Simon & Garfunkel - Classic or Dud?

Simple desultory phillipic too, as noted

I loved "The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine" as a kid so can't fairly judge it.

The stupid sub-Dylan "A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)" is horrid except for that organ bass line or whatever it is that anchors it. Great music, shit lyrics. I feel the same way about "Patterns".

Best unreleased tune is "Groundhog":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaKCN44w-T0

The stupid sub-Dylan "A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)" is horrid

Yep, I'd agree with this... I've never been fond of it!

the rest of the lyrics of The Boxer aren't quite as bad, but they still have kind of a hackneyed, kid in creative writing class writing about "The Poor" quality.

Philippic: YA CAN UNNERSTAN DA WOIDS

Mrs. Robinson is a pretty mediocre song.

line about Dimaggio gets me every time and I don't even like baseball

well i mean imagine a whole nation's worth of eyes

'Mrs. Robinson' isn't a favourite of mine, but I don't mind it. 'The Only Living Boy In New York', though... ALL TIME.

'Mrs. Robinson' was an unfinished song they had lying around til Mike Nichols needed a song called Mrs Robinson

well i mean imagine a whole nation's worth of eyes

$50 for a lawn seat at my local summer outdoor venue on his summer tour. Feels like a lot to pay to sit on the grass (straining our nation's worth of eyes)

got in the car this morning, turned on the radio and... this came on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOGqZJC0_Xs

i don't mean to get all alex in nyc on y'all, but there oughta be a law

It took some time for the YouTube embed to load, all the while I was assuming it'd be this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4

"I Am A Rock" is the first song I have exercised my veto over in my dad cover band. It's a bridge to far, which, incidentally, sounds like it would be the name of a Simon and Garfunkel album.

so I found something rather interesting on wikipedia

In 2015, someone edited the Wikipedia page for "The Sound of Silence," claiming the original first lyric was "Aloha darkness, my old friend." It is still there. https://t.co/uB7mBnA1sQ pic.twitter.com/1EFP7uEXsj

— katherine morayati (@morayati) March 9, 2018

So, I'm listening to Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme for the first time in ages tonight and I've pretty much reminded myself why this is the last Simon & Garfunkel album I tend to reach for. Such a frustrating mix of high quality classics ('Scarborough Fair', 'Patterns', 'Cloudy', 'The 59th Street Bridge Song') and supreme duds ('A Simple Desultory Philippic') ... Sounds of Silence was a relative rush job, but I much prefer it.

i've lost my harmonica, albert

I'd never seen this before. Really enjoyed it--don't know if Simon's a little stoned, or if he's always like that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDqIsuIpVy4