Debra, or anyone, please, to what do you attribute the widespread appeal of Simon and Garfunkel and their songs like this one.
I recently had a leap year birthday at which time I turned 18. Now, I “really “ turned 18 in 1970, so, for my party’s trivia game, the big question was , what was the number one best selling song of 1970?
I was very surprised to learn——-Bridge Over Troubled Water!!!
Debra, just read your entry. Right. Of course. Thanks.
I had done a little research on the song myself back in February and so recall this now.
So Paul Simon maybe has the ability that has been attributed to Irving Berlin. They have a unique gift for being able to absorb and pick out very listenable and widely appealing tunes and harmonies, a sort of innate and highly developed musicianship as it were. But they also have the ability to take the familiar and give it a tweak so as not to make the music predictable. (I think that’s a paraphrase of Irving Berlin). Speaking of which, Neil Sedaka comes to mind as being in the same vein. That guy can just pull music out of thin air.
Neil Sedaka is "a whole nother story," for another day. Berlin and Paul Simon, I think, were closer to ordinary folk traditions, however. Sedaka's music seems to me more "mannered," and so a bit less likely to be sung around a campfire, if you know what I mean. :)
Modern Maltese Catholics regularly sing a hymn to this Simon tune — not sure whether he gets royalties though. To be honest it can disconcert American pilgrims to hear it during Mass.
Oh, what an interesting story behind this song. I have two blind friends, both of whom lost their sight in early adulthood; now I expect I'll think of them whenever I hear, "Hello darkness my old friend...."
The iPhone, introduced in 2007, brought many blessings as well as several problems. Simon and Garfunkel in the early 1960s presciently described one modern vexation that today's oxymoronic Song of the Week perfectly points out: At tables in restaurants and around dinner tables in homes, friends and families often forgo conversation for "The Sound of Silence" from their hand-held devices.
Music from that hurricane that raged continuously from November 1963 until April 1975.
True!
Debra, or anyone, please, to what do you attribute the widespread appeal of Simon and Garfunkel and their songs like this one.
I recently had a leap year birthday at which time I turned 18. Now, I “really “ turned 18 in 1970, so, for my party’s trivia game, the big question was , what was the number one best selling song of 1970?
I was very surprised to learn——-Bridge Over Troubled Water!!!
Amy, did you read my entry on "Bridge Over Troubled Water"? That might help.. for a start. Simon was/is a musical genius.
I did not read that entry! I shall!
Debra, just read your entry. Right. Of course. Thanks.
I had done a little research on the song myself back in February and so recall this now.
So Paul Simon maybe has the ability that has been attributed to Irving Berlin. They have a unique gift for being able to absorb and pick out very listenable and widely appealing tunes and harmonies, a sort of innate and highly developed musicianship as it were. But they also have the ability to take the familiar and give it a tweak so as not to make the music predictable. (I think that’s a paraphrase of Irving Berlin). Speaking of which, Neil Sedaka comes to mind as being in the same vein. That guy can just pull music out of thin air.
Neil Sedaka is "a whole nother story," for another day. Berlin and Paul Simon, I think, were closer to ordinary folk traditions, however. Sedaka's music seems to me more "mannered," and so a bit less likely to be sung around a campfire, if you know what I mean. :)
https://youtu.be/eFq0kRncTY4?feature=shared
Modern Maltese Catholics regularly sing a hymn to this Simon tune — not sure whether he gets royalties though. To be honest it can disconcert American pilgrims to hear it during Mass.
https://hamrun-ik.knisja.mt/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/music/Fis_Skiet_u_l_Gabra_116.pdf
Eeek! In the church we attend in Canada hymns are set to "Five Hundred Miles" and "Edelweiss" and --- Danny Boy! I find that disconcerting.
Silence is like water: it can give abundant life, or it can destroy and kill.
Father, we live in constant noise and unnatural silence at the same time. Lord, help us.
Such a song! Poetry to ponder, and harmony to rejoice the ear.
Thanks for sharing more of its story, plus the original version.
I like the original best!
I think you’re right: simply beautiful, beautifully simple.
Oh, what an interesting story behind this song. I have two blind friends, both of whom lost their sight in early adulthood; now I expect I'll think of them whenever I hear, "Hello darkness my old friend...."
The iPhone, introduced in 2007, brought many blessings as well as several problems. Simon and Garfunkel in the early 1960s presciently described one modern vexation that today's oxymoronic Song of the Week perfectly points out: At tables in restaurants and around dinner tables in homes, friends and families often forgo conversation for "The Sound of Silence" from their hand-held devices.
Now I agree: we live in a world of constant noise on the one hand and eery silence in formerly social settings. "The words of the prophets," indeed.