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?

More Along the Riverbank

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).

In the comments I'll elaborate on my previous post re "Everything About It Is a Love Song." This is far tighter than I previously realized. There is still that puzzling coda, from which the title springs. Hmmm.

First, I've been convinced of the following for a while, but have been reluctant to blog about it. Reaching more or less absolute judgments in public can make you feel like a fool if you later change your mind. On the other hand, there is an implied demand here for intellectual honesty.

I have cracked ALL of these tracks. (Calling them "songs" would require stretching the former definition of that term - a discussion I'll leave for another day.) There is nothing left in the "random" bin. I still have individual puzzles, such as the coda to "Everything About It ...", but all these make fundamental sense.

And all them are on different facets of a single, larger topic. Let me repeat that. The whole album is about one topic. The second comment here (don't read it if you're doing your own cracking!) identifies that topic. I previously stated that if that were true, I'd have to stop calling this album a monster and call it The Monster. So be it. It is The Monster.

I now listen to this album the same way I listen to Bach's "Prelude and Fugue in D Minor" or Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony." It is a transcendant masterpiece, one of those extraordinary works of the human imagination that happens rarely, that makes you humble and proud to be a human when it happens.

Mr. Simon, I salute you. You've joined the ranks of mankind's greatest artists.

Wartime Prayers

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).

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. Two hour drive in the morning, early. Three hours in the opposite direction (after an epic feast) gave me five uninterrupted hours with Surprise. I alternated between listening to the whole thing and endless repetitions of the first two songs. I finally started to crack "How can you live in the Northeast?"!

It started with the line, "How can you eat from a rice bowl,
The holy man only breaks bread?" That's just wrong. Lao Tse (Taoism founder) must have eaten from a rice bowl. Confucius ate from a rice bowl. The question is posed by a character with a narrow, Western view of religion. Once you see the questions posed as questions coming from a Simon-created character, then things begin to fall into place. My previous suggestion that Simon inherited his father's name and religion is also germane.

But more of that later. Today I'll devote the cracking to "Wartime Prayers." This song is so straightforward that I'm not sure the word "cracking" should be used. I did not see the simplicity at first, but now it is perfectly apparent. If that's not enough to point you in the right direction, the attached comment explains the simplicity.

Another Galaxy

First-Time Visitors

Don't know Paul Simon's Surprise, listen to Outrageous before going on. You have to read this blog as it was posted, earliest first (Cracked 2 More, lower right). The crackings are in the comments.

"Another Galaxy" is a straightforward, verse-and-chorus song; cracking not required. In traditional lyric notation, you'd write it this way:

    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

  [Chorus]
    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

  [Chorus]

Well, maybe there's a little cracking required. Anybody have a clue about "her breakfast order"? Nowhere else does Simon just throw in some nonsense because he needs a rhyme.

And as a last note, cracking definitely required, there's the issue of boldface type in the lyrics. (Hey, buy the album. The booklet enclosed is worth the money.) Every word that refers to water - ocean, pond, tear, stream, mist - is set in boldface. Nothing else is in boldface. Every track mentions water, some way or another.

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.

Cracking the Simon Code

""Once Upon a Time There Was an Ocean"

In the comment, I'll crack this one. If you like to do your own cracking, here's a hint:

Ignore the title. Focus on the character. This track tells a story.

A Walk Along the Riverbank

Cracking "Everything About It Is a Love Song." I'll post the near-complete solution as a comment. (Don't want to spoil the chase for those who prefer to do their own cracking.)

Now if I only knew how the body of the song connects to the coda (the "Everything about it is a love song" part) I'd have just three left.

Some Insights

"How Can You Live in the Northeast" at the very end, Simon is being autobiographical: "I've been given all I've wanted / Only 3 generations off the boat / I've harvested and I have planted / I'm wearing my father's olc coat." That's not all he's got from his father. He's got his name and maybe his religion ("Name and religion come right after date of birth.") One answer to "How can you live in the Northeast?" is "I was born here."

"Everything About It Is a Love Song" - focusing on theme of regret.

"I Don't Believe" is partly about faith, or the lack thereof. That's what the bit about the broker is focused on: "He hoped that my faith was not shaken." And that ties neatly to the title. This doesn't explain, "My children are laughing / Not a whisper of care...." Where that fits, I ain't got a clue. And the "Maybe's the exit..."?

"That's Me" may be literally autobiographical. Bought a biography online. Will read it when it arrives, and then will know.

Cracked 2 More

Went hiking in the Catskills yesterday (with Snuffy, of course). That gave me about three hours listening. Moved two more songs into the Unified list. Here's the tally.

Unified	Random	Traditional
"Outrageous" "Sure Don't Feel Like Love" "Wartime Prayers" "Beautiful" "Another Galaxy" "Once Upon A Time There Was An Ocean"	"How Can You Live in the Northeast" "Everything About It Is A Love Song" "I Don't Believe" "That's Me"	"Father And Daughter"

I actually don't believe that there will be any songs in the "random" category, after we understand them. Later today I'll create the website that will be the companion to this blog: www.CrackingTheSimonCode.org. I'll post the solutions to the Unified songs.

Mean time, trust me on this: once you see what the songs are about, those random bits are very, very purposeful-sensible, logical.

Does anyone want "Another Galaxy" to be moved into the Traditional list?