I am of the opinion that Paul Simon is among our greatest living poets. And his songs aren’t bad, either. I think of him as a late-20th Century John Donne, commenting on our current world and all its quirks.
The problem for today’s National Poetry Month post is choosing
which of his massive oeuvre to share. Do I go really early—“Mrs. Robinson”
(from The Graduate), “59th Street Bridge Song”, “Homeward Bound”, “I
Am a Rock”? Or “Kodachrome”, “Bridge over Troubled Water”, “The Boxer”, “Still
Crazy after All These Years”, “Mother and Child Reunion”? And then there’s “Slip
Slidin’ Away”, “You Can Call Me Al”, “Time Is an Ocean”.
Okay, I’m giving you two. Simon and Garfunkel recorded “The Sound
of Silence” in 1964; it got them a recording deal with Columbia Records. It’s
quintessential Simon as Angsty Young Man, and it resonated so deeply with me
when I first heard it.
Forty-two years later, Simon released an album that included “Wartime Prayers”, which seems pretty appropriate today.
©2024 Bas Bleu
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