In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
He was a most peculiar man
That's what Mrs. Riordan said and she should know
She lived upstairs from him
She said he was a most peculiar man
He was a most peculiar man
He lived all alone within a house
Within a room, within himself
A most peculiar man
He had no friends, he seldom spoke
And no one in turn ever spoke to him
'Cause he wasn't friendly and he didn't care
And he wasn't like them
Oh, no, he was a most peculiar man
He died last Saturday
He turned on the gas and he went to sleep
With the windows closed so he'd never wake up
To his silent world and his tiny room
And Mrs. Riordan says he has a brother somewhere
Who should be notified soon
And all the people said, "What a shame that he's dead
But wasn't he a most peculiar man?"
That's what Mrs. Riordan said and she should know
She lived upstairs from him
She said he was a most peculiar man
He was a most peculiar man
He lived all alone within a house
Within a room, within himself
A most peculiar man
He had no friends, he seldom spoke
And no one in turn ever spoke to him
'Cause he wasn't friendly and he didn't care
And he wasn't like them
Oh, no, he was a most peculiar man
He died last Saturday
He turned on the gas and he went to sleep
With the windows closed so he'd never wake up
To his silent world and his tiny room
And Mrs. Riordan says he has a brother somewhere
Who should be notified soon
And all the people said, "What a shame that he's dead
But wasn't he a most peculiar man?"
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The point is he wasn't peculiar at all, he was just a normal guy ... a normal lonely, apparently rather introverted guy. But basically people shouldn't assume someone "isn't like them" because he seems not-very-social. The overall point being that people are people, human. And people need people.
Paul Simon wrote this song when he was living in England. He read an obituary in the newspaper that was only four lines. Intrigued, he wrote a song imagining what that person must have been like.
Finding a beautiful song in a four-line obit...that's Paul Simon all right. What a talent.
I love this song. It's so creative and filled with truth. I have found over the years that those others find odd are often the most fascinating people...very bright and filled with insight into others, although usally not when it comes to themselves. Too often they go unnoticed when their genius should receive accolades. It's the introverts who are so interesting. And I say that as a full extrovert. We can put on a good show, but sometimes that's all we are...
@ILUVU <br /> We don't know that this guy was a genius had insight into others...probably not as he was so withdrawn/depressed. Yes it's fascinating...how did he get this way? A tragedy, really. Like he did on many songs of that period, Simon is making a social commentary on a society that produces unhappy ,alienated people like this.<br /> I listened to this song too often in high school 40 years ago. As Bob Dylan wrote," I was so much older then/I'm younger than that now". Would have been better for me to have been playing ball with Biff and Jack or pursuing Susie.
I\'d say the guy was perhaps very shy, or maybe autistic. Either way, he struggles to interact with people in the way they expect and so they find him peculiar, unfriendly and don\'t engage with him for long. I wouldn\'t say society had made him that way, he was just born like that, but being away from his family and where he was brought up can\'t have helped. Though maybe even they struggled to relate to him. It is very sad.
I agree with maxwellsmart...I think this song shows how people get dragged down by little differences in others (being shy) and use that as an excuse to look down on them. They can't even be sad about his death without justifying that it was kind of inevitable b/c they viewed him as a wack-job.
This has to be one of the most depressing songs ever-at the same time it is very powerful. The other posters have made very intelligent and thoughtful comments on it. No man is an island, and everyone needs contact with others, even if they are shy, introverted, and have some conversational difficulties. Beneath all those, there is usually an interesting person beneath those layers.
Does anyone else notice the similarity between the Most Peculiar Man and the narrator of I Am A Rock?
I\'ve always thought the narrator of I am a Rock was bluffing really, putting on a brave face.
I have social anxiety disorder. A lot of my own behaviours are exactly the same as this peculiar man's. Nothing is different between us, apart from me putting on the gas in my own room.
The line that really got me was about how the man "lived in house, within a room, within himself..." That is exactly how I am now, in my life. I am a student and I go to campus each day where I'm surrounded by hundreds of people, I live with roommates and I work a part time job, but I talk to no one. No one relies on me because I rely on no one for anything. Not for love, not for a conversation, or even a friendly nod. The friends I have I seldom speak to, and if I do, it's about nothing important to either of us. I'm a peculiar woman.
@burningwaffles so how are u today five years later?
This song is so sad I can't believe no one's commented yet
To me this song is about well just what it says, and I think it kinda makes a statement about the little people going unnoticed, and well, the results are bad, so always be nice.
This song used to make me feel sad when I was little even though at that age I couldn't have had an understanding of suicide or even realised the man died in the song.