Like many, I'd run through the range of possibilities for meanings to "Keep the Customer Satisfied." It was kinda tough since you could make a lot of possibilities fit as reasonable interpretations.
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".)
Like many, I'd run through the range of possibilities for meanings to "Keep the Customer Satisfied." It was kinda tough since you could make a lot of possibilities fit as reasonable interpretations.
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".)