Gee but it's great to be back home
Home is where I want to be.
I've been on the road so long my friend,
And if you came along
I know you couldn't disagree.
It's the same old story, yeah
Everywhere I go,
I get slandered, libeled,
I hear words I never heard in the Bible
And I'm one step ahead of the shoe shine
Two steps away from the county line
Just trying to keep my customers satisfied,
Satisfied.
Deputy Sheriff said to me
Tell me what you come here for, boy.
You better get your bags and flee.
You're in trouble boy,
And you're heading into more.
It's the same old story,
Everywhere I go,
I get slandered, libeled,
I hear words I never heard in the Bible
And I'm one step ahead of the shoe shine
Two steps away from the county line
Just trying to keep my customers satisfied,
Satisfied
Woah woah woah woah
It's the same old story,
Everywhere I go,
I get slandered, libeled,
I hear words I never heard in the Bible
And I'm so tired, so tired
But I'm trying to keep my customers satisfied,
Satisfied
Home is where I want to be.
I've been on the road so long my friend,
And if you came along
I know you couldn't disagree.
It's the same old story, yeah
Everywhere I go,
I get slandered, libeled,
I hear words I never heard in the Bible
And I'm one step ahead of the shoe shine
Two steps away from the county line
Just trying to keep my customers satisfied,
Satisfied.
Deputy Sheriff said to me
Tell me what you come here for, boy.
You better get your bags and flee.
You're in trouble boy,
And you're heading into more.
It's the same old story,
Everywhere I go,
I get slandered, libeled,
I hear words I never heard in the Bible
And I'm one step ahead of the shoe shine
Two steps away from the county line
Just trying to keep my customers satisfied,
Satisfied
Woah woah woah woah
It's the same old story,
Everywhere I go,
I get slandered, libeled,
I hear words I never heard in the Bible
And I'm so tired, so tired
But I'm trying to keep my customers satisfied,
Satisfied
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To me, seems like this is about a musician just starting out. No agent or anything, the only way to get started would be to play on the streets. Street musician being "one step ahead of the shoe shine". "Slandered, libled, hear words I never heard in the Bible" meaning he's constantly being criticized and cursed at (doesn't seem like too many people like street musicians for some reason). "Two steps away from the county line" means he doesn't stay too long in one city, because the people will eventual get sick of him and run him out of town (thus the deputy sheriff verse). "I'm so tired" part at the end means exactly that: he's tired of doing the same thing over and over again ("it's the same old story everywhere I go"), but feels obligated to make his music heard ("Just trying to keep the customer satisfied").
That's my interpretation of the song. Comments on the song: love it! Great lyrics, tune, and music. Love S&G's music.
It's obviously about a door to door salesmen.
For those who balk at the thought of an "good boy" type who would be shocked at hearing "words I never heard in the Bible" also being a drug dealer, I thought that was half the charm of the song. That this sweet, earnest good boy-type is also be a dope dealer whose feelings are being hurt all the time and who just wants to be home at the end of the day is just weirdly charming and not inconceivable, especially for the time when this was written. People are contradictory and it was a contradictory time period (although are there any that aren't, really?)
For those who think it is actually about the business of being a songwriter and performer, I don't see why it can't be about that as well. It's hard not to try to apply this song to any job or experience in which you are working to please people with mixed results. Human condition: we all want to relate.
As with many songs of the day, they were very politically centered. Think of the opening lyrics: "If you came along, I know you couldn't disagree." A reference to time served in 'Nam, and the horrors of that war.
'Nam vets were spat upon, cursed at, and all because they had to answer their draft card number. Hence, "Everywhere I go, I get slandered, libeled," and as he's cursed at when finally back home in the US, he hears "words [he] never heard in the Bible."
As for the steps, the "shoe shine" would be the sheriff, and he's close to the county line, because he's been ridden out of town. Just think of John Rambo in First Blood, and it's a perfect fit!
Just last semester, a class on music of the counterculture opened my eyes in terms of circumstances surrounding some of Simon and Garfunkel's work, particularly their last album "Bridge Over Troubled Water."
From the circumstances, it seems audioafan's take is pretty close.
The general consensus in readings from the course is that, like other tracks on the album, "Keep the Customer Satisfied" is one of Simon & Garfunkel's self-referential works.
In other words, it's Paul Simon's story of his career with Art Garfunkel from their early days as "Tom & Jerry" (where they did begin as nothing much more than street musicians) through the height of their Simon & Garfunkel fame.
By the end, Paul Simon was chafing under the expectations to keep turning out the "Simon & Garfunkel" works people had come to expect and felt it was stifling his creativity and ability to explore new styles, but he was under constant pressure from record executives, fans and critics to keep the customers satisfied with what they wanted -- more of the same.
Really makes sense when you look at it in context of the production of the album and the other tracks dealing with the split between Simon & Garfunkel("So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright", "The Only Living Boy in New York" and "Song for the Asking".)
Keep the Customer Satisfied was written shortly after the civil rights era, and the wording absolutely references being run out of a county in the South. (I am old enough to remember that era.)
Excellent comments from all and great site.