Paul mentions Kathy and, whilst it might seem like the way he is talking sounds like he's with her, if we delve deeper we could see that she isn't.
Kathy is Paul's lover who he met in England. However, she didn't want to know him when he was famous. In fact, she refused to talk to the media about him and refused to attend the re-opening of the train stop where Simon wrote Homeward Bound. She didn't want to be anything extraordinary. She was ordinary Kathy from round the corner.
Simon, on the other hand, wanted bigger things. He was going back to America (perhaps with Art as it mentions two people in the song) on a train. We can tell he missed Kathy who wasn't with him by the desperate phrases he uses - "Kathy, I'm lost," for example.
Back to my point: Kathy is not with him. This song is in the form of a letter. "Kathy, I sit" is him recounting his travels to her, action by action, in hope that she will respond and be interested.
"I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine." Whilst Simon is on his travels and all the way to America, she is at home, minding her own business, reading a magazine. Nothing special.
"Though I knew she was sleeping," is, to me, the most obvious. Whilst it might seem that she has merely become tired on this trip, what is actually happening (in my head, anyway), is Simon is yearning for her but, due to the time difference, she is sleeping. It is night time in ordinary England for ordinary Kathy but on the way to exciting Michigan, the day is nowhere near over for the thoughtful and almost desperate Paul Simon.
Anyway, that's my interpretation. If you have no idea who Kathy is (I Googled her because she features rather prominently in Simon's writings), then this is a beautiful love song. If you do, I hope you can understand the method to my madness. Even if we don't agree with each other, let's be honest: this is one of the best songs of all time, and we should admire it instead of bickering.
@georgeporter - It's art. It's whatever you see it as. It doesn't belong in a box with a label. It we applied this thought process to everything in our lives, imagine what the world could look like.
@georgeporter - It's art. It's whatever you see it as. It doesn't belong in a box with a label. It we applied this thought process to everything in our lives, imagine what the world could look like.
@georgeporter I love your interpretation of this. Very plausible and gives the song a whole new meaning. Re your comment on knowing Kathy was sleeping, it may be that she is not hearing him. But as you say, a truly wonderful, tender, haunting, almost resigned but not completely without hope dues to its tenderness, enhanced by his velvet voice, and each snippet of a line is almost a short story in itself. As close to perfection as you can get.
@georgeporter I love your interpretation of this. Very plausible and gives the song a whole new meaning. Re your comment on knowing Kathy was sleeping, it may be that she is not hearing him. But as you say, a truly wonderful, tender, haunting, almost resigned but not completely without hope dues to its tenderness, enhanced by his velvet voice, and each snippet of a line is almost a short story in itself. As close to perfection as you can get.
@georgeporter Quoted from Wikipedia: "She was 16 and he was 22 when they began a relationship. Later that year [1964] they visited the U.S. together, touring around mainly by bus".
@georgeporter Quoted from Wikipedia: "She was 16 and he was 22 when they began a relationship. Later that year [1964] they visited the U.S. together, touring around mainly by bus".
Source: Jackson, Laura. Paul Simon: The Definitive Biography, Citadel Press 2004.
Source: Jackson, Laura. Paul Simon: The Definitive Biography, Citadel Press 2004.
I think your interpretation takes away the real pathos from this song. Just my 2 cents, of course. One of his best songs ever imho.
I think your interpretation takes away the real pathos from this song. Just my 2 cents, of course. One of his best songs ever imho.
To me, Kathy is not with Paul in this song.
Paul mentions Kathy and, whilst it might seem like the way he is talking sounds like he's with her, if we delve deeper we could see that she isn't.
Kathy is Paul's lover who he met in England. However, she didn't want to know him when he was famous. In fact, she refused to talk to the media about him and refused to attend the re-opening of the train stop where Simon wrote Homeward Bound. She didn't want to be anything extraordinary. She was ordinary Kathy from round the corner.
Simon, on the other hand, wanted bigger things. He was going back to America (perhaps with Art as it mentions two people in the song) on a train. We can tell he missed Kathy who wasn't with him by the desperate phrases he uses - "Kathy, I'm lost," for example.
Back to my point: Kathy is not with him. This song is in the form of a letter. "Kathy, I sit" is him recounting his travels to her, action by action, in hope that she will respond and be interested.
"I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine." Whilst Simon is on his travels and all the way to America, she is at home, minding her own business, reading a magazine. Nothing special.
"Though I knew she was sleeping," is, to me, the most obvious. Whilst it might seem that she has merely become tired on this trip, what is actually happening (in my head, anyway), is Simon is yearning for her but, due to the time difference, she is sleeping. It is night time in ordinary England for ordinary Kathy but on the way to exciting Michigan, the day is nowhere near over for the thoughtful and almost desperate Paul Simon.
Anyway, that's my interpretation. If you have no idea who Kathy is (I Googled her because she features rather prominently in Simon's writings), then this is a beautiful love song. If you do, I hope you can understand the method to my madness. Even if we don't agree with each other, let's be honest: this is one of the best songs of all time, and we should admire it instead of bickering.
@georgeporter Not sure you're right but it's a really interesting interpretation!
@georgeporter Not sure you're right but it's a really interesting interpretation!
@georgeporter - It's art. It's whatever you see it as. It doesn't belong in a box with a label. It we applied this thought process to everything in our lives, imagine what the world could look like.
@georgeporter - It's art. It's whatever you see it as. It doesn't belong in a box with a label. It we applied this thought process to everything in our lives, imagine what the world could look like.
@georgeporter I love your interpretation of this. Very plausible and gives the song a whole new meaning. Re your comment on knowing Kathy was sleeping, it may be that she is not hearing him. But as you say, a truly wonderful, tender, haunting, almost resigned but not completely without hope dues to its tenderness, enhanced by his velvet voice, and each snippet of a line is almost a short story in itself. As close to perfection as you can get.
@georgeporter I love your interpretation of this. Very plausible and gives the song a whole new meaning. Re your comment on knowing Kathy was sleeping, it may be that she is not hearing him. But as you say, a truly wonderful, tender, haunting, almost resigned but not completely without hope dues to its tenderness, enhanced by his velvet voice, and each snippet of a line is almost a short story in itself. As close to perfection as you can get.
@georgeporter Quoted from Wikipedia: "She was 16 and he was 22 when they began a relationship. Later that year [1964] they visited the U.S. together, touring around mainly by bus".
@georgeporter Quoted from Wikipedia: "She was 16 and he was 22 when they began a relationship. Later that year [1964] they visited the U.S. together, touring around mainly by bus".
Source: Jackson, Laura. Paul Simon: The Definitive Biography, Citadel Press 2004.
Source: Jackson, Laura. Paul Simon: The Definitive Biography, Citadel Press 2004.
I think your interpretation takes away the real pathos from this song. Just my 2 cents, of course. One of his best songs ever imho.
I think your interpretation takes away the real pathos from this song. Just my 2 cents, of course. One of his best songs ever imho.