There’s music you grow up with, and the music you discover. Simon and Garfunkel (S&G) falls in the latter category for me. I think I heard general strains of their music here and there, but in 1994, when I first heard S&G, I also discovered angst and harmony. Till that time the only angst I had heard was of the Bob Dylan variety. 1994 was an important year. Music rained down on me and I began living the borrowed life of a music junkie. Like when every song begins to have a meaning. And every every meaning begins to have a song. When every moment of your life can be defined by a track. On some days, you wouldn’t know where a song began and you stopped. You fit your heartache to to the vocabulary of the songwriter. (Something like High Fidelity if you have read the book or seen the movie.)
Yes, I know the universe is no clearing house for lost messages. I know that there is no hidden message for me in the songs. But let me leave with my illusions please. S&G fed that junkie in me. Bob Dylan may not think too highly of them. So while Dylan fed both the mopie and heightened phases of chronic fretting, S&G softened those rough edges. As for their hidden messages, for some reason for a long time the first song I heard on my birthdays would be an S&G track. Either on the radio, or someone calling to wish, and the track running in the background. A randomly placed playlist that would turn to S&G just as I turned a year older.
I think I listen to music a lot differently now. At that point, when getting hold of “western” music was both a matter of access and high cost, each tape was valued. It was heard again and again, flipping Side A and Side B, till even the silences between songs was registered with their length and weight. Every piece of music you bought was an investment. You had to weigh the reviews of friends and journals against your own intuition. Sometimes you heard one piece of music at a friend’s place and couldn’t sleep till you possessed that particular piece. When you had to choose to take a maximum of three tapes with you for your walkman-listening mania. Don’t get me wrong. I love the digital avatar of music. It’s never been so accessible. Portability of music and the way I can tweak things as a user have made life fantastically easy. I literally am able to find a song for my mood with a click. But I doubt if I would have been as fanatic about specific bands at that time. Attention deficitness isn’t doesn’t exactly respond very well to too much choice.
The first S&G track I heard was Scarborough Fair. At some point, I even sang it passably well. As I was browsing some of my regular haunts today, I was pointed towards this treasure of S&G tracks at YouTube. Scarborough Fair in all its glory.
Another gem here. Simon and Garfunkel in a black and white studio video singing Sounds of Silence.
Posted on May 18th, 2006 by Neha Viswanathan
Filed under: Music, Film and Art, Self
Thanks for the post. S&G is one of my alltime favorite bands. I can spend hours listening to them without getting bored.
Ah! All my Simon & Garfunkel music memories are mostly associated with one song – Cecilia… a staple for any of the campus dance parties that we had almost every week!
The bit about, ‘down on my knees…’ always lent itself to some interesting, errrm movements, not every aesthetically pleasing as one would imagine. It was almost as much fun as jumping mindlessly to, Living next door to Alice.
And of course all songs hold hidden messages for you. In fact, many of them, you composed them yourself… inside your head and long before! That is the only purpose of all that music.
Though S&G in 1994 is rather evolved. I am sheepish to admit this, but I think I was listening to gems such as – Mysterious girl; I wanna get close to you… or even worse some MLTR stuff! You know, terribly banal stuff masquerading as the meaning of life!
*Buries head into sand*
Actually it was such a long while back, I am not even sure I remember! :)
Beautiful post, Neha. Now I am itching to write a little riff off this post. Yeah, pathos-pushing continues.
the boxer! first heard it in 1991 when someone sang it round a campfire. he was so bloody good we taped him. i am a rock! jeez. talk about guilty pleasures. so uncool, but who cares.
Thnx for the vdo. Beaauutiful song that. One of S&G’s songs that I can relate to more than ever is “leaves that are green”.
I feel the same songs I hear today had more value when they were not as accessible and there was no “repeat” button. No mp3 players, VH1, MTV or Worldspace.
Talking about songs, moods and meanings, Floyd is one band that has one for every occasion. Some just portray the one you want. Works like magic.
Rezwan: Ditto.
Primalsoup: Have half a heart to ask if there are photographs from any of those parties. Heh! In 1994, I discovered the incredible afternoon radio. All India Radio had some excellent afternoon programming. One day for rock, one for retro, one more for opera, fourth for western and fifth for pop. Amazing stuff. One of the upsides of having both your parents working is that you have the house, the radio and the tv to yourself! Btw, for some time I referred to them as Simon Uncle and Garf Uncle.
km: Please scratch!
nevermind: The boxer is such a beautifully arranged song. Sounds great even without someone doing the harmony bit.
Bharat: The ipod has meant that I do listen to more music in one way. It’s become more integral to my life. I no longer need to take time out to listen to music. But yes – earlier every song was savoured. Because you were spending time over it I guess. And the arrangement of songs on a tape was a very big deal – because it had evoke a certain mood – keep it steady, peak it, and quickly change to something else. In a world of single download songs that may not work. But well we did have singles for a long time.
Yeah babe, share the love! :P Nice archeological dig this post, btw.
Dont think I have ever posted at your site. It was a potent combination – Mr.Simon and Mr. Garfunkel and your very fluid liquid prose.
I remember when I first heard these guys – think I was in class 9th – a gangly half grown trying to find my place and feeling isolated…– and here was these guys were singing –
I am a rock…
And the rock feels no pain..
And the island never cries…
And that did it. Even today I suddenly pay attention when The Boxer comes up…(I too, I flatter myself by thinking – used to sing it passably well a long time ago…)
Wonderful post. Keep it up.
–N
Neurojava: Thanks!
whoaaa!!! sound of silence…a clip from 1965!! I love the song! this is too priceless! thank you :D
Thank you, young ‘un. It must be very clear what S&G mean to me – a whole phase of my life that I still go back to – I need not belabour the point. The video is off the Central Park album. Not one of their best performances, but I can still give you the playlist from memory and even the occasional riffs (Dave Toofaney on saxophone … Steve Gatz on the drums … I hope we’re blowing Central Park West and Fifth Avenoo pretty much away …)
Thank you muchly for the memories and for the Joan Baez video. What a woman. Dylan was such a schlepp for breaking up with her (notwithstanding “Tambourine Man”)
J.A.P.