Peanut Butter and Jelly
So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright - Simon & Garfunkel (Blast from the Past Tuesday)
Last night I got home late from my job, and I made the decision to watch some TV before I went to bed. Normally I go for either the never-ending reruns of King of Queens or some Impractical Jokers, but I suddenly remembered that I had recorded Simon & Garfunkel’s infamous 1982 Central Park Concert a few days earlier. This was perfect, because not only do I love Paul & Art with all my heart, but their music is in prime “wind-down” territory. It’s a great set, filled with all their best songs, and they sound pretty darn great. Their stage presence, though, was what really caught my eye. Most noticeable in “Me & Julio Down by the Schoolyard”, it became apparent to me that the two of them are really bad at connecting with each other onstage. I’m sure part of this was due to the sheer amount of people there, but they spent much of their time staring straight ahead. In “Julio”, Art stares down Paul for almost the entire song, and yet Paul makes no effort to look back at him. It’s funny to watch stuff like that, because here’s two voices that meld together as well as peanut butter and jelly, and yet they can’t even make eye contact onstage. That’s what made my mind float to “So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright”, because its a song that really takes that relationship and makes it musical.
Bridge Over Troubled Water will always be one of my favorite albums, and much of that is due to the bittersweet “end” of Simon & Garfunkel that it portrayed. Nearly all the songs can be read as a goodbye from Paul to Art, though the latter claims not to have been able to catch onto that. “So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright” follows this pattern, as Garfunkel was an architectural major, and many of the lyrics are quite obviously about him and not the famed designer. Its a perfect track 5 out of 11, standing quietly strong just about halfway through. This song fascinated me from the beginning, mostly due to the gentle way it carries itself. It really makes their voices the star (as it should), keeping the instrumental minimalistic and calm. As I said earlier, what makes this song stick out is that they don’t harmonize once. Simon & Garfunkel split it down the middle, with the latter on the verses and the former on the chorus. It makes it sort of sad, what with the lyrics looking back on harmonizing and laughing, and yet the tune itself having none of that.
“So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright” is a very special song, one that is pure, heartfelt, and soft. I believe this is Simon & Garfunkel at their best, singing their goodbyes even though only one may have been aware of it. It’s always beautiful and precise, a song that I often stop and think of at odd times of the day or night. Leave it to Paul & Art to do that to ya!
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