Songs? Maybe and maybe ...

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" ('06, Nov.) and then work your way down 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 spent a long time calling the tracks on Surprise "tracks" as opposed to songs. That they are tracks is a simple fact. Whether they are songs is open to discussion.

"Sure Don't Feel Like Love," for one example, starts with "Registered to vote ..." and then totally drops the "Felt like a fool" issue as it goes on with different music and lyrics on other topics. Many of these tracks appear more to be built with fragments of different songs than to be single songs. If we are going to call them "songs" then we are going to be redefining that word to include these tracks, assembled as they are from disparate elements.

For instance, "Sure Don't Feel ..." is built from these elements:

1 - Felt like a fool
2a - Who's that conscience
3 - Chemistry of crying
2b - Who's that conscience
4 - A voice in your head
5 - No joke, no joke
6 - Yay! Boo!
7 - Wrong again
8a - Sure don't feel like
8b - (track ends, sung acappella) It sure. Don't feel. Like love.

Calling them "tracks" does nothing to communicate what kind of tracks they are. Tracks include songs, comedy album bits, recipes from cooking shows. We need a word that says "pieces of music made from disparate lyric, melodic and harmonic bits." I'll coin one: disparongs.

The advantage of calling them disparongs is that it conveys that we have something here that is not the same as plain songs. It means musical tracks pulling together disparate bits. The disadvantage is that people will look at you funny and have no clue what you are talking about if you call them disparongs.

Our choices are two: we either agree that we will extend the definition of "song" or we need to define a new word. (Note that the tracks themselves are completely unaffected. This is a discussion of word definitions, not of the tracks.)

I'd like to have a new word, as this would let us point to the tracks on this album and similarly constructed tracks, such as "A Day in the Life" and "Bohemian Rhapsody". One critic noted Surprise's "odd song structures." (That's putting it mildly!) On the other hand, in interviews Paul Simon calls them "songs."

In the end, I think Simon rules. He's pushed the envelope on what a song is, but if he says these tracks are songs, then the rest of us have little authority to dispute the new definition. He's the one making the art, so he should be the one who decides how he wants his art named.

On the other hand, if you want to use the word "disparong" that word is now defined, within the confines of this blog, as a subset of the word "song." Wish disparong didn't sound so much like "wrong." These disparongs are as right as a soft, summer-solstice rain.

Website's Done!

Half a day after my original deadline, the website's done. It's www.CrackingTheSimonCode.org . If you haven't visited, please do. (No, Mr. Sceptic, there are no ads. This is not a commercial venture.)

The Annotations really showed me the structure of these tracks. Collecting the blogs and crackings in one place showed me how much I'd learned. The 3-part cracking of "Everything About It Is a Love Song" shows how the idea developed. The second crack didn't contradict the first, but it made it much narrower and more focused. The third part did contradict some details in the second, but mostly it just carried the idea further.

I'm pleased with the result. One correspondent called it an obsession. Guilty as charged. I guess I could have let the idea lie and spent my time on projects with a certain amount of financial potential, but I'm glad I did it. Do let me know what you think.

Don't overlook the "Reviews" page. It pulls all the reviews from the first four pages of a Google search. 27 Yay and 4 Boo. Staggering how little they knew. Exactly two noticed that they weren't listening to verse/chorus songs. None noticed the boldface in the lyrics.

Well, back to my other life. I think I know what I'm going to say on the question of whether these tracks are correctly called songs. "Maybe and maybe and maybe some more" is one answer. I've got another.

How Can You Live in the Northeast?

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" ('06, Nov.) and then work your way down the list. The fully cracked explanations are in the comments, not in the blogs (for those who want to do their own cracking).

With this blog and comment, I'll have a complete set. This is the last blog about the first track, and perhaps the toughest. Allow me to start obliquely.

I live in New York's Hudson Valley, west of the river. I grew up in Connecticut about 75 miles due east of here. I like it here.

When the snow melts, snow drops, then forsythia announce a long flower season. July's not too stifling. (It's never too hot if your kayak's in the resevoir.) Maybe the tomato season could be longer, but in fall this is apple country. Macouns (Muh COW ans) compete with Ginger Crisps, Ginger Golds and classics like Empire and Jonathan. Then a "brown as a sparrow" month before snowshoeing and skiing in the Catskills. And when the snow melts ...

Who wouldn't want to live here?

I'm going further when I get to cracking, but first I should confess that I'm of two minds (Yay. Boo.) about this track. Some days I think I've got a good crack, absent a line or two. Other days, I don't think my insights rise to the level of a cracking. Not even close.

Yesterday I asked myself for the millionth time if my insights might not be all wrong. I don't think so. Here's the tally:

Confused: some lines in "How Can You ...", coda to "Everything About It ...", end of "That's Me."

Minor issues: "I Don't Believe", "Once Upon ..."

No issues: "Outrageous", "Sure Don't Feel ...", "Wartime Prayers", "Beautiful", "Another Galaxy", "Father and Daughter"

When I look at the tally, I'm very pleased. The confusion is only in small corners of three songs. The minor issues are minor. Over half have no issues whatsoever. Each time I answer this question, the answer gets more positive.

Well, I've postponed writing the cracking as long as I can. Guess it's time to write that comment. I wonder what I'll say?

P. S. There will be more blogging here. I said I'd postpone the discussion of whether these tracks are songs to a later date. Are they? Yay. Boo. Maybe and maybe and maybe some more.

That's Me

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" ('06, Nov.) and then work your way down the list. The fully cracked explanations are in the comments, not in the blogs (for those who want to do their own cracking).

Two more songs with no cracking: "That's Me" and "How Can You Live in the Northeast?". The latter is very complex, to say the least. The former is autobiographical and doesn't take much cracking, though I do have some comments.

Penetrating insights, I hope. Maybe. Madman's musings, maybe. Even some uncracked confusion. Whatever, that will have to wait a moment. The radio's playing "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Father and Daughter

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" ('06, Nov.) and then work your way down the list. The fully cracked explanations are in the comments, not in the blogs (for those who want to do their own cracking).

"Father and Daughter" was recorded for The Wild Thornberrys, a movie based on the children's TV show of the same name. It is almost a traditional verse/chorus song. It precedes the Simon/Eno collaboration and has no electronics.

I was surprised when I did the annotation, however. It's not as simple, structurally, as I thought. There is a classic chorus: "I'm gonna watch you shine, ..." through "...loved his daughter more than I love you." This chorus is repeated, with minor alterations, three times.

But the verses pressage the complex structures Simon creates for Surprise. Two verses preceded the first chorus. However, they're built on different melodies. A third verse, between the first and second chorus, also has its own melody.

And the harmonies are also complex. Anyone would resolve a dominant B7 to the tonic E. But few would resolve B9sus4 to E. (I've played the Beatles, who are known for their harmonic adventures, for years and never seen x9sus4.) Fewer still would get to B from F#m7. But none of these changes distracts you from the essential point of the song: father loves daughter.

I'll post a personal comment in the comments, since I need something to fill space in the "Crackings" column on www.CrackingTheSimonCode.org .

Another Galaxy

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" ('06, Nov.) and then work your way down the list. The fully cracked explanations are in the comments, not in the blogs (for those who want to do their own cracking).

Finishing the www.CrackingTheSimonCode.org . I've made a list of the bloggings and crackings, song-by-song and am now completing the set. Then I'll copy from blog to website.

I've barely mentioned "Another Galaxy" here. That's because it's a straightforward, no cracking required, song about a would-be bride who bolts on the morning of her wedding day. The songpoet tells us that this is sometimes the best thing to do.

It's lyrics are the shortest of any on the CD, but its playing time (5:22) is the longest. The guitar work is so spectacular that I wouldn't mind another 5:22. In the comment here I'll mention one thing that you might not have noticed. Dreams.

I Don't Believe, Cracked

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" ('06, Nov.) 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).

Finished the annotations. They're all on www.CrackingTheSimonCode.org and the color coding is great for showing the complex structures Simon creates. Seeing the structures puts any thought of randomness to rest. These tracks are rigorously built.

Got into the car (where Surprise has been in the CD for months now) and heard something in the bass that I hadn't heard in my office. When my old office Panasonic died (how old? turntable and dual cassette deck) I replaced it with the cheapest boombox that Walmart had. (When I listen to music I use the quite good electronics in the family room.) Without thinking, I'd used this boombox for the annotations. The new line in the bass made me think about it.

So to Best Buy and acquire top-of-the-line Bose head phones. Carefully replay and correct some eggregious mistakes. The heartbeats in (where? need to build the whole album version of the annotations where I could Ctrl+F "heartbeat") are bass, not drums, for example. Now I was hearing everything and there's more to the music than I knew. I like the way Simon sings left of center and puts the other instruments in other places.

If you've finished your cracking, or if you're just looking for the answers, the comment here will tell all I know about "I Don't Believe."

I Don't Believe, Structure

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 Don't Believe, Structure

Though this be madness
Yet there be method in't.
(Polonius, Hamlet Act II, Scene 2)

I've just finished the annotation of "I Don't Believe." Wow! This is a meticulously organized structure!

instrumental intro

1a) "Acts of kindness, ... " Music simple, tonic/dominant alternation.
1b) "But I don't believe ... " Same music, but add minor chords.

2) "The earth was born ... " prehistory in Cm11.

3) "I got a call from my broker ..." also in Cm11.

Now each musical section repeats.

4a) "Oh, guardian angel...." repeats 1a
4b) "I don't believe a heart can be filled ..." repeats 1b

5) "Maybe the heart is part of the mist...." repeats 2

6) "I got a call ... " repeats 3

Ends with reprise of 1.

7a) "Acts of kindness, ... " repeats 1a
7b) "I don't believe ... " repeats 1b

instrumental coda

At CrackingTheSimonCode.org I've put up a page of reviews. For example, at EW.com, Chris Williams wrote, "'I Don't Believe' is practically an album unto itself: ... Most artists spend entire careers covering less territory."

The color bands in the annotations were one of the rare ideas I've had that actually worked as planned. 1a and 1b are in blue, 1b slightly darker than 1a. 2 is green, 3 is red. Then the colors repeat as the music repeats. It really shows the structure well. This one's at www.CrackingTheSimonCode.org/lyrics/i3.html . Couldn't have written this blog without it.

I'm not about to post the cracking as I've still not understood two bits. Can anyone help with "To pantomime prayers with the hands of the clock"? I think that you would pantomime prayer by pressing palms together in front of chest, fingers pointing up, head bowed. But "with the hands of a clock"?