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For forty years now, the name Paul Simon has evoked echoes of songs that have rightfully entered the collective imagination as a pleasant succession of refrains, music, and lyrics that have marked the simple story of a contemporary songwriter from across the ocean. And for those who have had the pleasure of listening to these songs, sometimes of extraordinary beauty.
It's no secret that Simon had recently reached a challenging point in his career, which at sixty-four seemed to be showing signs of faltering. Then, thanks to a providential, albeit occasional and in some respects bizarre convergence, Simon came into contact with the "wizard" Eno with whom he managed to overcome the state of "impasse".
As someone observed before me, it is surprising how Simon sings in "Surprise" with his natural and still crystal-clear voice, as if around him there is still the usual background of mostly exclusively acoustic instruments, whereas Eno has woven his "Sonic Landscapes" with "discreetly ethnic" aromas and flavors or, in any case, with a hint of "world music".
The songs, already airy in writing, reach climates of varying intensity, even rhythmic, suggesting a Simon who is confident and, in my opinion, convincing, about the goodness of the project. There are 11 songs in which Simon's traditional lyricism meets the imaginative electronic details of Brian Eno in an unexpected and at times thrilling creative phenomenon due to the harmonic effects that ensue.
If we then add that musicians of indisputable talent like Steve Gadd, Bill Frisell, or Gil Goldstein have been chosen, it will not be difficult to understand how all the pieces seem to fit together. Simon, in fact, is not new to the many and varied possibilities of contaminations. Already "Graceland" or "Rhythm Of the Saints" sounded in this direction; after six years of silence, when already a thousand doubts were looming over the songwriter's future, Simon however managed to dispel them in a simple way: by letting himself be enveloped by climates unusual and curious for him.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
03 Outrageous (03:24)
It's outrageous to line your pockets off the misery of the poor.
Outrageous, the crimes some human beings must endure.
It's a blessing to wash your face in the summer solstice rain.
It's outrageous a man like me stand here and complain.
But I'm tired.
Nine hundred sit-ups a day.
I'm painting my hair the color of mud,
Mud okay?
I'm tired, tired.
Anybody care what I say?
No!
I'm painting my hair the color of mud.
Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Tell me, who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Aw, who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
It's outrageous the food they try to serve in a public school.
Outrageous, the way they talk to you like your some kind of clinical fool.
It's a blessing to rest my head in the circle of your love.
It's outrageous I can't stop thinking 'bout the things I'm thinking of.
And I'm tired.
Nine hundred sit-ups a day.
I'm painting my hair the color of mud,
Mud okay?
I'm tired, tired.
Anybody care what I say?
No!
Painting my hair the color of mud.
Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Tell me, who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Tell me, who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
God will.
Like he waters the flowers on your window sill.
Take me.
I'm an ordinary player in the key of C.
And my will was broken by my pride and my vanity.
Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
God will.
Like he waters the flowers on your window sill.
Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
05 Wartime Prayers (04:49)
Prayers offered in times of peace are silent conversations,
Appeals for love or loves release, in private invocations.
But all that is changed now,
Gone like a memory from the day before the fires.
People hungry for the voice of God
Hear lunatics and liars
Wartime prayers, wartime prayers
In every language spoken,
For every family scattered and broken.
Because you cannot walk with the holy,
If you're just a halfway decent man.
But I don't pretend that I'm a mastermind
With a genious marketing plan.
I'm trying to tap into some wisdom,
Even a little drop would do.
I want to rid my heart of envy
And cleanse my soul of rage
Before I feel.
Times are hard, hard times,
But everybody knows all about hard times.
The thing is, what are you gonna do?
Will you cry?
And try to muscle through?
And try to rearrange your stuff?
But when the wounds are deep enough,
And it's all that we can bear,
We wrap ourselves in prayer.
Because you cannot walk with the holy,
If you're just a halfway decent man.
But I don't pretend that I'm a mastermind
With a genious marketing plan.
I'm trying to tap into some wisdom,
Even a little drop would do.
I want to rid my heart of envy
And cleanse my soul of rage
Before I'm through.
A mother murmurs in twilight sleep
And draws her babies closer.
With hush-a-bies for sleepy eyes,
And kisses on the shoulder.
To drive away despair
She sends a wartime prayer.
08 Another Galaxy (05:22)
On the morning of her wedding day, when no one was awake, she drove across
the border. Leaving all the yellow roses on her wedding cake. Her mother's
tears, her breakfast order.
She's gone, gone, gone.
There is a moment, a chip in time, when leaving home is the lesser crime.
When your eyes are blind with tears, but your heart can see: another life,
another galaxy.
That night her dreams are storm-tossed as a willow. She hears the clouds, she
sees the eye of a hurricane, as it sweeps across her island pillow.
But she's gone, gone, gone.
There is a moment, a chip in time, when leaving home is the lesser crime.
When your eyes are blind with tears, but your heart can see:
Another life, another galaxy.
11 Father and Daughter (04:11)
If you leap awake in the middle of a bad dream
And for a fraction of a second you can't remember where you are
Just open your window and follow your memory upstream
To the meadow in the mountain where we counted every falling star
I believe the light that shines on you will shine on you forever (forever)
And though I can't guarantee there's nothing scary hiding under your bed
I'm gonna stand guard like a postcard of a golden retriever
And never leave til I leave you with a sweet dream in your head
I'm gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you'll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father who loved his daughter more than I love you
Trust you intuition
It's just like goin' fishing
You cast your line and hope you get a bite
But you don't need to waste your time
Worrying about the marketplace
Try to help the human race
Struggling to survive it's harshest night
I'm gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you'll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father who loved his daughter more than I love you
I'm gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you'll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father who loved his daughter more than I love you
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By The Punisher
I'm still here traveling the world looking for an inspiration that will bring me back to the glorious past.
I'm quite satisfied even though everyone thinks it's me singing on a Brian Eno album with U2's country-pop music, and frankly, it annoys me.
