Illustration of fox hunting from the LIFE magazine image collection, c. 1920.
It's weird that a Paul Simon song would come up on the Jukebox today - I've been listening to Paul Simon lately for the first time in years. I received a couple of his '70s solo records for my birthday this year (Hi, Gwyn!) They're the nice reissues from 2006, which are apparently now going out of print (if you believe Amazon). I enjoyed them so much that I went out and bought a copy of Graceland, the Simon album that came out that has very specific childhood associations for me. My parents are both big Simon & Garfunkel fans - one of my earliest memories is my father playing "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" on the guitar - so it's hard for me to listen to anything Simon has done with fresh ears. The Graceland reissue comes close, though, because it sounds so crisp and clear that it is almost a totally new record to me.
I've owned Bridge Over Troubled Water for years, but I've never listened to it much. It falls into the category of albums I was talking about Monday - it's the sound of a band tearing itself apart. Many of the songs on it are about Simon feeling abandoned by Garfunkel, who was more actively pursuing his acting career at the time (and, to be fair, can you blame him?) "Song for the Asking" is the last song on Bridge Over Troubled Water, and it doesn't really make much of an impression at the end of a very uneven, scatter-shot, and over-produced set of songs. It's under two minutes, and it only features Simon's acoustic guitar and a basic string arrangement. The simple lyric is one that I find affecting, though - like some of the album's other songs ("The Only Living Boy in New York", "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright"), it's about feeling left behind. Simon sings, "Here is my tune for the taking / Take it, don´t turn away / I´ve been waiting here all my life."
Don't feel too bad for Paul Simon, though - I think things turned out okay for him in the end.
"Song for the Asking" by Simon & Garfunkel
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