Paul Simon- American Tune

[Sonicmedusa]

Many's the time I've been mistaken,
And many times confused
And I've often felt forsaken,
And certainly misused.
But it's all right, it's all right,
I'm just weary to my bones
Still, you don't expect to be
Bright and Bon Vivant
So far away from home,
So far away from home.


I don't know a soul who's not been battered
Don't have a friend who feels at ease
Don't know a dream that's not been shattered
Or driven to it's knees.
But it's all right, all right,
We've lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the road we're traveling on,
I wonder what went wrong,
I can't help it
I wonder what went wrong.

And I dreamed I was flying.
I dreamed my soul roseunexpectedly,
And looking back down on me,
Smiledreassuringly,
And I dreamed I was dying.
And far above, my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty,
Drifting away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying.

We come on a ship we call the Mayflower,
We come on a ship that sailed the moon
We come at the age's most uncertain hour
And sing the American tune
But it's all right, it's all right
You can't be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow's gonna be another working day
And I'm trying to get some rest,
That's all, I'm trying to get some rest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sXnc6yzQZY

[no_hypocrisy]

1. One of my favorites.

I played it repeatedly around 9-11.

[netania99]

3. Me, too. n/t

[MyOwnPeace]

5. Not "one of my favorites"........

THE favorite! :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:

[intheflow]

2. Willie Nelson did a great cover of this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_12lzRizYw&feature=PlayList&p=4FE9F28394EC4065&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=48

Absolutely one of my favorite songs. Makes me cry every time I hear it.

[CTyankee]

4. A beutifiul poem, but the music is Bach's "O Sacred Head Now Wounded."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6_Qa-HnaYg

[MyOwnPeace]

6. Oh Sacred Head.............

OMG!!!!!
All these years and I NEVER heard that tune in there! You are SO right!
How amazing!
George Harrison should have told Paul about what's wrong with doing things like that (My Sweet Lord)! :headbang:

[CTyankee]

7. Well, I'm not so sure it was original with Bach! There were lots of folk tunes that were used

as hymns in those days. In his defense, I think I read somewhere that Simon did credit Bach for the tune...

[karynnj]

12. Paul Simon used music in the public domain - and I assume that he knew it and

and that it was common knowledge. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Tune

He also did 7:00 News/Silent Night which he did not write the music for and also Scarborough Fair (I always thought it was Parsley,Sage,Rosemary and Thyme) which was a 16th century English folk song with a new counter melody.

[SutaUvaca]

13. It was pop music before Bach even.

Back in the 1500's it was "Mein Gmuth is Mir Verwirret" - ("My feelings are confused")usu sally attributed to Leo Hassler - a song of a love that didn't work out. Interestingly Paul Simon's first couple of lines sort of echo the early, early hit song.

It's cool that lots of genius is shared over centuries.

[karynnj]

14. Thanks - it really is cool that genius is shared as you say

The tune is beautiful.

[CTyankee]

15. I think the reason we don't instantly recognize it is that the Bach piece is

rarely played outside of Easter week and it sounds "different" to one's ears on a massive organ, as it is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxMgJT8IRq4.

[Sonicmedusa]

8. I did not know that.

Thank you.

[jberryhill]

10. I'm Sure You Recognize This Lovely Melody As "Stranger In Paradise"....

...but did you know that the original theme was from the Polovetsian Dance Number Two by Borodin?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQUKrdt2fN0

(You'd also like the Pachelbel Rant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM )

[Bluenorthwest]

9. Thanks for posting this great lyric

I've been rediscovering Paul Simon of late, oh so many great songs and this is one of the finest.

[karynnj]

11. I love this song and was happy that Paul Simon played it in at least

one concert tour during the Bush years.

As bad as the times were were in 1973, the song seemed to be even truer after 2000 and more so after 2004. In 1973, though much was going wrong, I naively felt that the as nearly the entire baby boom generalization wanted to change the world and to end the war, time was on our side. I was very wrong on my own generation! Paul Simon was right.