Paul Simon

"Train in the Distance"-- Paul Simon (Hearts and Bones, 1983)

She was beautiful as southern skies

The night he met her

She was married to someone

He was doggedly determined that he would get her

He was old, he was young

From time to time he'd tip his heart

But each time she withdrew

Everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance

Everybody thinks its true

Well eventually the boy and the girl get married

Sure enough they have a son

And though they both were occupied

With the child she carried

Disagreements had begun

And in a while they fell apart

It wasn't hard to do

Everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance

Everybody thinks its true

Two disappointed believers

Two people playing the game

Negotiations and love songs

Are often mistaken for one and the same

Now the man and the woman
Remain in contact

Let us say its for the child

With disagreements about the meaning

Of a marriage contract

Conversations hard and wild

But from time to time

He makes her laugh

She cooks a meal or two

Everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance

Everybody thinks its true

Everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance

Everybody thinks its true

What is the point of this story?

What information pertains?

The thought that life could be better

Is woven indelibly

Into our hearts

And our brains

When I was a young girl, I learned to operate my Dad's somewhat involved stereo system at about 6 years of age. It wasn't long before I was designated the only person Dad would HAPPILY allow to use his equipment. Mom and Dad didn't have a huge record collection, Dad had far more open reel tapes. What albums they did have, my sisters and I would play incessantly. So it was, that I learned all the words to the songs on Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water album probably before I could say the entire pledge of allegiance. Paul Simon has been part of my life forever. In the mid 80's, just as I finished my B.S., he released Graceland which I now consider to be one of the very best pop albums of all time, right up there with Carole King's Tapestry.

What I love about Paul Simon most is his incredible lyrics. He is pure genius in his ability to create a moment, to really grasp the pure essence of it. The man knows the reality of adult love in its fullness, how human foibles change its nature. His music is solid, good quality pop. He's a skilled guitarist and his voice lives in my consciousness in the same way that James Taylor and Billy Joel do. Although I've loved Billy Joel very much, I don't find his subject matter to be as timeless as Simon or Taylor. I rarely play any of Joel's music with the exception of "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" or "Until the Night".

I've given a lot of thought to the origin of emotional power in this song. I find it to be somewhat mournful although the key isn't particularly blue. I think it also implies a lot of longing by virtue of the train-ish rhthym; no to mention the backing OOOOhs which create some tension. Next I think there are a couple of literary constructs that really deliver. First, the phrase "everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance, everybody thinks its true"---builds on the churning audio effect by introducing the kind of romance that running away on a train is associate with. And there's this idea that what will save you, be the answer to your happiness, is only as far away as that train---just inside earshot, but traveling somewhere---to you ? away from you? With your love or desired one on board?

And then there's what I think is a very provocative statement about negotiations and lovesongs being one and the same....there's really a lot to build on there and I really wish he'd have given us another stanza on it. Becuase its one of those one-liners from songs that I have always held on to and pondered. I just love it---we all do it really----"if you agree to love me, to be my only one, I'll.... "

Gosh. It makes for a good song doesn't it? Tell me you love it!