Elvis is a watermelon? That's news to me. Hah. (Stole my username from this song) But I agree, this song is about racial or cultural differences. The "fingerprints" symbolize the apparent differences in people, whether it be skin color or beliefs.
The obvious take (and my first take) on the song is that the myth of fingerprints is as the talkshow host says "I've seen them all and man they're all the same" meaning that since the recognition of fingerprints (along with retinal scans and voice matching technology and such) we all have this Idea that we have a single identifying factor that says "this is me and no one else" when we are all human the line says to me that you have to look for the differences to see them but we still base our identity on those differences....
The obvious take (and my first take) on the song is that the myth of fingerprints is as the talkshow host says "I've seen them all and man they're all the same" meaning that since the recognition of fingerprints (along with retinal scans and voice matching technology and such) we all have this Idea that we have a single identifying factor that says "this is me and no one else" when we are all human the line says to me that you have to look for the differences to see them but we still base our identity on those differences.
The other way I look at it comes from when I posited my theory to my dad and he said he always thought that the myth of fingerprints was an idea that there is always some definite place to put blame and a definite way to define it, i.e. the fingerprint at a crime scene which of course is in and of itself circumstantial, but we have this idea that its clear cut evidence of guilt or blame. I like to apply this to the second verse "there is no doubt about it, it was the myth of fingerprints thats what that old army post was for." In war we have this idea of someone starting something, there is a blame to give but in the end lack of real evidence against someone forces us to stop thats why the post is "abandoned now just like the war" if you think about the line "there is no doubt about it" is part of the myth of fingerprints.
I don't know if Paul Simon meant the second part or not but I think he would appreciate people drawing their own meanings.
Elvis is a watermelon? That's news to me. Hah. (Stole my username from this song) But I agree, this song is about racial or cultural differences. The "fingerprints" symbolize the apparent differences in people, whether it be skin color or beliefs.
The obvious take (and my first take) on the song is that the myth of fingerprints is as the talkshow host says "I've seen them all and man they're all the same" meaning that since the recognition of fingerprints (along with retinal scans and voice matching technology and such) we all have this Idea that we have a single identifying factor that says "this is me and no one else" when we are all human the line says to me that you have to look for the differences to see them but we still base our identity on those differences....
The obvious take (and my first take) on the song is that the myth of fingerprints is as the talkshow host says "I've seen them all and man they're all the same" meaning that since the recognition of fingerprints (along with retinal scans and voice matching technology and such) we all have this Idea that we have a single identifying factor that says "this is me and no one else" when we are all human the line says to me that you have to look for the differences to see them but we still base our identity on those differences.
The other way I look at it comes from when I posited my theory to my dad and he said he always thought that the myth of fingerprints was an idea that there is always some definite place to put blame and a definite way to define it, i.e. the fingerprint at a crime scene which of course is in and of itself circumstantial, but we have this idea that its clear cut evidence of guilt or blame. I like to apply this to the second verse "there is no doubt about it, it was the myth of fingerprints thats what that old army post was for." In war we have this idea of someone starting something, there is a blame to give but in the end lack of real evidence against someone forces us to stop thats why the post is "abandoned now just like the war" if you think about the line "there is no doubt about it" is part of the myth of fingerprints.
I don't know if Paul Simon meant the second part or not but I think he would appreciate people drawing their own meanings.