Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Cracking the Simon Code

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First-Time Visitors




If you don't know Paul Simon's Surprise, listen to Outrageous before proceeding.

While blog software shows the posts from most to least recent, you have to read this blog as it was posted, earliest first. The fully cracked explanations are in the comments, not in the blogs (for those who want to do their own cracking).


Today, I'll post the cracking to "Sure Don't Feel Like Love." In spite of starting with "feel like a fool" and then apparently dropping the thought, this is a more-or-less straightforward song. A good target for your first try at cracking on your own. Pay attention to the title.

Another hint? Conscience can be a good thing, your moral compass steering you through ethical choices. Or it can be a guilty conscience, a bit of remorse. The latter is more likely to be sticking to your shoe.

1 comment:

Martin Rinehart said...

Those crufties at the top? I was trying to put up a nice box to separate the first-time-visitor stuff from the rest of the blog. Planning to repeat that first-time-visitor stuff above each blog, to catch the attention of first-timers. Gotta go do some experiments.

Here's the crack:

To be scientific, love happens in the brain, between the ears, not in the heart. It's a wonderful feeling. Unfortunately, between the ears is also the location of other feelings.

You could be embarassed, feel like a fool. "People say it all the time / even when it's true." That doesn't feel like love.

That pang of guilty conscience is another thing between the ears that doesn't feel like love.

Crying, which is "not concerned with blame or fault" comes from real sorrow. It could be the pain of loss: lost love, lost loved ones or lost friendship. It's another thing betwwen the ears that doesn't feel like love. Simon draws the clear line between sorrow and guilty conscience, the latter definitely concerned with blame and fault.

"Feels like a threat
A voice in your head that you'd rather forget
No joke, no joke
You get sick from that unspoken ..."

This whole track is about the things that run between the ears that you'd really rather not have running there. You'd prefer "some chicken and a corn muffin ...".

The problem could be indecision. You could think "Yay" and then "Boo" about something. (A Jimmy Buffett favorite: "Indecision may or may not be part of my problem.")

You could be afraid of making a mistake. You could combine that fear with pangs of conscience over past mistakes.

Love happens between the ears. Lots of other things happen between the ears, too. This track is a catalog of the unpleasant things that don't feel like love. It's just what the title says.