Bridging Troubled Water

The poster that came in my vinyl copy of Bookends

There is a documentary, In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon, from 2023 directed by Alex Gibney. It is on Apple TV+. It is in two parts and cover a lot (not all) his career.

We find him at 82 working on his 15th solo album, Seven Psalms, and reflecting on his career. That album came to him in a dream. A restless dream? Perhaps, though that title comes from his “Sounds of Silence.” The new album will not remind you of those early Simon and Garfunkel albums. That shouldn’t surprise anyone, since Paul has always been moving forward.

I remember an English teacher presenting some of the lyrics as poetry in class. I was 13. I bought a cheap acoustic guitar and started learning the songs. I started writing poems. I never got good enough to play his instrumental “Anji” but I could pick out “Kathy’s Song” in my bedroom for a Kathy in my life. So, Paul and I go back a long way.

The documentary goes back to his upbringing in Queens, N.Y., his short-lived marriage to Carrie Fisher, rare footage of the recording of “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” the making of 1969’s “Songs of America,” and video from 1991’s Central Park concert.

At 14, I wrote a “script” and wanted to make a film using “Sounds of Silence” as the soundtrack. This was a long time before music videos and MTV.

Each of their albums takes me back to a very clear time in my life – much more so than almost any of the hundreds of albums I bought including my beloved Beatles.

The title song won Grammy Awards in 1971 for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. The other ten tracks included one of my favorites by them, “The Boxer.” I love their music and I like a lot of that album, but I remember buying the album when it came out (January 1970) and having a mixed reaction to it.

“Bridge Over Troubled Water” was a long song (almost five minutes) to be a hit single, but it was played endlessly on top 40 AM radio for six weeks until it got knocked out by a similarly long and lush Beatles‘ “Let it Be.” I thought both of those tracks – classics now – were too lush, too pop, not enough rock or folk respectively. Of course, Paul and Artie are the most successful folk-rock duo of the 1960s. Bridge Over Troubled Water sold over 25 million copies worldwide and was one of the biggest-selling albums of its decade, topping the charts for ten weeks and containing four hit singles (the title track, “The Boxer,” “Cecilia,” and “El Condor Pasa“).

That was a rough year for me and looking back on it now I realize that the music added to that downer feeling. Bridge was the fifth and final studio album by Simon and Garfunkel as they were in the process of splitting for a second time. The Beatles were also splitting up.

The track I listened to a lot that year was “The Only Living Boy in New York.” It seemed really sad. Half of the time we’re gone
But we don’t know where
And we don’t know where
I did learn that Paul Simon wrote it to Art Garfunkel because this was a time when when Garfunkel, was trying out an acting career. He left for Mexico to act in the film Catch-22. Simon, the boy alone in NYC, continued to write songs for the album and probably felt like a solo act already. In the song, Artie is “Tom”, a reference to their early days when they were billed as “Tom and Jerry.”

I went back to an earlier album. My favorite one of theirs – Bookends – came out in 1968. That year was worse than 1970. It was the year my father died after a long illness. There was turmoil in America – Vietnam – and in my own life. I was thinking about the possibility of being drafted and going to Vietnam. My year was the last draft lottery year. “We’ve all come to look for America…” they sang on the beautiful track “America” where Kathy shows up on a bus on the New Jersey Turnpike that I knew very well. My Kathy was gone. The weight of taking care of my mom and sister and being “the man of the house” at 15 was on me. I wanted to go away to college, but could I? Responsibilities. If I was going, I would have to earn the money myself. My mom didn’t have any money for college. She told me that if I was drafted, she would support me leaving and going to Canada.

One side of Bookends is a “concept album” on aging. Side one is great. It’s their Sergeant Pepper or Pet Sounds.

“Old Friends” is a sad song.
Can you imagine us years from today
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange to be 70
I couldn’t imagine it then. I can easily see it now.
The “Bookends Theme” opens and closes the album side.
Preserve your memories.
They’re all that’s left you.

Side two is made up of songs written for The Graduate soundtrack but not used and a few leftover tracks. It’s rockier than side one of most of their previous work. The 1967 film The Graduate is one of my favorite movies and at that time in my life it was definitely my favorite movie.

Side two consists of miscellaneous unrelated songs unused for The Graduate, with many possessing a more rock-based sound than the unified folk songs that precede it. “Fakin’ It” rocks along but the lyrics are about being a phony. “Punky’s Dilemma” is light, jazzy and silly and is my favorite song on the side. Of course, “Mrs. Robinson” was the big hit. It’s not the version used in The Graduate. It’s the first rock and roll song to win Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards in 1969 and it also was Best Contemporary Pop Performance by a Duo or Group. “A Hazy Shade of Winter” is another pop-rocker that The Bangles would cover in the 1980s. But I can imagine the lyrics beinga folkier, sadder song on side one.
Hang on to your hopes, my friend
That’s an easy thing to say
But if your hopes should pass away
Simply pretend that you can build them again
And I can imagine a version of “At the Zoo” in the zoo scene from The Graduate.

The song “Overs” on side one was another leftover track from The Graduate sessions but it fit thematically with the arc of aging on side one. The same is true of “Save the Life of My Child.” Simon explained that “Overs” is a companion piece to their earlier composition, “For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her.” The earlier song is about believing in true love, while “Overs” is about the loss of that belief. In the film, it would fit as a song about the loveless marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Robin and with Simon. son.

Those albums helped me bridge some troubled times in my life. I will listen to these albums until I die. I have aged with them and with Paul Simon. He has a decade on me, so his concerns will always point to where I am going.

Time it was and what a time it was, it was
A time of innocence
A time of confidences
Long ago, it must be
I have a photograph…
Preserve your memories
They’re all that’s left you

Love Is a Mix Tape

Back in 2009, I came across a website edited by Jason Bittner called CassetteFromMyEx.com.  It seems to be gone now, but on the site, people shared their stories of lost (or everlasting) love that centered around a mix tape they made for the object of their love.

Bittner took the website idea and used it to put together a book, Cassette from My Ex: Stories and Soundtracks of Lost Loves which is a collection of stories, essays, art, and other contributions by various artists, musicians, and writers.  It’s the story of the role of the mixtape that was especially big in the late 1970s and 80s when cassette tape reigned as the way to share music.

I don’t know if anyone still makes mixtapes or mixCDs. I guess shared playlists might be the latest version, but that doesn’t seem like the same thing to me. I made lots of mixtapes and a bunch of CD mixes. I made ones for my wife to listen to in her commuting. I made ones for friends, especially to accompany them on a long drives across country or to their summer place. Before I was married, I made them for girlfriends. I carefully selected songs and sequences to convey messages. Sometimes I even added my own voice so that they sounded more like a radio program. I spent a lot of time on them. I even made artwork for the cases.

The compact audio cassette came to us in 1963 and into the 1970s after the car 8-track tape died. These inexpensive and portable tapes were part of the “downloadable” music culture long before the Internet, Napster, iTunes, and Spotify. In my no-money-for-records high school days, I would record songs off the radio on my cassette deck with the built-in radio.

Mix tapes let the DJ in you loose to create thematic mixes. Mixtapes probably fit into some categories, like the Romantic Tape, the Break-up Tape, the Road Trip Tape, even the Indoctrination Tape you made to turn someone on to a band, or to you via “your music.”

One extended story of mixtape romance is by rock critic Rob Sheffield. He wrote a memoir using 22 “mix tapes” to describe his life with his wife, Renee, from their meeting in 1989 to her untimely death in 1997. Each of the chapters in Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time begins with song titles from their mixes.

I made (and still have) a lot of mix CDs made for my own listening pleasure, so that in the car I am listening to my own radio station. I made driving ones – hard rock for highways, folk-rock for byways – late-night radio sets, an hour of quieter music.

I made a series for friends of summer songs. They included the obvious ones – Beach Boys’ tracks like “All Summer Long,” and “In the Summertime,” and “Summer Breeze” as well as songs we associated with summer because they were summer hits or we just associated with summer (“Time of the Season,” “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” “Take It Easy”).  Then I did the sequencing after gathering them from our collected CDs and with a few iTunes downloads. I listened to all of them trying to pick out references to a month or part of summer and created June, July, and August sets.  “See You In September,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and “School’s Out” are part of the June set.  For July, “Up on the Roof,” “Summer in the City,” “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy),” Kodachrome,” Hot Fun in the Summertime.”  The August CD included “Summer, Highland Falls,” Boys of Summer,” “Groovin'” “Summertime Blues,” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” Summer Wind.”

My friend Pat was a big fan of the summer set, so she (a teacher) also got back-to-school and end-of-school mixes. And I had done winter, spring, and winter into spring CDs.

I still have most of them in a plastic crate. I look back at those first mixtapes (pre-marriage) that were actual tapes I made for car rides to the beach or vacations.  Have you seen the movie As Good As It Gets? Jack Nicholson’s character makes careful mixes for a car trip in the hope of seducing the character played by Helen Hunt. If not to seduce, then at least made to reveal who he really is via the songs – something he can’t seem to do in person. Been there; mixed that.

I love making lists anyway, so making song lists is something I like doing – like the people in Nick Hornby’s novel High Fidelity and the great film version (and even the soundtrack CD).

Did you ever make or receive mixtapes in any form?
Post a comment. I’d love to hear your story.

Pilgrim’s Progress

When I was in high school, I became a big fan of the band Procol Harum. That British rock band formed in 1967 and is still best known for their first single, “A Whiter Shade Of Pale.” They have been labeled as art rock, progressive rock and symphonic rock.

They were one of my entry points for “serious” lyrics. The Procol Harum lyricist, Keith Reid, spoken about a number of literary influences and allusions such as Canterbury Tales for “Whiter Shade of Pale” and “Wreck of the Hesperus” points to the Longfellow poem, while Shelley’s “Ozymandias” inspired the song “Conquistador.”

One of my favorite songs is “Pilgrims Progress” It is on their third studio album, A Salty Dog, which I bought in the summer of 1969. That was not a good summer of my life. It was the summer that my father died after six years of illness. I was in a depression.

Maybe part of the attraction to the album was its nautical themes. My father had been in the Navy and I am a fan of Melville’s sea novels. I also loved the album cover. In college a few years later, I would discover the Player’s Navy Cut cigarettes that formed the basis for that cover art and start smoking them. They were a very harsh, unfiltered cigarette which I found Romantically to be a good match for bourbon and depression. The album had rock and blues and the title song was the first Procol Harum track to use an orchestra.

I liked the lyrics and read more into them than may have been intended. (I was in training to be an English major.)

Pilgrim’s Progress

I sat me down to write a simple story
which maybe in the end became a song
In trying to find the words which might begin it
I found these were the thoughts I brought along

At first I took my weight to be an anchor
and gathered up my fears to guide me round
but then I clearly saw my own delusion
and found my struggles further bogged me down

In starting out I thought to go exploring
and set my foot upon the nearest road
In vain I looked to find the promised turning
but only saw how far I was from home

In searching I forsook the paths of learning
and sought instead to find some pirate’s gold
In fighting I did hurt those dearest to me
and still no hidden truths could I unfold

I sat me down to write a simple story
which maybe in the end became a song
The words have all been writ by one before me
We’re taking turns in trying to pass them on
Oh, we’re taking turns in trying to pass them on

by Keith Reid   (listen to the song)

The song sent me looking for the allusions, as I knew that it referred to the 1678 book The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. It is a book that today no one reads unless it is assigned to read, but I picked up a copy before it was assigned to me because of the song. It turns out that Bunyan’s book was actually what we would call a “mass-market best-seller” during the author’s lifetime.

Bunyan was a 50 year-old Baptist preacher who had been thrown in jail for preaching without a license. In his autobiography, Bunyan wrote about his wild, sinful youth – though he listed the sins as profanity, dancing, and bell-ringing.

He did some time in the army, married, worked as a tinker (an itinerant tinsmith who mended household utensils). He claims to have had a religious conversion and started practicing with a sect that didn’t conform to the teachings of the Church of England. He was eventually thrown in jail for his preaching. He stayed in jail for 12 years.

While jailed, he began to write The Pilgrim’s Progress which begins: “As I walk’d through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place, where was a Denn [jail]; And I laid me down in that place to sleep: And as I slept I dreamed a Dream.”

What follows is an allegory that follows the main character, Christian, on a journey from the City of Destruction (earth) to the Celestial City (heaven). He travels through places like the Slough of Despond, the Valley of Humiliation, and Doubting Castle. Those he meets along the way include Mr. Worldly Wiseman, Mr. Valiant-for-Truth, Old Honest, and Talkative.

It sounds pretty obvious to us today, but it was a best-seller and went through numerous reprints and it has a number of pirated copies and unauthorized sequels. A real literary phenom in that time.

Plenty of writers since, besides Keith Reid, have alluded to the book. Thackeray’s book title Vanity Fair is a reference to a fair in the town of Vanity where Christian finds people who indulge in mindless amusements and worldly possessions. Dickens’ Oliver Twist is subtitled The Parish Boy’s Progress. Mark Twain subtitled his The Innocents Abroad as The New Pilgrims’ Progress. And Huckleberry Finn mentions that he knew the book and gave it a pretty good quick review: “a book about a man who left his family, though it didn’t say why. I read it every now and then, and got through quite a bit of it. The sentences were interesting, but difficult to get through.”

The book is Christian literature but that’s not what I got from the book back in the day. It’s not his journey that makes Christian a pilgrim. The pilgrim must move forward spiritually as he moves geographically. Christian learns . He doesn’t make the same mistake twice. He doesn’t meet the same foe or obstacle twice, because he learns from his experiences.

Some are travelers. Some are pilgrims. The pilgrims learned truths and are taking turns in trying to pass them on.

Shine On, Harvest Moon

Today is the Harvest Moon for 2023 but in Paradelle it is rainy and cloudy and gray. “Harvest” is the name attached to the Full Moon closest to the autumnal (fall) equinox. This year it is September but it can also be in October.

The name or a variation on it was used by Europeans and Native Americans. Harvesting in your area might already be done. I’m still picking tomatoes, peppers and squashes but traditionally it was because farmers could work later into the evening by the light of this Moon. Corn, pumpkins, squash, beans, and wild rice — the chief staples of Native Americans — were ready for gathering around this time of year.

Harvest Moon reminds me of an old song that my parents would have sung and danced to in their youth – perhaps at a Harvest Moon Dance. “Shine On, Harvest Moon” was popular in the early-1900s and the song is credited to the married vaudeville team Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth. That was the era of Tin Pan Alley songs and it became a pop standard and is still performed today.

It is the tale of a guy who hasn’t had any love for months and tonight he was ready to make his move on his girlfriend but the Moon wasn’t shining, so she was afraid to be out. He calls to the Moon to please shine.

The night was mighty dark so you could hardly see,
For the moon refused to shine.
Couple sitting underneath a willow tree,
For love they did pine.
Little maid was kinda ‘fraid of darkness
So she said, “I guess I’ll go.”
Boy began to sigh, looked up at the sky,
And told the moon his little tale of woe

Oh, Shine on, shine on, harvest moon
Up in the sky;
I ain’t had no lovin’
Since April, January, June or July.
Snow time, ain’t no time to stay
Outdoors and spoon;
So shine on, shine on, harvest moon,
For me and my gal.

I hope you have a nice Harvest Moon tonight that looks orange in color because that is the stereotypical way the October Full Moon is often portrayed. Orange makes it look very harvesty and Halloweenish, but this effect is not seasonal and is caused by the atmosphere of the earth. The reason for the orange color is due to the scattering of light by the atmosphere. When the moon is near the horizon, the moonlight must pass through much more atmosphere than when the moon is directly overhead.

Another more-modern Moon song is Van Morrison’s “Moondance” and, as the opening line goes:

“Well, it’s a marvelous night for a moondance
With the stars up above in your eyes
A fantabulous night to make romance
‘Neath the cover of October skies
And all the leaves on the trees are falling
To the sound of the breezes that blow
And I’m trying to please to the calling
Of your heart-strings that play soft and low
And all the night’s magic seems to whisper and hush
And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush”

The Jersey Shore Sound

An updated post that is a good one for anyone headed down the Garden State Parkway for some weekending at the Jersey Shore.

I guess I always thought there was some kind of “Jersey Shore sound,” but I did not know it was official. But I saw that it is on Wikipedia, so it is “official.”

To me, that sound came from bar bands doing covers of pre-Beatles rock and roll, some rhythm and blues, and a few original tunes. Wikipedia says it was the sound at the Jersey Shore from the late 1960s through the mid-1980s, though others say it never went away or out of style.

Don’t be thrown off by the “shore” part of the sound. This ain’t The Beach Boys. And it has nothing to do with that dreadful MTV show with that name that did nothing positive for NJ or our beautiful shoreline. There is even a bit of Philly and NYC mixed in there too. It is said to have a thick slice of Italian-American influence and some of that certainly comes from artists like Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons through Bruce Springsteen.

Let’s run down some Jersey Shore music qualities: urban, rock and Roots rock, working class, on the side of the underdog. Wikipedia says the accordion (Italian style) plays a part and though there are examples of that, I’d say chunky guitar lines (“that echo American V-8 engines”) are closer to what you hear.

Springsteen has obviously been the big name associated with the sound, but I can’t say that his piano, Hammond organ, and glockenspiel elements are commonly heard in venues along the coast. Then again, Bruce has said that “the keyboard parts are an extension of the calliope sounds heard on the carousels located on Jersey Shore boardwalks.” I never thought of that connection, but if you visit the carousels on the boardwalks you can hear a bit of that.

Some of the bands and artists in this regional genre are (in no particular order):

• The Four Seasons
• Gary U.S. Bonds
• Bruce Springsteen
• The Drifters
• Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes
• Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul
• Bon Jovi
• Salvation (associated with the Osprey Hotel in Manasquan, New Jersey)
• Willy DeVille – Mink DeVille
• John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band a Rhode Island bar band with a Jersey sound who got national attention with their soundtrack to the movie Eddie and the Cruisers
• The Parlor Mob
• Vinnie James
• Looking Glass, a frat-party band that I remember from my Rutgers days. Their one hit was “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl).”
• Cats on a Smooth Surface house band at Asbury Park’s The Stone Pony in the 1980s, featuring Glen Burtnik and Bobby Bandiera in its original lineup.
• Garland Jeffreys
• The Gaslight Anthem is a New Brunswick band that mixes punk, blues, soul and Jersey.

“In the 1990s it [the sound] was forgotten, but now people are starting to look at Asbury as a shrine again. There are places to play where you can actually earn a living, not just in Asbury but all around the Jersey Shore,” according to an article in NJ Monthly.

Venues such as The Stone Pony and the Wonder Bar in a revitalized Asbury Park are still places to go and see both big-name acts and smaller Jersey bands. And there are many less famous venues along the shore where the sound is perhaps even more alive. Yes, Bruce or Jon Bon Jovi might drop in to a place in Asbury to join in sometimes, but that isn’t the reason to go.

Summer Is Coming

“Sumer Is Icumen In” is a traditional English round, and possibly the oldest such example of counterpoint in existence. The song’s title might is usually translated as “Summer has come in” or “Summer has arrived” – but I kind of like “Summer is coming in” since summer and the solstice is not until the 21st. But it does feel like summer is coming and some days it feels like it has already arrived.

I remember musical rounds from elementary school music classes. It is a musical composition in which two or more voices sing exactly the same melody but with each voice beginning at different times so that different parts of the melody coincide in the different voices. If done correctly, it fits harmoniously together. Maybe you sang “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” in some childhood music class.

Summer is coming in so you might want to sing today, so sing out loud! here is the modern English version.

Summer is a-coming in,
Loudly sing, Cuckoo!
The seed grows and the meadow
blooms
And the wood springs anew,
Sing, Cuckoo!
The ewe bleats after the lamb
The cow lows after the calf.
The bullock stirs, the stag farts,
Merrily sing, Cuckoo!
Cuckoo, cuckoo, well you sing,
cuckoo;
Don’t you ever stop now,
Sing cuckoo now. Sing, Cuckoo.
Sing Cuckoo. Sing cuckoo now!

For a challenge, feel free to try singing the original Middle English lyrics. You might be surprised that “bucke uerteþ” is translated as “the stag farts.” I had to research that one but the current consensus gives that translation rather than “the buck-goat turns.” Stag farting is supposed to be a sign of virility indicating the stag’s potential for creating new life, echoing the rebirth of Nature from the barren period of winter. The wife doesn’t buy that explanation and wants no stag farting this summer unless the stag is outside.

Stag (perhaps farting) via Pexels.com