This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Soon our fortunes will be made, my darling
And we will leave this loathsome little town
Silver bells jingling from your black lizard boots, my baby
Silver foil to trim your wedding gown
It's true the tools of love wear down
Time passes
A mid wanders
It seems mindless, but it does
Sometimes I see you face
As if through reading glasses
And your smile seems softer than it was
Proof
Some people gonna call you up
Tell you something that you already know
Proof
Sane people go crazy on you
Say ''No man, that was not
The deal we made
I got to go, I got to go''
Faith
Faith is an island in the setting sun
But proof, yes
Proof is the bottom line for everyone
My face, my race
Don't matter anymore
My sex, my cheques
Accepted at the door
Proof
Some people gonna call you up
Tell you something that you already know
Proof
Sane people go crazy on you
Say ''No man, that was not
The deal we made
I got to, I got to go''
Faith
Faith is an island in the setting sun
But proof, yes
Proof is the bottom line for everyone
Half moon hiding in the clouds, my darling
And the sky is flecked with signs of hope
Raise your weary wings against the rain, my baby
Wash your tangled curls with gambler's soap
Proof
Some people gonna call you up
Tell you something that you already know
Sane people go crazy on you
Say ''No man, that was not
The deal we made
I got to, I got to, I got to''
Faith
Faith is an island in the setting sun
But proof, yes
Proof is the bottom line for everyone
And we will leave this loathsome little town
Silver bells jingling from your black lizard boots, my baby
Silver foil to trim your wedding gown
It's true the tools of love wear down
Time passes
A mid wanders
It seems mindless, but it does
Sometimes I see you face
As if through reading glasses
And your smile seems softer than it was
Proof
Some people gonna call you up
Tell you something that you already know
Proof
Sane people go crazy on you
Say ''No man, that was not
The deal we made
I got to go, I got to go''
Faith
Faith is an island in the setting sun
But proof, yes
Proof is the bottom line for everyone
My face, my race
Don't matter anymore
My sex, my cheques
Accepted at the door
Proof
Some people gonna call you up
Tell you something that you already know
Proof
Sane people go crazy on you
Say ''No man, that was not
The deal we made
I got to, I got to go''
Faith
Faith is an island in the setting sun
But proof, yes
Proof is the bottom line for everyone
Half moon hiding in the clouds, my darling
And the sky is flecked with signs of hope
Raise your weary wings against the rain, my baby
Wash your tangled curls with gambler's soap
Proof
Some people gonna call you up
Tell you something that you already know
Sane people go crazy on you
Say ''No man, that was not
The deal we made
I got to, I got to, I got to''
Faith
Faith is an island in the setting sun
But proof, yes
Proof is the bottom line for everyone
Lyrics submitted by adupont, edited by driver8ball
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I have to admit here, I am definitely a bit confused. I just now listened to this song from the album, 'The Rhythm of the Saints'.
The lyrics posted here do not look anything at all like what I was just now listening to:
Begin again No easy trick without a guide or walking stick Begin before the bells of twilight peal
Downhill town The road ahead Spiral, as a serpent's bed A teaspoon of desire for my meal
I trade my tears To ask the Lord For proof of love If only for the consolation Of gazing at the stars above
Amen, amen, amen
The road is steep The air is thin I hear a voice inside my skin Don't be afraid Your days won't end with night Feel the sun Drink the rain Let your body heal its pain Bathe beneath a waterfall of light
I trade my tears To ask the Lord For proof of love If only for the explanation That tells me what my dreams are made of
Amen, amen The valley below An ocean of debris
I ask the Lord for proof of love Love is all I seek Love is all I seek And when at times my words desert me Music is the tongue I speak
I rest my head beside a white oak tree No deadly nightshade, Belladonna Dare lay a leaf on me
Silent night Still as prayer Darkness fills with light Love on Earth is everywhere
Can someone please help me out here. I was thinking that I heard a line about how Simon had been likening the concept of FAITH to an island in the setting sun (which is actually absolute BS in reality) ....... and then he went on to say that PROOF is the bottom line ------ BLAH BLAH BLAH ------- MORE BS. He couldn't be further from the truth (Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. -Hebrews 11:1).
But what song are the lyrics posted here representing? They are obviously representing a completely different song than the one called 'Proof'.
@driver8ball well said 0678417002 My number lets chat
ummmm... i'm a bit stuck on this one. But I love the song. even with the cheesey piano keyboard sounds
ok... the first paragraph is very evocative of scene, a good environmental opening
but the next paragraph is a different feeling entirely. from the 'call me al' revelations, I can guess at what he means by the 'tools of love wearing down', things becoming more distant and 'softer' with age...........
but how does the chorus fit in with this? its great on its own.... but in juxtaposition to the rest of the song....
my face my race? my sex my cheques? I'm lost, can anyone help me.
and the last paragraph is very evocative and environmental again. paul simon has a fascinating mind.
This sounds, to me, like a couple struggling to keep their hopes, dreams and romance alive amidst the ugliness and pressures of making money. The romantic verses seem to promise good-things-to-come but we aren't sure they'll ever arrive ("Soon our fortunes will be made...", "the tools of love wear down. the mind wanders," "the sky is flecked with signs of hope"). The chorus seems to interrupt those romantic verses with references to people who couldn't care less about you. Back-stabbers (or just harried business people?) ("that ain't the deal we made") and impersonal interests (marketers or lawyers or bureaucrats or ...) ("Some people gonna call you up Tell you something that you already know") steal time and attention from the romantic and the personal. For both competing interests, though, the title points out that words are just words - no matter how good they sound - and that proof IS the bottom line for everyone.
I'm not sure about the whole song, but I've quote "Faith is an island in the setting sun/ but proof is the bottom line for everyone" a lot - to illustrate the difference between trusting our faith and our intuition and that other side of our brain that likes analysis and quantification and scientific proof. We need both to get through life.
If gambling is luck, and luck is 99% preparation/ 1% opportunity, then 'Raise your weary wings against the rain, my baby; Wash your tangled curls with gambler's soap' is something that even a man can relate to. It doesn't stop the intense pain of knowing my feelings are the only proof needed, set against an unquantifiable reality. It does show however that reason can be used to build oneself ready for the next opportunity: reason and love working hand in hand.
the song is about a wedded couple that promised each other to have loads of $$$ but the "proof" wasn't there?! the dude never made it! so her smile became soft it slipped away from being genuine. how sad the song.
But he gets rich! his cheques dont matter anymore its a everyday thing, his race or whatever is not cared about anymore. There was his wife's folly. His proof came to pass.
"Half moon hiding in the clouds, my darling And the sky is flecked with signs of hope Raise your weary wings against the rain, my baby Wash your tangled curls with gambler's soap"
half assed wife (moon symbol) hiding in dreams sounded like his darling. and his dreams is around her w/ signs of hope . now he's giving her the boot "go fly away with your weary wings against my rain" yeah so whose the man now?! "and go wash your messy hair that hair that cheated on me some cheap man's gambling money"
HE DIVORCES HER BLACK WIDOW ASS. Beware of those women who love for status pursue girls who love you for you! wait guys..and girls.