Paul Simon - American Tune (1975)

[Donkees]

[no_hypocrisy]

1. This was the only song that spoke to me after 9-11.

[Freddie]

2. Thank you

This song is in my mind often. Pretty sure he wrote it in the aftermath of Watergate and Nixon's resignation and how the nation needed time to reassess and heal.

[louis c]

3. My Favorite Artist

[saltpoint]

4. "We come on the ship they called the Mayflower /

We come on the ship that sailed the moon..."

A masterwork.

[CTyankee]

5. Do ya'll know this is a rip-off...of J.S. Bach!

[saltpoint]

6. Resonance and chord structure the

same in the first eight bars, but not after.

Artists have dipped into classical works before for tunes (Eric Carmen and the Rach 2, for instance), but classical composers have dipped into folk melodies for theirs as well.

Sticking with my assessment: a masterwork.

[CTyankee]

7. I think those first eight bars are important, though...

it's fine and you certainly know your music. But it has this effect on me...it distracts me from Simon's song (and in other works I like his singing)...am I being picky?

[Chiyo-chichi]

9. Not only did Bach borrow it first, he recycled the melody in a number of works

It was originally "Mein G'müt ist mir verwirret," by Hans Leo Hassler.

http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2011/bach-and-paul-simon/

Liszt also borrowed the melody.

As a guitar player, I would say American Tune is a masterwork for the fingerpicking patterns alone. The lyrics are profound. And it was used by Progressive Future in a powerful 2008 ad for Barack Obama.

[saltpoint]

13. I was stung hard by the lyrics in Simon's song,

as with so many of his compositions.

And he does get an awful lot out of language, even before the music is considered.

I think his "The Boxer" is a desert island composition, at least to my ear.

Very early on, I was drawn to the sound Simon & Garfunkel recordings could deliver. It was secular but so intensely poetic that it rose to some kind of holy (small 'h') level. When I was a teenager long ago, those compositions helped me grow up.

[CTyankee]

14. Yes, I agree with you on "The Boxer" -- stunning. And I like "The Sounds of Silence" as well.

And at my beloved sister in law's memorial service I wrote a tribute to her through tears and ended it with

Sail on, silver girl
Sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All of your dreams are on their way
See how they shine
Oh, if you need a friend
I'm sailing right behind.

I struggled to finish those words...

[saltpoint]

17. What a tribute, then, CTyankee.

Absolutely lovely choice.

[CTyankee]

18. thank you, it was a hard time to get through...we had had our babies together, our divorces...

I mourned her death even as I knew cirrhosis was killing her...but I reached for Paul Simon in her tribute...my ex husband told me much later how moved he was by my words about his sister...

[saltpoint]

19. Some people have something in

their circuitry -- an advanced sense, an instinct for marking the most important moments of life.

It sounds as if you are one of those people.

[CTyankee]

20. well, you take comfort where you can find it...thanks, saltpoint...

[CTyankee]

8. LOL. My husband and I "curated" the music for my daughter's wedding and she chose to walk down

Last edited Sun Oct 30, 2016, 03:07 PM - Edit history (1)

the aisle to "Simple Gifts" (Copland's rip-off, albeit with his appreciation for Appalachia), our prelude was Air from the Water Music, the ubiquitous Pachelbel Canon in D, Sheep May Safely Graze as other preludes, recessional was La Rejouissance from the Royal Fireworks and then a Postlude of the Rondeau by Mouret.

Pretty good stuff, doncha think?

[saltpoint]

12. Hell, yes. Pretty good stuff indeed.

Nicely done all around.

[CTyankee]

15. I thought the Pachelbel was by that time a bit overdone but my daughter loved it...

but Simple Gifts was her strongly made suggestion and abided with her wishes of course. And I did think that the rejouissance was better suited for lots of brass instruments but what the hell...the string quartet pulled it off (altho they got a bit lost in Sheep may Safely Graze and I wondered how the hell they could screw that up...it's not like that wasn't in their repetoire...). It was a garden wedding and they were married under a lovely huppa...

[Wilms]

10. .

[Donkees]

11. .

[mcar]

16. One of my favorites

Thank you!