Don't know if this song is about anything. It takes place in the Central Park Zoo, which is a "light and tumble" journey from Manhattan's Upper East Side, rather than the more distant, and far larger, Bronx Zoo. Some comments on here have indicated that Simon's metaphors relate to people, perhaps to the government, at a time of the escalation of the war in Vietnam and increased skepticism of the government. I have no idea. His metaphors and lines obviously are not meant to be taken too seriously and he writes his words to conform to the rhyme scheme and rhythm of the song, rather than actual facts about animals. Elephants as generations of elephantologists can attest are anything but dumb and are in fact among the most intelligent animals on the planet; orangutans may or may not be skeptical; zebras- animals that integrate black and white stripes on their bodies, an important consideration considering the civil rights movement going on in full intensity during the time Simon wrote the song- are not a good exemplar of "reactionary," and so on. But this is nitpicking and merely demonstrates the problem with taking the lyrics of songs written in this era too seriously.
Don't know if this song is about anything. It takes place in the Central Park Zoo, which is a "light and tumble" journey from Manhattan's Upper East Side, rather than the more distant, and far larger, Bronx Zoo. Some comments on here have indicated that Simon's metaphors relate to people, perhaps to the government, at a time of the escalation of the war in Vietnam and increased skepticism of the government. I have no idea. His metaphors and lines obviously are not meant to be taken too seriously and he writes his words to conform to the rhyme scheme and rhythm of the song, rather than actual facts about animals. Elephants as generations of elephantologists can attest are anything but dumb and are in fact among the most intelligent animals on the planet; orangutans may or may not be skeptical; zebras- animals that integrate black and white stripes on their bodies, an important consideration considering the civil rights movement going on in full intensity during the time Simon wrote the song- are not a good exemplar of "reactionary," and so on. But this is nitpicking and merely demonstrates the problem with taking the lyrics of songs written in this era too seriously.