Building the Website

OK. Got to the Christmas holidays. Going to use all my spare time between now and New Years to put up the promised web site, http://www.CrackingTheSimonCode.org .

The site will have, for each song, the lyrics as printed in the booklet, the lyrics rearranged as normal song poetry, the song poetry annotated (more on this in a bit) plus bloggings and crackings from this blog. The lyrics in both forms are already up.

I've grouped the lyrics of all the songs into a single page in each form. Your browser's Find (ctrl+F in all major browsers) makes it easy to answer questions like, "How many songs use the word 'holy'?" and "How many songs use the word 'brown'?". (Answer: two each.)

The annotated lyrics are demanding to create, but illuminating in the extreme. I'm using different background colors for each different bit of music. Dramatically different colors show the dramatically different themes. Minor color changes show the variations within the themes. For example, "It's outrageous ... " will be red, "Who's gonna love you ..." will be blue. The annotation will have two bands of red, and (count? gotta go do it!) other bands of blue.

So far I've completed annotations for "How Can You Live in the Northeast?" and "Everything About It Is a Love Song." Both have a similar structure. Two themes alternate, separated by a third theme in the middle and a fourth as a coda. Take a quick look at these and I think you'll agree, this is an effective way to visualize the structure. (At least it is for the first two songs.)

If no blogs are posted here for the next several days, keep in touch by watching the website grow. By the way, it's looking really good. Very simple but appropriate design. Hope you agree.

Beautiful

First-Time Visitors

If you don't know Paul Simon's Surprise, listen to Outrageous before proceeding. You have to read this blog as it was posted, earliest first. Start with "Cracked 2 More" (lower right) and then work your way up the list. The fully cracked explanations are in the comments, not in the blogs (for those who want to do their own cracking).

On the net the lurkers (those who read but don't post) vastly outnumber the posters. I really, truly want to broaden the conversation; incorporate some more points of view; have some sober person tell me I'm nuts; have some impressionable person say, 'Wow. That makes sense.' All of which is to say I'd really appreciate some comments from you all.

I've got my teeth deep into "Northeast" and "I Don't Believe." Both obviously about religion, and neither taking an obvious position. Separating Simon's views from Simon's character's views is difficult, at best. In the last analysis, it may not even be important. Simon's brilliance as an artist does not confer on him any authority as a theologian.

So here I'll duck the really hard stuff, and look at the really easy one. The song is Beautiful, in so many ways.

Precising "Everything About It"

First-Time Visitors

If you don't know Paul Simon's Surprise, listen to Outrageous before proceeding. You have to read this blog as it was posted, earliest first. Start with "Cracked 2 More" (lower right) and then work your way up the list. The fully cracked explanations are in the comments, not in the blogs (for those who want to do their own cracking).

I've read the Simon biography. He has several honorary degrees, so "picking up a bogus degree" is autobiographical. Which confirms my suspicion about "That's Me" being autobiographical. Sort of.

"I should have been a musician. / I love the piano. / ... well, that's me." (From "Darling Lorraine" on "You're the One." Piano was Simon's first instrument and he quickly abandoned it in favor of the guitar. He is a musician, of course. So it would be a mistake to think that "That's me" rules out the possibility that a Simon-created character, not Simon himself, is speaking. But this blog is about "Everything About It Is a Love Song."

I've tightened this one significantly. The song gets better every time my understanding gets better. The precising of the cracking is attached as a comment.

Here I'll just add that the coda, and title, is still a mystery. Won't someone please lend a thought?