with one hit wonders that you still hear even now played the music that fills the oldies sections and still can be played with a freshness you can't say about the year 2000 in music.
I hope you agree with me that this song is one of the greatest tunes ever written, because it became a kind of a sort of a bridge between the old and the new for Paul and Art, and it also showed that their special kind of songwriting and singing talent is timeless.
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