I agree with most of what's been said. Simon, it seems to me, is talking about the hypocrisy of saying we value individuality (no two fingerprints are alike), while at the same time stereotyping entire groups out of prejudice (whether it's illegals, republicans, moslems, blacks, gays, evangelicals, or old white men) One classic racist remark from a few decades back is "All of you people look the same.")
As I noted in my comments on the song "Graceland," I think a theme of the entire album is how deeply ambivalent Americans are about the powerful stream of African and African-American culture that runs through every part of our society.
I don't know who the "former talk show host" is in the song (it's too soon to be about Arsenio Hall and too late to be about Phil Donahue, who lost his job to Oprah), but that person is clearly bitter about some act of prejudice that killed his career because he was a black, a gay, a jew, or what have you. His advice is to "learn to live alone," without trusting your fellow man.
The clues that Simon is thinking about race are phrases like "ever since the watermelon," reminding us of the not so long ago days when it was okay to joke that all black people ate watermelon, and "black pit town," which not only refers to the "black pits" of a watermelon, but segregated black towns in America and black mining pit camps in South Africa.
So, unless I'm reading too much into it, this is shorthand for the history of colonialism, which began with "army posts over the ocean somewhere" where people of color were conquered, "grew heavy," and later "grew bloody" as colonies finally threw off their conquerors in bloody revolutions.
I agree with most of what's been said. Simon, it seems to me, is talking about the hypocrisy of saying we value individuality (no two fingerprints are alike), while at the same time stereotyping entire groups out of prejudice (whether it's illegals, republicans, moslems, blacks, gays, evangelicals, or old white men) One classic racist remark from a few decades back is "All of you people look the same.")
As I noted in my comments on the song "Graceland," I think a theme of the entire album is how deeply ambivalent Americans are about the powerful stream of African and African-American culture that runs through every part of our society.
I don't know who the "former talk show host" is in the song (it's too soon to be about Arsenio Hall and too late to be about Phil Donahue, who lost his job to Oprah), but that person is clearly bitter about some act of prejudice that killed his career because he was a black, a gay, a jew, or what have you. His advice is to "learn to live alone," without trusting your fellow man.
The clues that Simon is thinking about race are phrases like "ever since the watermelon," reminding us of the not so long ago days when it was okay to joke that all black people ate watermelon, and "black pit town," which not only refers to the "black pits" of a watermelon, but segregated black towns in America and black mining pit camps in South Africa.
So, unless I'm reading too much into it, this is shorthand for the history of colonialism, which began with "army posts over the ocean somewhere" where people of color were conquered, "grew heavy," and later "grew bloody" as colonies finally threw off their conquerors in bloody revolutions.
Or it could just be a song. :)
Awesome. You rock. Exactly right. Or, it could just be a song...;)
Awesome. You rock. Exactly right. Or, it could just be a song...;)