Can You Feel The Love Tonight (from The Lion King)

"Can You Feel The Love Tonight" film clip

Thank God Disney figured out how to make their love songs not suck.

Sorry to be so crass, bur SERIOUSLY. One of my favorite films of all time is Disney’s animated versions of Robin Hood. That film is hilarious, and has fantastic music, EXCEPT for the love song “Love,” which features Robin Hood and Maid Marian running around the forest and gazing into each others eyes in an ever so nauseating fashion. I mean, this thing is painful. I clearly remember every single time we got to this part of the film, my brother and I would frantically leap for the remote control to fast-forward through this section.

Now with the new Disney animated film renaissance that started with the The Little Mermaid (which I discussed in this earlier post) Disney made a lot of improvements in their craft and what they did to their love songs was make them interesting, unique, and emotionally meaningful as opposed to the trite statements of romantic love.

Howard Ashman and Alan Menken created the music for The Little Mermaid. These two composers had such a great success that they continued their partnership with Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. These three films had some of the best film music ever composed, songs that were both witty and touching and were critical parts of the story telling adding insight, depth and character. Then Howard Ashman died of AIDs in 1991 at the age of 40.

Riding this wave of animated film success and facing the death of one of their important artist, Disney took some big changes. They decided for the next animated film to create an original story as opposed to basing the film on a pre-existing fairy tale and trusted the music, one of the most important aspects of their success to Tim Rice and Elton John.

Tim Rice made his mark working with Andrew Llyod Webber on such musicals as Evita and Cats. His first work doing film musicals was finishing up the lyrics for Aladdin after Ashman had died, but taking on a whole film full of songs was a much larger undertaking.

Disney had previously featured pop singers like Billy Joel in the Oliver & Company song “Why Should I Worry.” However, Disney had never trusted a pop artists to compose the songs for one of their films.

Elton John in 1994 far from the peak of his career. In 1990, he checked into hospital for health issues due to his drug abuse, alcoholism, and bulimia (not exactly the image Disney likes to associate with). Of the four albums that were from 1990-1993, two were made up of previously recorded material, and the other two albums The One and Duets, though moderate successes, were a shadow of the pop masterpieces Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.

It didn’t help either that Elton John had never composed music for a musical before The Lion King.

Despite all of this, The Lion King came together as one of Disney's greatest accomplishments. When it was released in 1994, it became the highest grossing film of the year and the most successful animated feature film until the release of Finding Nemo in 2003. Elton John and Tim Rice were nominated for four Oscars for the film and won for “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.” If you are one of the two people on this planet who haven’t seen The Lion King, go watch it, I promise you’ll love it.

“Can You Feel The Love” takes the best of Disney traditions while innovating the Disney love song. The composers approached the background music like Disney composers always had utilizing the music to support the meaning of the words. When Timon reaches the line, “our trios down to two” in the introduction, the music falls flat onto a staccato chord. After "twilight," there’s a ascending sparkle and after “there’s magic everywhere” there is a harp flourish. At the end of this section, under the line “romantic atmosphere,” the music rushes up like with a ocean wave. Composers have utilized this technique of putting meaning in the background music throughout classical music displaying a high level of creative artistry.

“Can You Feel The Love Tonight” could have been a straightforward love song describing how these two lions are falling in love, instead the composers took a different path developed the characters by expressing their viewpoints.

Timon and Pumbaa bookend the song with feelings of loss which is not the usually response from Disney supporting characters. Most of the time, supporting characters are elated at the prospect of their friend falling in love like in "Beauty & The Beast." This is a great comedic moment that does ring true as most people have to learn how to share their friends when buddies find significant others.

The chorus asks if questions the listener the question “can you feel the love tonight?” While this questions is in our mind, we hear Simba’s insecure thoughts about Nala’s acceptance and Nala’s questioning of Simba’s life choices. Do we really feel the love when they are thinking about these things? If we take the lyrics outside of the context of the song we see that don't express love love but are seeds of conflict which foreshadow later scenes in the film.

What is special about this song is that despite the inner dialogue we feel the love between the Nala and Simba. There is a glorious moment when they share their love and the background choir comes forward and the instrument drop out (1:45). What this moment describes to us is that despite unresolved conflict they can feel love and so can we.

There is this idea that falling in love with someone is finding someone you completely agree with and always get along with. That’s simply not the case and if you are looking for this kind of love, then you might as well give up, because you will never find that. “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” gives a more realistic viewpoint of the complexities of love without diminishing the magic that can exist between two people who love each other. It’s a beautiful statement about relationships and most definitely does not suck.

Buddy Holly by Weezer

“Buddy Holly” music video

“Buddy Holly” live performance

When “Buddy Holly” was released in 1994 a combination of grunge music, corporate pop and gangster rap ruled MTV and the radio stations and for a 7th grade at Islander Middle School it was all a lot to take in.

I grew up on Mercer Island which is a suburb of Seattle. It’s a mostly upper-class city with a combination of gated communities and retirement homes. It’s also the home of the first drive through Starbucks (which was the central hangout spot). Instead of a junior high in my district, there was elementary schools for grades 1-5, a middle school for grades 6-8.

Like most middle school students, I struggled to find define my social identity. I wasn’t going to do the grunge thing. I didn’t really fit in the Gap crowd, which was more of preppy thing then it is now. I didn't really find a place to fit in. I did have couple people I talked to in class but in general. . .yeah, that was my awkward stage (which lasted for about another 10 years. . . j/k . . kind of).

I knew I didn’t like grunge music. Grunge music just seemed like a mess. It didn’t make sense to my ears and I couldn’t really relate to the pessimism and anger in the music. Since then, I’ve come to understand the subtleties and craft in artists like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, and there’s nothing like high school to make teenage angst actually make sense.

When I first saw the video for “Buddy Holly” on MTV my first thought was to turn away to the safe haven of VH1 (which at that time was an adult contemporary channel as opposed to the Celebreality channel it has turned into). The opening of the song sounded like a grunge sound with distorted chords moving in parallel motion between the chords (going from chords that are right next to each other like C chord to the D chord as opposed to a C chord to a G chord). A pretty angry sounding melody, and then “woohoo." It was with this exclamation that Weezer hooked me.

What Weezer did in “Buddy Holly” is bring together different layers of popular culture uniquely reflecting both the past and present in American becoming the future of modern pop music. Weezer started with what was happening around them taking the sound of grunge music and combining them with lyrics borrowed from the gangster rap. This reflected not only the gangster rap vernacular but the weird phenomenon people living in the suburbs hopelessly attempting to utilize gangster rap slang in their everyday speech.

Weezer references every decade in this song since the 1950s. Buddy Holly is one of the fathers of rock & roll who gained prominence before his death in 1959s. The “woo-ee-oo” and the “woo-hoo” hearkens all the way back to the doo-wop era of the early 1960s. Mary Tyler Moore is one of the most important woman in television history who started in The Mary Tyler Moore Show from 1970-1977. Then there’s the distorted guitar lines used in the transitions, which are a throw-back to 1980s synthesized rock.

The inclusion of these many facets of culture makes “Buddy Holly” both an retrospective and interesting representation of American culture but its joyous and devotional message is what makes it meaningful.

The feel of the chorus is reminiscent of a 1960s pop song but instead of playing around with the an idealized vision of love, Rivers talks about love in a more realistic way. “Buddy Holly” describes a relationship that lead singer Rivers Cuomo had with an Asian girl, “your tongue is twisted, your eyes are slit.” Rivers’ friends frequently made fun of her and this song is a statement of support. During the song Rivers states how they belong to each other and how he doesn’t care about what other people say which is bittersweet as he is being supportive in the face of difficult situation.

“Buddy Holly” explored the expressive possibilities of grunge music. There is a wide array of possibilities in all kinds of music and Weezer’s creation of a song which they initially thought sounded “cheesy” opened up my ears acting as a gateway to a whole new world of music.

What is most important to me about “Buddy Holly” is that through its video and widespread acceptance that I could like a certain kind of music and well, not have to dress a certain way. By appealing across genres, Weezer showed that music was not so much about the way people dressed or even the way they acted but the music itself. "Buddy Holly" showed me that it was okay for a this suburban bred Asian kid to rock out to whatever he wanted to and for a 12 year old that means the world.

Mr. Bojangles by Sammy Davis Jr.

“Mr. Bojangles” live performance

I love talking to older people about music, people in their 60s and up. I find it interesting to hear about how they experience music what it meant to them when they were younger and what it means to them now. Usually when the topic of current music comes up, I hear a lot of complaining about the way the music sounds and the musicians themselves. This rant often concludes with: “music was real in my day, and music is just noise right now and the musicians are not as talented as they used to be.”

For the most part, I disagree respectfully and cite music and artists who are producing music now who I feel are at the same level of the music that the love. However, once in a while someone will talk about an artist like Sammy Davis Jr. and talk about how there simply isn’t any artists around now who are as great an entertainer as he was, and part of me agrees.

Sammy Davis Jr. could do it all. He was a fantastic actor, a genius at impressions, a virtuosic tap dancer, a great singer and if that wasn’t enough he was also an unbelievable fast draw artist. I guess it helped that his father was in show business and Sammy started going on tour with his dad’s vaudeville act when he was three years old and started performing soon after.

Davis’ biggest musical hit was “Candy Man” from the film Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. This is a fun songs but what many people think of when they reminisce about Davis is a song that is closer not only to his own heart but his life experience “Mr. Bojangles.”

Bill “Bojangles” Robinson one of the most important song and dance men of the 1930s and 1940s. He is most famous for appearing with Shirley Temple movies like The Little Colonel. He was an amazing pop culture personality who revolutionized dancing and the way that Americans viewed African Americans in popular culture. However, the song “Mr. Bojangles” is not about the famous actor and dancer.

Jerry Walker composed “Mr. Bojangles” in 1968 after encountering an incarcerated street performer in a New Orleans Jail. After a murder in 1965, the police arrested all of the people in the area and Walker was put in a crowded cell where he met an old man who began telling him stories about his life. Others who became annoyed at his stories asked him to lighten up the mood, so the old man began to tap dance. The policeman had given nicknames to the people in the cell to help identify them and after the dancing display, this old man got the nickname “Mr. Bojangles.”

The lyrics in "Mr. Bojangles" are straightforward describing the man, and meeting him in New Orleans. This man started out his life dancing in minstrel shows and now dances in honky tonks spending most of his time in jail. The one glory, the light in this mans existence is his dancing. The narrator marvels how “he jumped so high, then he lightly touched down” and effortlessly clicked his heels.

The chorus beckons “Mr. Bojangles” to dance. This request comes as the other cell mates who are bored but reaches another level throughout the song. By performing we see an old drunk, tired man come to life and by asking him to dance, it is rejuvenating Mr. Bojangles himself reminding him of his own glory days.

Sammy Davis Jr. started out doing minstrel shows and had his share of struggles. There was his drugs addiction, family issues, and racism, which he fought against his entire life. For example performing in the Las Vegas with the Rat Pack, he couldn’t stay in the hotels that he was performing in and didn’t have a dressing room. He was forced wait in-between acts by the pool poolside while his friends would be backstage.

When we hear Davis sing “Mr. Bojangles” it’s almost like he is singing about himself. There is deep sense of authenticity in his singing that comes only from a life lived on the stage and the road.

Watching Sammy Davis Jr. perform “Mr. Bojangles,” is an amazing experience. Yes, first off you need to get over the brown jump suit that is just a little bit too tight (it was the 1970s people, let’s move on). Everything he does is effortless and seems completely natural. However, all that he does including the way he colors each note, the way he stands, the exact motion that he flips the hat on his head is calculated and rehearsed. All of this contributes results in an organic and beautiful performance.

My favorite part of the performance is when Davis clicks his heels (around 2 minutes) with a graceful leap in the air that seems to come out of nowhere. What makes this moment even more amazing is how right after the leap he starts singing as if the leap was nothing.

When Davis asks at the end of the song “why can’t you come back and dance?” I find myself wanting to ask Sammy Davis Jr. himself that question. I know the answer, but still can’t help but wonder what it would have been like to see him jump so high and lightly touch down.

Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) by Looking Glass

“Brandy” music video

“Brandy” live performance by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

On my brother’s wedding day, all of the bridal party was preparing at my parents house. While the bridesmaids were getting ready, me and the other groomsmen had some time to kill. So I found a popular music fake book and started playing songs on the piano. One of the other groomsmen started looking through the book and of got really excited when he found “Brandy” by Looking Glass. I started playing the song on the piano and we enthusiastically rocked out to “Brandy.”

If it’s hard to imagine a bunch of guys who are almost thirty years old rocking out to a song that was released in 1972, then maybe this will help. This is a live performance of “Brandy” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Look at how happy they look. There's flea joyously jumping up and down while playing bass, Chad Smith drumming away with a huge smile, and John Fruciante on guitar blissfully strumming away. It's hard to watch this performance and not smile

“Brandy” tells the story of a girl who works in a bar in a harbor town. She serves “whiskey and wine” to tired sailors as they talk about their homes. The sailors say: “Brandy you’re a fine girl, what a good wife you would be, yeah your eyes could steal a sailor from the sea.”

Amongst the sailors that flirt with Brandy, there is one who has stole her heart. She wears a locket that bears the name of a man who came on one summer’s day, but “he made it clear that he couldn’t stay.” This sailor has a slightly different message for brandy: “Brandy you’re a fine girl, what a good wife you would be, but my life, my love and my lady is the seas.”

The song goes on to tell the how Brandy used to listen to the sailor’s stories. She could “feel the ocean fall and rise, she saw it’s raging glory.” Yeah, “raging glory” go ahead ponder that one for a little bit. The narrator reiterates that the sailor never gave any illusions about his commitment to Brandy and she does the best she can to understand why she is alone.

At it's heart of this song is a sad story. It’s about a girl who has ended up in a harbor town and spends time serving people at the bar. There is a sense of being social with these men but these relationships for the most part are not truly friendships. It’s simply part of her job.

When Brandy finally finds a man who brings her gifts and seems to care about her, she falls in love with him despite the fact that he had made it clear that he has no intention to stay. There is a hope against circumstance in her mind that he will come back and stay with her her.

It seems that Brandy should move on but in a dead end town and in a dead end job, it’s all that Brandy has to hope for. I imagine that even though Brandy is not a remarkably intelligent girl, she has with a big heart. It is because of this that despite her situation she endears herself to the listener.

The song rises and falls like the sea itself building up to the “doodoo Doodoodoo Doo doo doo Doo Doo.” Each verse starts calmer and builds to the last line of the chorus. The strings and especially the brass lines add not only harmony but also counter-melodies to the song. The brass instruments play different material in each verse and each chorus providing everything from a calm undercurrent in the second verse (“he came on a summer day”) to the rising waves in the bridge.

Looking Glass had some difficulty with the success of “Brandy” which reached number on the charts. “Brandy” and its mellow rock sound was not indicative of most of their music which had a harder rock edge to it. People came to their concerts to hear “Brandy” and music like it and often left disappointed. This is a common for rock bands to have their biggest hit be a more pop orientated song (i.e. Aerosmith’s only number one single was “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” composed and recorded for the film Armageddon).

I understand how this could be frustrating for Looking Glass, but what they created has endured. “Brandy” is often put labeled a “one-hit wonder” which is a title that carries both a sense of mockery and failure with it. Mockery in the fact that people wonder how it could have possibly became a hit and failure looking down on the artists’ lack of ability to have another hit.

I view it differently. For every one-hit wonder there are countless other artist who never even have that one hit. Yes, some one-hit wonders are not good and are products of over-promotion and cultural brain-farts but “Brandy” is more than that. This song holds an appeal that goes beyond camp and mockery but to a genuine level of enjoyment.

"Brandy" is a song that simply feels good and sometimes that is all that matters.
I may not remember the first time I listened to “Brandy” but I don’t ever want to forget singing this song with those groomsmen on that sunny afternoon.

doodoo Doodoodoo Doo doo doo Doo! Doo!

Octopus’s Garden by the Beatles

"Octopus's Garden" album version
"Octopus's Garden" live performance

Ringo Starr has spent his life first as a member of the Beatles and now as a solo artist sharing joy and happiness through his music. He was the last of the four Beatles to join the group before they made their meteoric rise to worldwide super-stardom. As the drummer of the Beatles he contributed to almost all of the songs musically but was the least prolific song-writer and vocalist in the group.

On all of the Beatles albums, Ringo sang at least one song, which Lennon and McCartney composed for Ringo. The most famous of these songs is “Yellow Submarine.” This gave Ringo a voice in the group but these songs were more often not as popular as the other songs on the albums and were not released as singles. So it was understandable that Ringo, who at one time was the leader of his own band, became frustrated with being in the shadow of the other three Beatles.

Ringo felt he had enough during the sessions for The White Album and left the group for two weeks in 1968. During this time, he took his family on a vacation, which included a boat ride with his family. On this boat ride he had a conversation with the boat’s captain that inspired on one of the Beatles most enduring songs.

“We were talking about octopus and he was actually telling me that they build these gardens. Octopuses go around the seabed find shiny things, nice stones and they put them around and I just thought, ‘this was the happiest thing I’ve heard.’”

Ringo took the happiness that he felt in the idea of an octopus’s garden and transformed it into a song. There is joy in the inspiration of the song matches the mood it which it was created as can be seen in this clip showing Ringo working on “Octopus’s Garden” with George Harrison.

Watching the look on George and Ringo’s face, there is a sense of pride and pure joy coming from the magic of musical creation when Ringo starts playing chords on the piano. It is interesting to see George suggest some different chords to bring the song out of the chorus, which shows George’s amazing musical intuition. When they start it again after working at some chords from the beginning of the song (at 1:40), their producer George Martin comes into listen (he is on the top left corner) and starts adding back-up vocals, fascinated by what is watching. John and Yoko walk in and John adds some playful percussion while leisurely lighting a cigarette.

“Octopus’s Garden” is a description of a fantasy world. The lines in the song speak to basic needs that we all have to feel safe and at home. The octopus “knows where we’ve been,” and the garden is warm and restful. It’s a place where we feel free to sing, dance, shout and swim about. Most of all Ringo is singing about a place that we can be happy and safe, and really, that is all that we really want in our lives after facing the storms of the day.

Ringo speaks from the first person using the inclusive “we” to describe how great the garden is, “we would be warm . . we would sing and dance.” This is not an experience for Ringo alone but for us all to share. After describing how the garden, Ringo ends the songs with “I want to be under the sea in an octopus’s garden with you.” With this one line, we realize that Ringo does not want the octopus’s garden for himself but as something that he can share with us.

There is something different in Ringo’s voice. It’s not just the fact that he has a lower baritone voice while the other three Beatles had higher tenor voices. Ringo’s voice is not as resonant or bright as Paul’s voice but it has a familiarity to it. In some ways, his singing is closer to speaking. Ringo reminds me of a children song singer who focuses more on the character in their voice than the vocal beauty and it is Ringo’s character that makes this song feel some warm.

Adult logic tells us that we can’t live under the sea, and that an octopus’s garden would probably be a horrible place to live, but even though the literal meaning of the song is child-like and fantastic, the song’s heart is true. We all yearn for the place that Ringo is singing about and we all, hopefully have an “octopus’s garden” in our lives. It can be in our apartment, our car, or the arms of a loved one. What I love about this song is that for me “Octopus’s Garden” is exactly what it sings about: a song that takes me to place inside of myself where I am happy and safe.

Chicken Fried Bacon (no it's not a song, it's food)

I know that this blog is all about music, its meaning and BLAH blah blah, blah, BLAH blah blah. However a couple days ago I ate chicken fried bacon, and I have got to share.

Here's the deal, a couple months ago I came across this clip on youtube.com about this restaurant in Texas that sells country fried bacon. The owner's logic is, "A lot them [Americans] chose to eat bacon strips, so what can you do? Y'know, what IS good for you? It's your own body that can tell what's good for you."

C'mon people it's 2009, I do hope when people hear my mom's joke about bacon grease lubricating the arteries so blood can move faster that they know it's a joke.

I e-mailed the clip to some of my friends, we made some jokes and in the back of my mind I figured that maybe one of these days I would actually try deep fried bacon.

I love food. I love everything about food. When I was younger, I cooked with my mom all of the time and would watching cooking shows with her. Between my wife and I, I do most of the cooking not by obligation but by choice, because I love cooking. I think of food as art. Sometimes I'm in the mood for a tasting menu at a place like Charlie Trotters (which I ate at once, which honestly was one most transcendent artistic experiences in my life) and other times, like my need to watch an action film, I grab a hot dog at the best hot dog place in Chicago Poochie's (char-dog with everything but relish).

There's a hot dog place by the grocery store that my wife and I go to called Wiener and Still Champion and a couple weeks ago I decided to try one of their hot dogs. It was ok, but not the best I've had (I've been to very a dozen different hot dog places in the Chicago area). As I paid I noticed hanging above the register a sign advertising chicken fried bacon.

So at my birthday party last week, I was talking to one of my friends Sara and she was mourning the fact that she hadn't gotten a chance to try chicken fried bacon on her last trip to Texas. I enthusiastically chimed in that I had found a place in Evasnton (where we live) that did in fact sell this dish and we enthusiastically set up an outing to go eat some deep friend bacon.

On a cold and rainy Tuesday afternoon, we drove to Wiener and Still Champion.

Sara and I were the only customer in the restaurant which made sense seeing how it was around 4 pm but it was still a little unnerving. We got an order of chicken fried bacon and a corn dog. After a couple minutes later our order was ready and here was the bacon.

The bacon came with two dipping sauces, a hot sauce and what we thought was tater sauce which was later reveled by the owner as a "garlic aioli" (aioli is a rich sauce of crushed garlic, egg yolks, lemon juice, and olive oil). The batter was peppery and crispy and went well with both sauces. The bacon itself were large thick strips.

There was one major problem, the bacon itself was cooked, but soggy, not crispy or slightly chewy which is my preference. This problem lies in the concept of this dish. The reason why many people agree that the best way to cook chicken is to fry it is because the batter seals in the meat and basically steams the meat at a high temperature in it own juices locking in the flavor. The meat inside a expertly cooked piece of fried chicken truly is amazing. Frying chicken solves the problem of other preparation of chicken (especially involving chicken breast meat) which leave the meat dry and tasteless.

Does anyone really want to seal in the juices of bacon?

When we cook bacon what we are doing is drawing out the fat and grease to concentrate the flavor of the meat in turn changing the rubbery texture of the meat to a more appealing firmness. Frying bacon does the same thing to the meat that frying chicken does, leaving the meat itself juicy and soft. While that sounds great for chicken the idea of a soft and juicy piece of bacon is pretty revolting.

Sara and I ate most of order of bacon and I ate the corn dog, which was probably the best corn dog I've ever had (if you're into corn dogs you've got to check this place out). We didn't feel gross, but we didn't feel great either. The conclusion was that sharing an order was a good idea because eating a whole order by oneself is probably a feeling close to death.

I can now say that I've eaten chicken fried bacon. Do I regret it? No. Will I ever eat chicken friend bacon ever again? No. Is this something that you need to try? Not really.

In reaction to the health food craze, some people do things like deep fry bacon which is a fundamentally flawed dish. If you love a dish for its flavor and texture, I say enjoy it, embrace it, even if it is on the fatty side. But eating food that is conceptually flawed for the sake of being unhealthy is just silly. That's not loving food. That is making a mockery of the art of cuisine.

Now it's time for me to go exercise and even though I'll eventually burn off the calories from my adventure, I don't think I can ever burn away the memory of crispy, greasy, rubbery and chewy experience that is chicken friend bacon.

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.