| 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?
1 comment:
I started with "thoughts." Then honed in. This time I'm precising the previous. Here goes.
The past, the present and the future all live in the mind. The past is in our memories, and the future in our imagination. As time roles along, the future becomes the present and the present becomes the past. Paul Simon's past's future is your present, if you're listening to "Everything" (or if you're reading a blog about "Everything").
Note the past tense: "I took a walk ...". At some indefinite time in the past, which Simon is remembering, he took that walk "along the riverbank" of his imagination and created this song (and all the others). The song came after the walk. Your hearing it and reading about it comes after the song is recorded. Your present is Simon's past's future.
The past and future don't alternate as simply as I suggested earlier. They intertwine with the present, too. "Sit down, shut up..." is very definitely present tense. "Think about God" is tied to, but not the same as, imagination.
I also overlooked "surprise." What is a surprise? A surprise happens when a bit of future roles into the present and it is not as you imagined it. Hopefully, that birthday present (for which you made the wish) turns out to be way better than you guessed. You're delighted. Happy birthday! (Of course, surprises aren't all of the good sort, though we'll stick to the good ones since we're at a birthday party.)
I called "early December" a memory. I think that was wrong. It is the present, as the verb "shoot" is used. ("I shoot a thought into the future." There's no metric or other reason why he couldn't have "shot a thought", but he chose "shoot.") That's not the past or the future tense. It's present tense.
I was right about the "as I'll remember you" bringing up the complication of imagining future memories, but that's only fitting after the complexity of the opening remembrance of past imaginings.
The earth is blue in the pictures we get back from space. Astronauts all speak with awe of the earth's beauty, seen from space.
Now if only someone could help me connect the dots from here to "Everything about it is a love song." Anyone?
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