i'm kinda obsessed lately with the sneakily subversive fuck you that is paul simon's "my little town"

see, i didn't know it was actually supposed to reflect art's upbringing. you learn something new every day!

although he grew up in queens too, so, i'm still a little confused, but what the hell do i know about queens. sure it could be stifling for a young sensitive boy with a voice like an angel.

my friend peter lived a block away from paul simon's house growing up.

my mother lived across the street from woody herman in queens as a girl.

yeah this song is great. the sweet-sounding-tune-crossed-with-bitter/ugly/sad-lyrical-sentiments seems like a staple of the 70s singer-songwriter ouevre to me (Simon, Joni, Steely Dan, Jim Croce)

i was 7 or 8 when this song came out and it hit the top ten and i'm pretty sure at that age i would have run around just singing "la la la la la la la la..my little town..." cuz i loved a jaunty tune. the words wouldn't have registered with me at all. same with steely dan only more so. jim croce i loved when i was little because i love rap music and the razor in someone's shoe just seemed like a great detail at the time.

I like it because my dad was a traveling salesman and he would often take us on trips with him. We drove through many beat-up towns in the midwest and south. Not to be mean-spirited, we found lots of small towns not so sad and beat up. It makes you think why some places and not others. So I don't see it as condemnatory, just sad.

Garfunkel's vocal reminds me of Gerry Rafferty.

great bass poke around the 2:10 mark

I was living in a little town when this came out. I def got the lyrics.

my mother lived across the street from woody herman in queens as a girl.

yes!

oh i should also mention that this song kinda reminded me of SOS by Abba in a weird way when i was younger.

the title of this song could have been SOS as well.

its meanspirited in a way that a lot of post-dylan lyrics were - and post-simon&garfunkel lyrics were - but it does feel heartfelt in a way.

otm. this kind of meanspirited is one of my favorite things tbh.

and both this song and SOS were hit singles from 1975, so, i probably heard them both a lot that year. and the choruses remind me of each other.

the big difference between the two songs would be that SOS is the greatest pop song of the 70's and My Little Town isn't.

Interesting comparison! Funny thing about ABBA, when I was a kid ABBA were unrock and not to be listened to. Wow, 1975 is such a late year for such an evocative song! I liked ABBA but I had to go on vacation to hear their music.

Besides Woody, I believe you once mentioned that Waddy Watchel was also in the neighborhood at the time.

i don't remember that about waddy. was he really from queens? i guess he had to come from somewhere. though part of me just thinks that he was born and raised in some dark dank recording studio somewhere in hollywood.