Graceland by Paul Simon

"Graceland" live performance in Zaimbabwe
"Graceland" live performance with Willie Nelson

People often say that life is a journey. We travel through the events in our life like a car on a road trip, sometimes stopping, often hitting bumps in the road but always better for the experience and stronger because of the bumps (or is it humps?).

It is interesting to think of life as a journey since most of our lives consist of journeys that we take every day. They can be as elaborate as a vacation to Tahiti or as simple as a visit to the grocery store. People undertake these journeys for a variety of reasons, at times it’s for fun and other times it’s just another chore. However, sometimes there is something deeper involved.

Paul Simon recorded most of his album Graceland in South Africa melding African folk and popular music into his music creating a unique and refreshing fusion of art. Simon felt it strange to name an album focused on his experience in South Africa after an American cultural monument but he eventually embraced the title track of the album. Many critics and fans consider Graceland one of Simon’s greatest albums and the title track one of his finest songs.

“Graceland” isn’t a song that tells you how to feel. Instead of painting with broad strokes of human feelings like happiness or sadness, Simon mixes the more obvious colors of emotion like an abstract painting inviting us to contemplate and reflect the shades between the colors.

Simon begins the song describing the drive to Graceland, Elvis Presley’s Memphis home. When looking out the window of a moving car the images of the world take on motion and depth. As they move past our eyes they almost becomes a blur of color and light which the percussion and guitars paint as we hear Simon contemplate his journey to Graceland.

In the chorus, Simon describes Graceland as a religious experience. The visitors are “poorboys and pilgrims” and end this section stating, “I’ve reason to be believe we both will be received in Graceland.” Calling the visitors “pilgrims’ implies the idea of a religious pilgrimage to the holy land Jerusalem. Though it may be sacrilegious to think of visiting the home of a long dead rock singer as being a religious experience, for many people it approaches that level of importance.

Simon’s statement that he has reason that he will be “received” in Graceland brings to mind the idea of being “received in Heaven.” The belief of Graceland as being a place that accepts and welcomes journeymen is in stark contrast of the rejection that Simon goes on to describe in this song.

She comes back to tell me she's gone,
As if I didn't know that
As if I didn't know my own bed,
As if I'd never noticed,
The way she brushed her hair from her forehead,
And she said losing love
Is like a window in your heart,
Everybody sees you're blown apart,
Everybody sees the wind blow.

There is pain in this rejection. He feels that she tells him something in a way that does not acknowledge his involved in the relationship and how much he really cared for her, “as if I’d never noticed, the way she brushed her hair from her forehead.” The description of losing love as being something that you cannot hide, something that everybody sees is not so much about the reality of the situation but how one feels after being rejected. People feel open and torn apart when they are hurt. It’s like the whole world is involved in witnessing the rejection and pain involved. It hurts so much how can other people not notice? In some ways we want people to notice our pain but the reality of the fact is that most people do not see what we are feeling as we cannot really see the wind blow.

As Simon journeys to Graceland, he struggles with the reality of his situation. In the end of the song, he makes a statement explaining his understanding of what this journey means.

And I maybe obliged to defend every love every ending
Or maybe there's no obligations now, maybe I've a reason to believe
We all will be received in Graceland

We are obliged to do only what we chose to feel obliged to do. Obligation is not a fact but a feeling. If Simon believes that he is obligated to defend himself, then Graceland is truly a place of salvation where Simon will be received regardless of sin. At the same time if he has no obligations, he is free to go on the journey and be accepted as free man. It is embracing this lack of understanding and ambiguity Simon is speaking to all of us who through life are never truly sure of how to deal with our past and what the destination of our journeys truly mean.

One of these days, I will visit Graceland. I don’t know exactly why I want to go there, I just know that it’s important. I feel drawn to the legend of Elvis. I want to experience the south and live through the history of the land. I want to feel excitement of a journey who’s conclusion is uncertain to a place that I do have reason to believe I will be received.