Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel part 1 (A prologue for George Michael)

I had mentioned George Michael's passing in yesterday's comments, but I think he deserves more than that: Since yesterday, I feel like I've lost a friend. He was about my age, he came from English and Cypriot parents (I was born in England and spent my childhood in Cyprus), he was an out and proud gay man and it seems that he had a good and charitable soul. He was also one of the top five singers-songwriters of the 80s and 90s. I am sure that his work will be appreciated more profoundly as time goes by; it's only a pity he didn't live to give us more songs like Jesus To A Child, or more joyous coming out hymns like Outside or An Easier Affair.

I realized that something was going wrong with George Michael in a strange way: as I was checking this blog's visits, I noticed there was a huge spike, almost exclusively directed to my three-part presentation of George, last June (the last part in particular). This huge increase in visits lasted all through yesterday and is still going on. To show the scale of this increase, the visits received during the last 24 hrs are more than those received in the last two weeks combined - and the last two weeks were the best weeks ever. Till now. For someone who has been out of the public spotlight for at least a decade (even more in the States), this is a demonstration of terrific star power. George most certainly had it.

Then the visits started pouring on to other subjects, probably people who visited the blog for the first time decided to check out what else there was. They came from all over the world, not just from the countries that were showing strength until now. If I printed the week's and the all-time statistics now, you would see changes so impressive, that are seen in this blog for the first time. But you will have to wait until the end of the week for that. I only hope that some of our new visitors decide to stick around with us and become part of our loving family. I welcome you all with great joy!

So, George, except for grief, you have also offered me contentment. I realize that you were a person who loved to give happiness to others, so, don't worry, you will still be offering happiness to everybody who listens to your songs for a long time to come. Paul & Art - we'll get to you in a moment - I hope you don't mind that the photo adorning today's piece will not be of you, but of George, one last goodbye.

(This prologue was written a day before it was published.)

After their breakup in 1970, Simon & Garfunkel kept busy. Garfunkel took a sabbatical from music, and he made two films with Mike Nichols: Catch 22 (with Alan Arkin, Anthony Perkins, Jon Voight, and Orson Welles among others) and Carnal Knowledge (with Jack Nicholson, Ann-Margret, and Candice Bergen). He also spent late 1971 to early 1972 working as a mathematics teacher teaching high school sophomores geometry at Litchfield Academy in Connecticut (by request of his fiancée Linda Marie Grossman). His first solo album came out in 1973.

Meanwhile, Paul Simon began writing and recording solo material again. His album Paul Simon was recorded in 1971 and released in January 1972, preceded by the lead single, his first experiment with world music, the Jamaican-inspired Mother and Child Reunion, considered one of the first examples of Reggae by a white musician. The single was a hit, reaching #1 in South Africa, #3 in Norway, #4 in the US, #5 in the UK, Canada, and Australia, and #6 in the Netherlands.

The title has its origin in a chicken-and-egg dish called "Mother and Child Reunion" that Simon saw on a Chinese restaurant's menu. The song's lyrics were inspired by a pet dog that was run over and killed. It was the first death Simon personally experienced, and he began to wonder how he would react if the same happened to his wife at the time, Peggy Harper. "Somehow there was a connection between this death and Peggy and it was like Heaven, I don't know what the connection was," Simon told Rolling Stone in 1972.

The album received universal acclaim, with critics praising the variety of styles and the confessional lyrics, reaching #1 in the UK, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Japan, #2 in the Netherlands, #3 in Spain, #4 in the US and #5 in Australia. It later spawned another Top 30 hit with Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard. It made #6 in Canada, #15 in the UK, #19 in Ireland, and #22 in the US.

When asked what "Mama Pajama" saw that made her so distraught in this song, Paul Simon has said that he's not exactly sure, but he assumed it was something sexual. Simon made up a crazy little story for the song, and named the main character Julio because it sounded like a typical New York neighborhood kid (Simon grew up in Queens). What Paul didn't realize until years later was the impact the song had on Spanish-speaking listeners who were thrilled to hear a song coming out of America with a Latin name in the title.

Having a male narrator sing of something sexual that he and Julio did down by the schoolyard, was all that gay boys like me needed to let their fantasy go wild. Yours truly has made a (fantasy) film out of the song. In it, our hero, Paul, is a small town young man, in his late teenage years, just beginning to realize that he's gay. He befriends an older closeted gay man called Ross, who in the privacy of his own home likes to dress as a woman and calls himself "Rosie the queen of Corona".

Among the migrant Latin American workers that come to town to help with the harvest is a young man of great beauty called Julio. Paul and Julio begin exchanging longing looks, and shortly they're deeply in love. One evening, while Paul and Julio are getting it on down by the deserted schoolyard, Paul's mother, walking along with a friend from church, sees them. Scandal ensues and a town meeting is initiated. The blame, of course, falls on the stranger, who "has come to corrupt one of our own!" They are thoughts of lynching, but the town priest, whose belief in love and acceptance is considered "radical" persuades the mob to "just" force Julio to leave town.

Early next morning, the whole town is gathered at the train station. Paul is there, along with Ross/Rosie. Julio is put on the train, his sad eyes fixed at Paul all the while. Paul is also staring longingly and lovingly, he would like to join him, but "his family's here" and "he has no money" and "what will they do, where will they go, etc..." Rosie interrupts him: "Do you love him?" she asks. "Yes, I do!" Paul responds. "Then go you fool!" Rosie replies, handing him a handful of bills. "I've been saving this money for a lovely funeral with me in my favorite dress, but who am I kidding? These folks never allowed me to live the life I was meant to, they will certainly never allow me to "embarass them" with my funeral. Go Now! The train is starting to roll."

Paul runs towards the moving train, the town folks at first incredulous, then angry, then livid. (Think of the church scene in The Graduate.) They try to stop him but he evades them. Julio is halfway outside the door, his hand outstretched. The intro of Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard starts playing. Paul jumps, Julio catches him mid-air, and the frame freezes as the singer begins to sing. The End.

Duncan was the third and final single from the album, a lovely song that tells the story of Lincoln Duncan, a fisherman's son, whose inability to fall asleep in a cheap motel due to the loud sex that a couple is having next door sends him off on a long reverie.

Other beautiful songs from this album include Peace Like a River:

Armistice Day, which uses WWI as a metaphor for personal relationships:

And finally, the album's closing track, Congratulations, which makes indirect reference to his rocky marriage to Peggy (née Harper), which ended in divorce in 1975.

The album was ranked #268 on the list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

More on Paul & Art in our next entry. See you!