Still Crazy After All These Years

This song is about regret and the sort of impotent rage we sometimes feel as we get a little older. This song was released in 1975, so Simon would probably have been 31-33 when he wrote it. I'm almost 33, and while 33 is by no means old, it's definitely "older". At this age, you're less inclined to take risks or take on something new, and it bothers you.

"i met my old lover on the street last night she seemed so glad to see me, i just smiled and we talked about some old times and we drank ourselves some beers still crazy after all these years"

Here's our hero with having a brush with the past. This is the sort of thing that can send us down memory lane, wondering what we could have done different. In the case of the lyric, an ex-lover would have a definite impact.

Consider the lyric "She seemed so glad to see me - I just smiled." Obviously, he was less happy with it than she was. He knew what opening up the past would mean - and in the very next verse, he starts thinking back.

"i'm not the kind of man who tends to socialise i seem to lean on old familiar ways and i ain't no fool for lovesongs that whisper in my ears still crazy after all these years"

Antisocial, predictable, and cynical. Obviously, he's bitter about his lot in life - symptomatic of this regretful state. Is he feeling old? You bet. "Still Crazy After ALL THESE YEARS", as though he's been around forever.

"four in the morning, i'm tapped out and yawning, longing my life away i never worry, why should i, oh yeah, it's all gonna fade"

Insomnia - the affliction of choice for the depressed. And there he says it, "longing my life away" - paralyzed in the present because he's thinking about the past. Sure, he claims nihilism in the end, but clearly this is a sour grapes, not sincerity.

"now i sit by my window and i watch the cars i fear i'll do some damage one fine day but i would not be convicted by a jury of my peers still crazy after all these years"

And here is the impotent rage I referred to earlier. Just watching the world, existing apart from it - mad that the bloom of youth is gone, the threat of violence clearly hollow. He's too beaten down to follow through with it. And he's right - people just like him would understand what he's going through. While I wouldn't threaten a violent act, even in solitude, I understand that sentiment.

I love Paul Simon.

Oooh Dark Nation, I'm so glad you added your interpretation of this somewhat enigmatic Paul Simon song. I never understood why so many people, including fans, consider SCAATY a 'love song' or 'lovely' or 'about old times' sake' or 'straight forward'.

It is not.

I guess such positive interpretations rely too much on their own nostalgic sentiments. I completely agree with you that the song is about some alienated former lover, who is detached from real life and real love, who would rather hide behind his curtains and his long-term depression than to show the courage to love.

The nostalgic expression '(my former lover and I are) still crazy after all these years' in the end becomes a vile self-description '(I am) still crazy after all these years, anti-social, full of nihilism and self-pity'.

Isn't it tragic that one pf Paul's greatest and most characteristic songs is constantly mistaken by his fanhood? I wonder how Paul himself deals with that.

Paul wrote the first two verses on guitar and sang the unfinished version on the Dick Cavett Show (YouTube.) Paul later gave an interview about this song and said he most always has a personal experience that he’s writing about that stimulates a song, but the entire song isn’t necessarily based on experiences. I think he is singing about meeting his old lover and realizing she’s still crazy after all these years. And then he sings about himself and acknowledges that he’s still crazy after all these years. Then he reflects on his life and his depression, as he sits by his NY apt window and looks down at the cars, and fears he will do some damage one day if he jumps. And then sings he’s still crazy after all these years. It’s a crazy life we live.

a truly great song. touching and sad yet laced with wry wit, it makes me want to grin and weep all at the same time. oh, and sing along. i only wish i'd written it, because it all sounds very familiar.

I love this song so much! I recently saw Paul Simon live, and he finished with this song, and i was almost crying! Its really lovely! The sax solo in it, is something to gives u goosebumps! Beautiful song! Really touching

"talked about some old times and drank ourselves some beers" you can't pull that off with every old lover, but after enough time, sometimes it can work out to the "at least we can be congenial to each other and laugh over old times" level

A truly amazong song though the meaning isn't complicated. I'ts just two people that used to be a couple remembering old times.

Ah, I love this song. Completely straight forward. That feeling of meeting someone you used to have feelings for, or used to be with and then realizing that no matter how many days pass... you're still crazy, after all those years.

The live versions are amazing.

I would agree with everyone here that the song is about a couple of one time lovers who meet up and reminicse, and agree they're 'still crazy' after all these years; it's the last verse that has me puzzled.

"now i sit by my window and i watch the cars i fear i'll do some damage one fine day but i would not be convicted by a jury of my peers still crazy after all these years..."

He seems to be implying that the 'crazy' here is of the insane variety. Perhaps the window he is looking out of is of an institution. He also says he would not be convicted by a jury of his peers, is this because he is already incarcerated and what does he mean by doing some damage one fine day? Something dangerous/illegal/mad?

Still a great song

dark nation has it perfect. Scary, because right when I read the part about four in the morning, I realized that it is four in the morning as I'm typing this. Poetic, considering my persona matches the song.