| Paul Simon – The Cool, Cool River Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
I think this song is about authority and the struggle of an ordinary person against the government/state. The anger of one person is ignored and barely noticed as in the first few lines 'It’s just a little lump But you feel it In the creases and the shadows' I also think contrary to Jmax and WillSpeck that the river is negative. I think it represents authority and the ocean is the rest, the normal people 'the cool, cool river sweeps the wild, white ocean' The river ignores the ocean pushing it aside. 'I believe in the future' etc also shows the singer is waiting for a time of freedom. I think drjimmy is possibly right too, this song tries to show the motivation behind a rebel and reminds me perhaps of someone like Che Guevara fighting for freedom. |
|
| Leonard Cohen – Last Year's Man Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
I think that this song is about religion. The decision between Christianity and Judaism. Which is correct - maybe both? I also think that Cohen is trying to say that religion is something of the past. Maybe I've got it all wrong though... |
|
| Paul Simon – The Obvious Child Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
I always thought that this song is about ageing. 'Why deny the obvious' is saying you can't deny the inevitable - everyone ages. I think this is supported by 'thinning brown hair' - Sonny is looking back on his life in the same way as his father is doing with this song and reflecting on the people he used to know. The memory of 'these songs are true, these days are ours' is I think a wistful remembrance of lost times. 'I don't expect to sleep through the night' is sharing the predicament of many older people not only because of their ageing bodies but also perhaps haunted by old memories. The third verse is again growing showing the in between stages. This phase of life is dealt with so quickly in the song: the line 'We had a little son we thought we'd call him Sonny' (although in my head its always been spelt Sunny!) moves straight to Sonny getting married and moving away. A whole period of his life has been missed out, perhaps showing that people grow up very fast. As to 'the cross is in the ballpark' I never originally thought that it was referring to Christianity (although I don't have any ideas myself) and everyone else seems rather convincing on that one. I always thought that this phrase just meant that the cross (whatever it might be) is out there for consideration - it is worth looking at. I think I thought of the cross more as a crossroads: looking at different paths to take which way to go etc. Those are my thoughts on this but it made me wonder for a long time and like someone else mentioned above, I would love to ask Paul Simon what he really meant! |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.