My fav singer is Paul Simon. He's the ultimate. I've fallen in love with him ever since I started listening to his 'Negotiations and Lovesongs' album back when I was all of 16 years old.
Yes, i have my brother to thank for my music influences... that CD was his... one of the few that i borrowed from him. Haha... talking about how he influenced me... i still remember the first CD i bot was recommended by him too! I asked for something 'nice and relaxing' and he told me that I should get 'a touch of David Foster' and I still have it.. it's a lovely CD.
Another CD he recommended me was Ladysmith Black Mambazo's 'Shaka Zulu'... it was pretty awesome too... when I watched 'Mean Girls' last year, I heard the name 'Ladysmith Black Mambazo' mentioned for the first time in a movie; apparently the protagonist used to be crazy about Ladysmith until she became too 'cool' for it.
Anyway, back to Paul Simon, two years ago my brother, Bertrand and me actually went to catch Paul Simon in concert together in Fort Lauderdale, Florida! What a trip! I got to see Ernest's Hemmingway's home.. did you know that he has sixty or so cats in his home? And they are all named after famous figures.. i think i might have gotten to stroke Roosevelt and Marlilyn when I was there. Some of them have six toes... it a hereditary thing coz' the cats interbreed. But they're all nice and sleek. (sleek in the biblical way - as in fat) mmm... sweet.
I digress. The concert was bittersweet: lovely to catch Simon and Garfunkel in concert finally...lovely to see them playin together after all these years....
But it was sad you know, seeing Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel so old... ole Paul looked sad and jaded.. i know that when i heard him sing 'leaves that are green' when it came to the line, 'and the leaves that are green turn to brown' I looked closely at his face on the screen.. and i saw a jadedness... a sadness. And i felt sad down to my bottom of my soulful pits.
Did you know he used to be married to Carrie Fischer ?(Princess Leila in the original Starwars) Ok, i know this is random, but i read this article on Carrie Fischer once about her bi-polarity and her relationship with Paul Simon and she made this comment about Paul Simon: that its hard to appreciate the songs when you feel that they are 'engineered against you.' Ahh... the travails of being married to songwriter! But I don't blame her.. i think if I was married to Paul Simon and we were going through tough times...i might intrepret the lyrics in 'Tenderness' thus:
What can I do
What can I do
much of what you say is true
I know you see through me
but there's no tenderness
beneath your honesty
Right and wrong;
Ooh, never helped us get along
You say you care for me
But there's no tenderness
Beneath your honesty
But then again, i might listen to some of his other songs and be reminded of happy times .. like with 'something so right':
You've got the cool water
When the fever runs high
You've got the look of lovelight in your eyes
And I was in crazy motion
'til you calmed me down
It took a little time
But you calmed me down
... but you know... life can be up or down depending on how you look at it. Like with most things.
Paul Simon.
I think about the future sometimes. He was big in my parents generation. But they were never into him. I wonder what it will be like when he dies. When the leaves that are green turn to brown. I wonder.
Pastor Rennis once used his song 'Slip slidin' away' as a starting point for his sermon. I remember sitting there in the congregation...the lyrics to the song just washing over me:
slip slidin' away
slip slidin' away
you know the nearer your destination
the more you're slip slidin' away
.... the one verse that struck me the hardest was this one:
I know a father who had a son
He longed to tell him all the reasons for the things he'd done
He came a long way
just to explain
He kissed his boy as he lay sleeping
Then he turned around and headed home again
I just had this mental picture (and still do) of a father creeping into the room to dark room, his young son sleeping by the bed ... dreaming by the moonlit window. And the dad taking a while to have a good look at his son. Just pausing...looking at him breathing in and out, yearning to hold him, embrace him and tell him why. But he cannot. And he parts with a tender kiss. A tender tender kiss.... before he leaves for the long drive back.
I guess the main reason why I love Paul Simon is coz' his lyrics are so true. And so beautiful. There's a truth that resonates with the heart and mind when you listen to it. It's a truth that sad, yet beautiful at the same time because it captures the essence of being human so succinctly.
I hope he gets to go to heaven. Just like I hope my Uncle Kheeyong gets to go to heaven too. Just like I hope all these other friends I have... like Natascha, Micha, Fanny, Satomi, Praptee, Mae, Ced, Dave, Fenja, Brian, DC, Alastair, Bev ....all you people out there whom i've ever tried asking to church or talking to about God. You know who you are. I love ya' and i just hope that we get to see each other again when we leave this earth.
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