What do you think of Paul Simon singing Sounds of Silence at the 911 ceremony?

I was watching this mornings broadcast, and they announced Paul Simon would be singing, and I thought “Oh, of course…American Tune.” I was surprised that they chose “Sounds of Silence.” It is a protest song, and a song that might indicate we had this attack coming.
American Tune would have been much more fitting.

@filmfann , I never listened to the lyrics to that song. I always loved it because it was to the tune of Oh Sacred head Now Wounded, and that song always moved me. Paul Simon’s lyrics would have been perfect for a 9/11 memorial.

Hmm. I’ve always thought that song was appropriate for tragedies at the hands of other people. It was used in the movie Bobby about Robert Kennedy’s assassination, and I thought it was very successful in that context. But as the song seems to imply that our culture is part of the problem, it only seems appropriate when the perps are American. I agree it’s a little strange for this situation.

But I do lurve that song, and can play it on the piano!

I agree, not appropriate. American tune would have been great.
I was deeply touched by this dedication of Fragile by Sting after the tragedy. The words seemed so prescient to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLC5Z3EVp9A

I disagree about American Tune. I think the words about dying and floating above and looking down would have been too graphic for the families of the lost.

I see the problems with Sounds od Silence too.

Well, Simon wrote both of them so I think he is entitled to sing them if he wishes. If you listen to his album Live Rhymin he does both there – with a gospel choir backing him up. He sings both well IMO. Different of course, but really nice.

If you’d ever seen a PS interview re. Sound of Silence you’d know it has nothing to do with politics or protest and was written in the bathroom. Hello darkness my old friend.

Here’s a link to the performance.
I think it is quite appropriate. We can’t be blind to the policies our elected leaders set in place (and perpetuated with Guantanamo) that caused people to despise everything we stand for. In our patriotism, we need to remember not only the senseless act of the terrorists, but if we really want to prevent these things from happening in the future, we really have to ask, “why do they hate us so much?” We need to be ready for some soul searching answers. 10 years of mourning is probably appropriate silence. Now it’s time for coming out better and more compassionate on the other side, not blinded by hate or ignorance.

Thanks Judi – here’s the one I was referring to

@Judi I personally think you have a great point, but I also think that most people would be absolutely outraged if they believed that that was the message behind the song.

@Mariah ; agreed. Which is kind of the point. Blindly, silently, letting it happen.

He should’ve sung You can call me Al-qaeda!
Ouch!!

I was busy doing something else at the time and didn’t give it my full attention and I hadn’t even realise it was Paul Simon singing. It didn’t jar with me at all and seemed fine for the occasion though ‘Bridge over Troubled Waters’ might have been more appropriate.

At the beginning of the song the silence in this case meant to me the silence when the people we love are no longer there. Whatever the original meaning of the song, it is what it meant to me at this time. I do agree there is a message to beware of religion, politicians, the messages we put out there and the effects it can have, but mostly I think Paul Simon and his music is loved by New Yorkers, and many around the country, and if you watch his face he looks so somber, so affected by the day himself. I think his intention was to acknowledge those who have lost loved ones, and to honor those who had their lives cut short.

@Judi I watched your link, I did not watch the TV today, and you know what bothers me is the crawl across the bottom with other news. I wanted no other chaos on the screen, know what mean? It’s somehow disrespectful to me for the stations to not at least have some time where our complete focus is on this one thing. I am not criticizing your choice in the link, just the station itself.

Do we really have to treat personal tributes as political footballs now? Paul Simon was asked to play a song, and this was the one he chose. Why? I don’t know. Maybe he was under the impression that “sad and contemplative” was the appropriate mood for a memorial.

Whatever the case might be, he was visibly affected while playing, and it is a testament to his abilities as a performer that he kept himself together. If people are finding it difficult to reconcile his sincerity with their politics, they’re the ones with the problem—not Paul Simon.

Are you saying that the choice of song does not matter, provided that the proper emotions were shown? So it would be okay if Paul Simon sang gagsta rap, provided that he got sufficiently choked up over it.

I am not saying that. Some songs are so disconnected from the event that we could not possibly think them sincere. I do think, however, that we are overly concerned with other people not showing their sincerity in the same way we would choose to do so.

Neither of the songs other people have suggested—“American Tune” and “Bridge over Troubled Water”—seem like the best choice to me. But if Paul Simon had played them, I would have assumed that it made sense to him. I would have also let my interpretation of that performance of the song be influenced by the fact that he thought it was appropriate for the situation, rather than the other way around.

Song interpretation is highly personal and rarely—if ever—definitive. What a song means to its composer or to any individual listener might vary wildly. It might even change over time. When a performer finds a particular song to be relevant is an interesting look into how he interprets it and provides listeners with an opportunity to look at it from a new angle. I see no reason to ruin this opportunity by imposing my previous interpretation in advance.

@SavoirFaire I agree with you. GA.

@SavoirFaire , I see your point. As long as the lyrics are sufficiently vague and have the right emotional tone then the song is okay. Well maybe. In my interpretation of the song, the World Trade Center was part of the neon god, and my gut reaction was that something was off in singing the song. Everyone is entitled to their own interpretation.

I have enormous respect for Paul Simon. I think you have a good point Savoir Faire Here are some thoughts about the song straight from the horse’s mouth:

“I think about songs that it’s not just what the words say but what the melody says and what the sound says. My thinking is that if you don’t have the right melody, it really doesn’t matter what you have to say, people don’t hear it. They only are available to hear when the sound entrances and makes people open to the thought. Really the key to ‘The Sound Of Silence’ is the simplicity of the melody and the words, which are youthful alienation. It’s a young lyric, but not bad for a 21-year-old. It’s not a sophisticated thought, but a thought that I gathered from some college reading material or something. It wasn’t something that I was experiencing at some deep, profound level – nobody’s listening to me, nobody’s listening to anyone – it was a post-adolescent angst, but it had some level of truth to it and it resonated with millions of people. Largely because it had a simple and singable melody.”-Paul Simon

@Earthgirl Excellent.

JLeslie Lol, who could have said it better?

@Earthgirl I think that answer explains Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and thyme also.

Jleslie Scarborough Fair is such a beautiful song! So sweet and romantic. Just for fun I made a Chicken Pot Pie this summer inspired by Paul Simons’s spice recipe.