With all Paul Simon lyrics, it's key to know how he begins writing: by singing phrases over music tracks. "Mrs. Robinson," for example, began as "Mrs. Roosevelt," until Mike Nichols approached Paul about writing the music for "The Graduate." This song has always been one of my favorites, and does echo the theme of "Cars Are Cars" from the previous album. As for "ever since the watermelon," one of my theories is that he meant to sing or began to sing "ever since the world began" and "world began" morphed into "watermelon."
With all Paul Simon lyrics, it's key to know how he begins writing: by singing phrases over music tracks. "Mrs. Robinson," for example, began as "Mrs. Roosevelt," until Mike Nichols approached Paul about writing the music for "The Graduate." This song has always been one of my favorites, and does echo the theme of "Cars Are Cars" from the previous album. As for "ever since the watermelon," one of my theories is that he meant to sing or began to sing "ever since the world began" and "world began" morphed into "watermelon."