You Can Call Me Al

The video notwithstanding, I think of this song as coming from the perspective of a sheltered American lost in another culture. Believe me, when I moved to a large African city some time ago, this song became my favorite, since I identified so much with it. I especially like the last verse where the man finally sees the good in things, and realizes he doesn't have to be in his familiar surroundings to be comfortable. I so identify with that moment.

I realize I may be reading way too much into this, but at that point in my life the song meant so much to me. BTW it was recorded in South Africa, not a thousand miles from where I was living.

I also love the four measure bass solo towards the end of the song. It is so smooth and rhythmic it must have been played by an African. Listen to authentic African music for a while and you'll understand what I mean.

The Graceland album, along with Paul's follow-up project called The Rhythm of the Saints (recorded in South America), are quite refreshing to one with a wide cultural world view. Everything here is so damned Americanized, and we almost force our culture and language upon visitors and immigrants. As Paul Simon realized, there is so much to be enjoyed by indulging in the language, music, and culture of others.

Garare //uba /i !omse.

I have no reason to doubt any of the explanations given above; but I have noticed something about this song of Simon's. Which seems to explain why, for example, one would want someone named "Betty" to be one's bodyguard....

This song can be read as a kind of modern/hip updating of Dante's "Divine Comedy". You'll recall (if you've read/studied it) that Dante descends into Hell on Christmas Day in the year 1300. He travels through Hell, guided by Virgil, viewing all the sinners being tormented; then through Purgatory; and finally makes it to Heaven, where he is reunited with Beatrice, his true love in real life, who died very young.

So...Dante's last name was Alighieri. Let's shorten it to Al. Beatrice could be shortened to Betty. In the poem, he wants to get to Heaven to meet her, but also to get her to protect him...she could be his...umm...bodyguard. And he would be her former friend/companion.

So that's the basic structure. It's also worth noting that there are three stanzas, presumably corresponding to the three worlds he visits--Hell, Purgatory, Heaven. There is talk of "redemption" and of being in a "foreign land" (understatement there). There are angels in the architecture, spinning in infinity.

...now, maybe this is all just coincidence. Maybe Simon has never read The Divine Comedy. But the parallels (and there are plenty more, but I'll stop here) are pretty striking.

My sixth grade students were studying song lyrics as a form of poetry. When we were trying to interpret this song, a usually silent and not particularly academic young man said, "It's about a man who is lonely and confused. He proceeded to explain how many of the lyrics supported his idea. That was a little over 25 years ago and I'll never forget it. It was my first inkling that, as a teacher, I needed to look beyond pencil and paper to find my students' gifts. Thank you, Chad.

i actually saw an interview with paul simon about this song. its alot about his life and alot about going to africa and stuff written in a joke-like format. 'a man walks down the street' its the same as 'a man walks into a bar' its a classic opening line for a joke, paul simon actually said that. amusingly in this interview he also said that the first 4 lines of the second verse are actually a penis joke... think about it the betty and al thing is as jed said in the first comment posted.

I was drinking with a friend the other night and she suggested the song could be about alcoholism - Al being the alcoholic and Betty being the Betty Ford Clinic. It has a nice fit for some of the song. I talked to Paul Simon on the phone once. It was at a hotel. He said "Hello." I said," Good afternoon sir, this is David from housekeeping. I was calling to see what time you would like your room cleaned today." He was a great guest.

I read years ago when Paul Simon was married to his first wife they were invited to a party of a well known French artist in NYC. The artist could not get the name of Paul Simon or his wife correct, calling them Al and Betty. In fact when they left he party the host wished " Betty and Al" well. Other stanzas refer to the mid-life crisis Paul Simon was experiencing and what he did to break through it-went to a foreign land (South Africa) where he didn't speak the language and held no currency (music of South Africa). The currency he began to use there - the African music of Lady Smith Black Mambazo, guitar play of Ray Fieri and other musicians help Paul Simon experience a rebirth. Upon his trip back to NYC he sees the same buildings but now he sees angels in the architecture and feels the power of his rebirth!

I think this song is about a many who feels empty/lacks spiritualism and drinks and doesn't think that's what he should do with his life (1st verse). He doesn't think he's seeing the real things to life, then he picks up and leaves his family to a foreign country possibly Africa and there he apparently finds God.(2nd and 3rd) as far as the Chorus I think while he's in this strange place he is asking someone to watch out for him in exchange for his friendship. Basically I think its about Paul being in Africa and sort of finding himself.

I did a little research into this, and there are three possible meanings I've found.

For those of you that don't know, Paul Simon has used patron saints in his work before, and I wondered if this was possibly another case of that.

I found Some possible Saint Al meanings:

St. Alban: Converts St. Alphonsus: Those Falsely Accused St. Alphonsus Liguori: Confessors

And some possible Saint Betty meanings:

St. Elizabeth: Expectant Mothers St. Elizabeth of Hungary: Those Falsely Accused St. Elizabeth of Portugal: Difficult Marriages St. Elizabeth of Portugal: Infidelity

So let me give you an example of a possible meaning of this song:

A man loses his faith and his wife is pregnant (the latter possibly causing the former). He doesn't think he's ready to be a father, financially, emotionally, or psychologically. He's trying to learn about pregnancy and being a father, but none of it makes any sense to him. He goes on a walk to think, and in his meanderings comes across a church. In that moment, his faith comes back to him and he realizes that the child that's coming is a gift and that things will be OK. In this case, "Betty" is Saint Elizabeth, patron saint of expectant mothers and "Al" is Saint Alban, patron saint of converts.

His faith will help him teach and raise his child, being his bodyguard. And he will return to the faith that he lost, making him its long lost pal.

Another example:

The man's marriage is difficult and he's accused of cheating on his wife through some misunderstandings and the fact that he certainly acts like he's cheating on her (he loves getting attention from women and giving them attention). However, he has remained faithful. He may have even accused his wife of the same. In this case, "Betty" is Saint Elizabeth of Hungary (or possibly of Portugal), patron saint of those falsely accused (or difficult marriages) and "Al" is Saint Alphonsus, patron saint of those falsely accused.

His wife is his bodyguard, and he is her long lost pal. Her wanting him to be a better husband is his protection from it, and he'll return to the way he once was when he first started courting her.

And this is a third example:

There's an unfaithful man whose wife is finally fed up with him and kicks him out. He was unfaithful, but he realized that he loves his wife and she was the best thing in his life. He could just never be true to his wife because he just doesn't think of her when other women are around. The worst part about it all was that he spent their entire marriage hurting her. All that unfaithfulness just wasn't worth it, and he's resolved to stop that crap if only his wife will take him back. In this case, "Betty" is Saint Elizabeth of Portugal, patron saint of infidelity and "Al" is Saint Alphonsus Liguori, patron saint of confessors.

His faith and thoughts of his wife are his bodyguard, protecting him from his life of infidelity. He is her long lost pal, being as he was before he started cheating on her.

What do I think it means? He says "a man." He doesn't say "the man." I don't think he's talking about the same man in the three verses. I think each man is different.

Paul Simon wrote this song for his buddy Chevy Chase. It's about the latter's struggle with alcohol abuse and all the drama that being an alcoholic entails: alienating his family, the horrors of a de-tox program, the challenge of remaining sober and his attempts to get his life back on track.

The Betty in the song is an obvious reference to the The Betty Ford Clinic. "Al" is short for alcoholic, essentially Chevy is admitting that he has a booze problem, hence the chorus line "Call me Al". It also ties in with the AA meeting protocol of not giving your full name to the other members of the meeting group. The BodyGuard is a reference to Chevy's AA sponsor.

In Patrick Humphries' 1986 biography about Paul, 'The Boy in the Bubble', it is explained how the names 'Al' and 'Betty' came about. The famous French artist Pierre Boulez once visited a party at Paul's house. When leaving the party, he thanked his hosts 'Al and Betty' rather than 'Paul' and his then wife 'Peggy'. This funny misunderstanding stuck with Paul.

The lyric also resembles a line from the famous American Depression song 'Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?'. The line goes like this:

"Say, don't you remember, they called me Al / It was Al all the time / Why don't you remember, I'm your pal / Say buddy, can you spare a dime?"

[Edit: The lines were not broken correctly]