Music Monday ~ Confounding the Science

This clever parody, of the famous Simon & Garfunkel song, needs no explanation. It was written by Don Caron, performed by Don Caron and Linda Gower.







LYRICS to CONFOUNDS THE SCIENCE (Written by Don Caron)

Hello darkness my old friend.
It’s time for him to tweet again,
but first he’ll have to check in with Fox news
‘cause that’s the only place he gets his clues.
That’s how things get planted in his brain,
where they remain,
and it confounds the science.

The problem is he’s not alone.
He tweets to people on his phone
that global warming is a giant hoax
perpetuated by the liberal folks,
and he hires people that all think the same,
that play his game
and it confounds the science.

When he talks to crowds of four
he sees ten thousand maybe more,
believing they all think he’s god on earth
and was the product of a virgin birth
and if you disagree you’re the victim of fake news
or feminist shrews
and it confounds the science.

“Fools," says he, "you do not know
it makes me smart from so much dough.
I know exactly where the problems are."
But his solutions are beyond bizarre
‘cause his words never quite a sentence make
and thus he spake
and it confounds the science.

No limits on pollution now.
There’s not a thing we don’t allow.
Dump the garbage in the waterway.
Spray the toxins where your children play.
All the signs say that life on the planet is headed for a downward fall.
Go to the mall,
and continue to confound the science.

Music Monday ~ A Rock with Glass Half Empty

Casting around for something musical and apt for today, 11 June, led me to the fact that on 11 June in 1966 "I Am A Rock" by Paul Simon, the version recorded with Garfunkel, peaked in the charts at #3.


Hmm. "I Am a Rock" isn't one of the most played of their many superb recordings these days. Paul Simon wrote the song, it was first released in 1965, and is a rather glum affair about isolation and deliberate emotional detachment. It was first performed by Simon alone as the opening track on his album The Paul Simon Songbook which he originally recorded and released in August 1965, only in the United Kingdom. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, as the American folk rock duo Simon and Garfunkel, re-recorded it on December 14, 1965, and included as the final track on their album Sounds of Silence, which they released on January 17, 1966.




"I Am A Rock"

A winter's day
In a deep and dark December
I am alone
Gazing from my window
To the streets below
On a freshly fallen, silent shroud of snow
I am a rock
I am an island

I've built walls
A fortress, steep and mighty
That none may penetrate
I have no need of friendship
Friendship causes pain.
It's laughter and it's loving I disdain.
I am a rock
I am an island..........

......And a rock feels no pain
And an island never cries.

The theme of the song is the exact opposite of Garth Brooks' lovely composition "The Dance", wherein he claims that if he hadn't felt "the pain" he wouldn't have had the wonderful experience of "The Dance" (the good times). Another such theme is found in a song recorded by Ronnie Milsap,
"I Wouldn't Have Missed It For the World

Our paths may never cross again
Maybe my heart will never mend
But I'm glad for all the good times
Cause you've brought me so much sunshine
And love was the best it's ever been
I wouldn't have missed it for the world
Wouldn't have missed loving you girl
You've made my whole life worth while, with your smile
I wouldn't trade one memory
Cause you mean too much to me
Even though I lost you girl
I wouldn't have missed it for the world.....

It's akin to the much clichéd "glass half full, glass half empty".


Something which will sound like blasphemy to most Simon & Garfunkel fans: the duo's version of the "I Am a Rock" was - well - in the style expected of them back in the 1960s. Listening to it now though, to my ear, it's lacking the required emotion. Same applied to their Sound of Silence, to a lesser degree. That song really opened up for me when I first heard the version by "Disturbed".




Wow! That's how it needs to be sung in 2018!

When will someone sing "I Am a Rock" as it needs to be sung in 2018? "Disturbed" could do it.

Here's a creditable cover version by Joe Paulik. It's getting there, or could be with a little help from recording/arranging maestros etc. I imagine it, ideally, sung by a deeper, resonant voice though.

Music Monday ~ Silence Disturbed

Hat-tip to Avedon's Sideshow for introducing me to the version of The Sound of Silence below.



I like it! I've always liked the song, written by Paul Simon, over several months between 1963–1964, made famous of course by Simon & Garfunkel. There have been other good covers of it over the years. Versions I remember best are by Irish trio, The Bachelors, who had a hit with it in Britain, and vocal group Gregorian, who sang it with a vaguely Gregorian chant flavour. The song has been used in the soundtracks of several movies, most famously in The Graduate.

This latest version of the song by Disturbed, a heavy metal band from Chicago is, on the face of it, a surprising choice for such a band. But consider again Paul Simon's lyrics and it perhaps ought not to be surprising.

Disturbed manages to better bring out the anger contained in the song, it's an anger currently being more sharply felt by many people. I'd always taken the song to be a fairly gentle rant about a general lack of communication between people. Until I heard Disturbed's version I'd never really "felt" it, but had been carried along by the lovely melody, never thinking too much, or too deeply, about the words. The words, whether Paul Simon realised it at the time or not, have a chameleon-like ability to fit any listener's own pet reasons to rant.

One, from many, interesting sidelights I found while reading Songfact's page on The Sound of Silence - this contribution by "Duff" of Calgary:

Was just re-reading HESSE's Steppenwolf novel after 15 years. And strangely found myself thinking as I was reading, "this is the setting of the song THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE". Then I googled this site. Weird.

Example #1 on Page 29 (of OWL's 1990 Steppenwolf reprint): Hesse's main character (Harry Haller) is walking alone at night in the rain. He writes:

"I trod the moist pavements of the narrow streets. As though in tears and veiled, the lamps glimmered through the chill gloom and sucked their reflections slowly from the wet ground."

Simon: "On restless streets I walked alone, Narrow streets of cobbled-stone; 'Neath the halo of an old street lamp."

Example #2 (on Page 37):
"I loitered as I wended my way homeward; turned up my collar and struck my stick on the wet pavement".

Simon: "I turned my collar to the cold and damp"

There's more too. During this night time walk, Hesse's character discovers a strange sign in the darkest of alleyways - a decidedly ELECTRIC SIGN... The NEON LIGHT in Simon's song - Only in the novel Hesse's sign says: "MAGIC THEATRE; ENTRANCE NOT FOR EVERYBODY; FOR MADMEN ONLY!"

Love the song. And rewarding to find the parallel in literature-- and probably just one of several books Simon's refers to in his NPR interview about this song.

The Lyrics:
"The Sound Of Silence"

Hello darkness, my old friend,
I've come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
'Neath the halo of a street lamp,
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence.

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening,
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence.

"Fools," said I, "You do not know.
Silence like a cancer grows.
Hear my words that I might teach you.
Take my arms that I might reach you."
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming.
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence."


There's an archived post from 2009, relating to Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel and their astrology here: Simon & Garfunkel - So Similar.

Simon & Garfunkel - So Similar

Art Garfunkel has stated that he and Paul Simon are planning to tour together again, though he didn't reveal in which countries, other than they will not be visiting England this time. (BBC NEWS).


The songs these artists have written and performed together are truly timeless classics. Great poetry, great melodies, simply and beautifully performed. I don't think they have ever been bettered, even by The Beatles. (And I shall not wash my mouth out!)

I'd never looked at their natal charts before, so -

Art Garfunkel born 5 November 1941 at 11pm, forest Hills, NewYork.
Paul Simon born 13 October 1941, Newark Heights, New Jersey.

There are subtle differences in how the planets relate to each other, because of degree variance, but on the whole the two charts are amazingly similar.

(Click on image to enlarge)



Here's a list of the planetary placements for easy reference:

Sun: Art 13 Scorpio Paul 19 Libra
Moon: Art 6 Gemini Paul 17 Cancer
Mercury: Art 26 Libra Paul 11 Scorpio
Venus: Art 29 Sagittarius Paul 2 Sagittarius
Mars: Art 11 Aries Paul 15 Aries
Jupiter: Art20 Gemini Paul21 Gemini
Saturn: Art 26 Taurus Paul 27 Taurus
Uranus: Art 28 Taurus Paul 27 Taurus
Neptune: Art 29 Virgo Paul 28 Virgo
Pluto: Art 5 Leo Paul 5 Leo
ASCENDANT: Art 13 Leo Paul 6 Virgo
MIDHEAVEN: Art 3 Taurus Paul 2 Gemini
(Paul's Uranus/Saturn is closer to Midheaven than Art's, (putting him rather more in front of the public ?)

Their elemental balances are quite similar: Paul has a little more Water, Art a little more Air, but it's a minimal difference.

Although their Suns are in neighbouring signs, note that Mercury in each case is in the other's Sun sign - which kind of balances the differences between Libra and Scorpio. Moons are one of two key differences - Simon's Moon in Cancer reflects a more sensitive nature than Garfunkel's Moon in mentally oriented Gemini - but even here there's a link because Simon's Cancer Moon trines Garfunkel's Sun in Scorpio (both are Water signs).

Their ascendants present the greatest potential for discord: a discerning Virgo rising in Paul Simon's chart and show-bizzy Leo in Garfunkel's. Judging from respective successes since their original breakup, I'd have guessed it would be the other way around, for Paul Simon has been seen on stage far more than Art Garfunkel, whose name has almost sunk into obscurity for the younger generations.

It's not surprising their charts are similar, they were born just 23 days apart, both in eastern states of the USA. Even so, there are more similarities than I'd have expected.

Numerous reports of disagreements between the pair have peppered entertainment columns over the years. It's possibly a case of their being just too similar for comfort. Perhaps the few differences there are between them take on extra importance due to rarity.

Conflicts were enough to cause discord in private life sufficient to merit break-up of the professional partnership.It was a great pity. Perhaps there's a lesson here: too many chart similarities between two people, in any type of relationship, is not necessarily a good thing. Complementary traits, and even opposing traits, could be more easily managed than a situation where each partner has an almost mirror image always beside them.

From the few videos left after the copyright purge on YouTube, here's an old clip from the duo's early days: a live performance of "The Sound of Silence". Simply presented, and all the more beautiful for it!