Best Line in "Graceland"

human trampoline

so so many good lines in this, but 'human trampoline' always just feels like a blown/tossed off dylan line or something to me. it's the only one that actually takes me out of the song.

also, i don't much believe anyone wld call themselves that

I just listened to it and the 'no obligations' line was the one I most compelled to sing along to.

so so many good lines in this, but 'human trampoline' always just feels like a blown/tossed off dylan line or something to me. it's the only one that actually takes me out of the song.

also, i don't much believe anyone wld call themselves that

this. thought the same thing even as a kid. it's a striking line and he delivers it very well (esp the "oh, so this is what she means" part), but it doesn't ring true. "a human trampoline," maybe.

I mean, I can sorta picture somebody loudly explaining "You know I am like a human trampoline, people just keep jumping on me!!!" and thinking they were really clever but actually being annoying and lame.... I just think this song sort of deserves better acquaintances than that, especially since she's introduced as "there is a girl in New York City," somehow the equivalent of the former talk show host that you can only find by traveling over the mountains and down to the valley. You want these mythical characters to have something better to say for themselves.

i h8 all u guys who are h8ing on human trampoline tbh

whenever people call something dylanesque all that means is it's awesome afaic

also the function of "there's a girl in new york city" is key to simon's whole slice of new york hipster community thing

in conclusion, i'm mad

i'm not voting for "there's a girl in new york city who calls herself the human trampoline" as it is isolated in this poll but that section of the song, from "there's a girl" to "she means we're bouncing into graceland" is my favorite part, like something catches in my throat at "bouncing into graceland" half the time.

Maybe her name is Maybelline or something else that rhymes with trampoline.

i like gumboots more than this, and esp in terms of NYC hipster types portraiture

MAYBE WHO CARES IF ITS IMPLAUSIBLE

gumboots is gr8

horseshoe r u actually shouting all this out loud as u type srs q.

best line(s) in that one either "I said hey you know breakdowns come and breakdowns go / so what are you going to do about it, that's what I'd like to know" largely bc of delivery or "believing i had supernatural powers i slammed into a brick wall"

haha plax i am seething with rage and spoiling for a fight

u r rong it is "hey! ain't we walking down the same street, together, on the very same day"

that is a v v nice delivery, also

so conversational!

just listened to the youtube of this as ive lost the album. do all youtube comments have to have some bit of masochistic nostalgia going on? makes me despair for humantity. i went for 'everybody sees your blown apart, everybody feels the wind blow'.

i like how the words play off each other there

window
heart
blown
apart
wind
blow

otm

great album. great song.

best album of whatever year it was released

Alright in a kind of a limited way for an off-night.

Really can't listen to this album anymore having heard it at so many cinematographers' parties.

If you listen to Live in Central Park, each NYC reference in the Simon oeuvre is met with extended whooping.

"There is a girl in New York City...."

WHOOWOOOWHOOWHWOHWOHOOOWHOOO

Haha, yeah. 'Counting the cars on the New Jersey turnpike' etc.

Has anyone seen One Trick Pony? Is it any good?

its ... entertaining

Yeah, xps, 'Gumboots' is the best

i voted "for reasons i cannot explain some part of me wants to see graceland" -- b/c that's what I feel about graceland (and any number of other tourist traps).

Some One Trick Pony discussion here:

Paul Simon - One Trick Pony, C or D

and maybe here:

http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=31830

(that's "Do you believe Paul Simon when, in "Late in the Evening", he describes how he returns to the club after smoking a "J" and proceeds to turn up his amp and "(blow) that room away"?")

classic alex in nyc on that thread:

I believe the bit about smokin' the "j", but not about the room-blowin' (like he suddenly morphed into a diminutive clone of Yngwie Malmsteen).
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, July 22, 2004 8:59 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark

is there anyone right now writing lyrics this good and self-aware about the nyc hip-art-music-whatever scene? vampire weekend is the only band thats even attempting this i think and--i think theyre good lyricists--but theyre not paul simon

tbf they've had two albums, what album was graceland for him.

all his albums have v good lyrics post-simon and garfunkel it's kind of his "thing"

the 70s solo simon albums are so new york-y

like woody allen movies they have had a debilitating effect on my adult life

im not saying vampire weekend "should" be the new paul simon of lyrics, im just wondering if there is a 2000s paul simon

like if there was ever a 'scene' that could use a self aware lyricist with a good sense of humor about 'the scene'... its brooklyn ca 2010

and the thing is vw are UWS brats not brooklyn brats

i think it's clear what you have to do, max

zinging is my art

not lyrics

it's a fine line!!!!!

too true, too true