Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War

This song is actually inspired by a single photograph. The photo is an old, small, black and white image of surrealist painter Rene Margritte with his wife Georgette and their dog. The caption hand written on the back of the photo reads, "Rene and Georgette Margritte with their dog after the war." If you Google Image Search you can be looking at this obscure and innocuous photo in a matter of seconds. You can also look at the paintings of Rene Margritte, which are exceeded in their strangeness only by that other more-famous surrealist, Salvadore Dali. Why Paul Simon would write this song is anyone's money, and to debate the meaning would be like arguing about the meaning of a Margritte painting. I personally believe Paul Simon is romanticizing the love between two people that survives world wars and poverty....and success.

Very clever song that makes a nice observation about how ideas from the past find their ways into contemporary culture. This song and its lyrics are terrific. The song uses the aforementioned photograph which Simon describes. They return to their room and listen to songs by Doo-Wop groups from the 50s and 60s. Rock and Rolld was influenced by surrealists like Rene. Then Rene and Georgette time travel (which would make perfect sense to a surrealist) and end up in New York City strolling down Christopher Street and feel at home because they have helped create the crazy clothing one finds (or found, I haven't been there in a while) there. They then travel back home to their own time with their own time and have secret access to the music they helped create. Very clever song that makes a nice observation about how ideas from the past find their ways into contemporary culture. One line I don't understand (I haven't listened to the song in some time) is "decades gliding by like Indians," unless he's referring to the children's poem, "Ten Little Indians," either way in a lyric about surrealism why should everything make sense?

"gliding by like Indians" refers to the old motor bikes popular in the early 20th century, i'm guessing. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_(motorcycle)

Not that I object to surrealist interpretations, but the details of this song are so concrete that I'm looking for a real life interpretation as well. I can't find any evidence for Magritte having lived in New York, so "immigrant" is probably poetic license. However, he did several major exhibitions there and had good friends there, according to visual-arts-cork.com/famous-artists/rene-magritte.htm (one of several sources I skimmed looking for this).

They are in a hotel, coming in from a giddy evening with the power elite, losing their clothes, and dancing to the popular music. They're stopping on Christopher Street and looking at the marvels of the New York fashion district. They're just living and being humans together.

The time travel is the same trip all of us are making. When you're old and in a comfortable groove with your spouse, and you look back, what do you find? The music you danced to. The music you fell in love with together. "For now and ever after, as it was before."

A very relaxing one!

A very relaxing one!

Paul Simon played this song last night. He said that he was at Joan Baez's house and looking through an art book. He read the caption beneath the photo that said "Rene and Georgette Magritte with their Dog After the War." He thought that would make a great song title but couldn't really figure out what the song would be. He decided that since Magritte was a surrealist painter, he would write a surreal song. The bands he mentions were just bands that he liked personally during that period. He thought that the overlap between people who were fans of Magritte's work and those particular bands was probably about 157 people in the world.