Take your time to treat your friends and neighbors honestly

March 18, 2018 5:07 AM

Simon & Garfunkel's fourth album, Bookends [YT playlist ~30m], was a descendant of their involvement with the film The Graduate and was also their their response to The Beatles' Sgt. Peppers Album. Side A: Bookends Theme, Save The Life Of My Child, America, Overs, Voices Of Old People, Old Friends/Bookends Theme

Side B: Fakin' It, Punky's Dilemma, Mrs. Robinson, A Hazy Shade Of Winter, At The Zoo

posted by hippybear (24 comments total)

Hadn't thought about this record in years. My childhood friend and musical mentor discovered this and played it relentlessly.

What beautiful and clear production. I see it's a very Wrecking Crew-ish album, too - Hal Blaine, Joe Osborne, etc. Simon kept his taste for using elite studio cats (Steve Gadd, Anthony Jackson, Richard Tee, etc) in the 70s.

I never really noticed how grim the lyrics to "Hazy Shade" are:

Time, time, time See what's become of me
While I looked around for my possibilities
I was so hard to please
But look around Leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter
Hear the Salvation Army band
Down by the riverside's
Bound to be a better ride
Than what you've got planned
Carry your cup in your hand
And look around you
Leaves are brown, now
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter
Hang on to your hopes, my friend
That's an easy thing to say
But if your hopes should pass away
Simply pretend That you can build them again
Look around
The grass is high
The fields are ripe
It's the springtime of my life
Seasons change with the scenery
Weaving time in a tapestry
Won't you stop and remember me
At any convenient time?
Funny how my memory skips
Looking over manuscripts
Of unpublished rhyme
Drinking my vodka and lime
I look around Leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter
Look around Leaves are brown
There's a patch of snow on the ground
Look around Leaves are brown
There's a patch of snow on the ground
posted by thelonius at 5:49 AM on March 18, 2018 [9 favorites]

Weird; I was stocking new bookshelves yesterday and "Old Friends" came into my head and stayed there all day. Why is Metafilter reading my brain?
posted by transient at 6:32 AM on March 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

"How terribly strange to be seventy ... "

Probably doesn't seem so strange any more.
posted by Modest House at 6:38 AM on March 18, 2018 [9 favorites]

Did a rewatch of The Graduate a few months ago and was struck all over again at how effective the use of S&G's music was in that film.
posted by octothorpe at 6:45 AM on March 18, 2018 [4 favorites]

Hearing America in grade school convinced my buddy and me that we needed to buy a VW Beetle and "look for America". Of course we never did. By the time we were old enough to drive the Gas Crisis was raging and the idea of crossing the country in car was a ludicrous and expensive fantasy.
posted by tommasz at 7:18 AM on March 18, 2018 [6 favorites]

First album I ever bought! I had some advice from siblings as it was either Bookends or something daft, likely some K-Tel thing. Anyways fantastic album!

We were wretched children, and one of us took an X-acto knife and carefully removed both Paul and Art's eyes, making the cover a helluva lot more sinister than the lovely music contained within.
posted by parki at 7:27 AM on March 18, 2018 [6 favorites]

This record came out at a time where my family had a brand new stereo and about four records. I absolutely memorized it. Still listen to it all the time.
posted by pasici at 8:01 AM on March 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

That America scene in Almost Famous tho, damn. <3
posted by clavicle at 8:11 AM on March 18, 2018 [3 favorites]

My now-80-year-old dad has always liked The Zoo, and the lyrics have stayed in my head ...

"Zebras are reactionaries
"Antelopes are missionaries
"Pigeons plot in secrecy
"And hamsters turn on frequently..."

Thanks for this one. :)
posted by virago at 9:20 AM on March 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

Hearing America in grade school convinced my buddy and me that we needed to buy a VW Beetle and "look for America".

my intro to America came via Yes's expanded and electrified version, which made we want to do all of the above, but in a much faster vehicle. Which I did eventually get to do, sort of. That is, I do recall hammering down the I-5 at almost 100 mph, listening to it ... a little high on LSD, I might add. That was then ...
posted by philip-random at 9:46 AM on March 18, 2018 [5 favorites]

Being a little high on LSD is like being a little bit pregnant.
posted by hippybear at 10:15 AM on March 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

No, man! Microdosing! It makes you more productive and, uh, a better driver
posted by thelonius at 10:22 AM on March 18, 2018 [3 favorites]

No, man! Microdosing! It makes you more productive and, uh, a better driver

my experience way back when I did such stuff was, I was either A. a far more conscious, cautious and committed driver while high, or B. I Would Not Drive.

your mileage may, of course, vary
posted by philip-random at 11:02 AM on March 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

The kids got no respect for the law today and blah blah blah
posted by hippybear at 12:48 PM on March 18, 2018 [5 favorites]

kicks just keep getting harder to find ...
posted by pyramid termite at 3:30 PM on March 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

From their previous album, “Richard Cory” really fits in 2018.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 3:36 PM on March 18, 2018 [3 favorites]

I think the Bangles' cover of Hazy Shade of Winter outshines the original.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:50 PM on March 18, 2018 [4 favorites]

I thought it was banal and workmanlike
posted by thelonius at 6:56 PM on March 18, 2018

I can't see this album cover without thinking of the K&D homage to it.
posted by sauril at 7:51 PM on March 18, 2018

Wish I was an English muffin, making the most out of a toaster.
posted by straight at 8:30 PM on March 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

I think the Bangles' cover of Hazy Shade of Winter outshines the original.

I think their version might be my favorite cover song ever.
posted by straight at 8:31 PM on March 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

I find listening to Hazy Shade Of Winter in context on the album is more powerful than a stand-alone single. It brings back around lyrical and musical themes from earlier and it takes on greater depth when it's part of the intended whole.
posted by hippybear at 9:18 PM on March 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

The Bangles "Hazy Shade" cover always struck me as the kind of music The Bangles would've made freed from the demands of a record label.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 9:02 AM on March 19, 2018

Voices of Old People – lyrics: “God forgive me, but an old person without money is pathetic.”
posted by cenoxo at 8:08 PM on March 19, 2018