This is a love song of the "I can't believe how lucky I am that an angel like you is with a mess like me" variety.
In the first verse, the speaker explains he is a mess because he is frantic with a "fever"-ish panic, and she douses that with "cool water." In case that isn't clear, he repeats that he was "in a crazy motion" and that she "calmed [him] down."
In the second verse, the speaker is a mess because he is emotionally closed off. While the speaker of "I Am a Rock" says: "I build walls deep and mighty/ That none may penetrate," that seems small next to the wall this speaker builds, which is "a thousand miles long" (the Great Wall of China is about 4,000 miles long, incidentally). Yet, she was able overcome these formidable defenses and "to get next to" him.
In the bridge, he talks about how "some people" can't bring themselves to say "I love you," let "long" to "be told" exactly that. Hmmm, who might one of those hypothetical "people" be? This is yet another way he is a mess.
The chorus adds a fourth: "When something goes wrong/ I'm the first to admit it." This certainly means he is willing to admit that something is awry or amiss. But while it doesn't say he also accepts responsibility for the problem, it sort of implies that he does.
Meanwhile, "When something goes right," he is so pessimistic that he he can't believe or accept that it did happen: "It's apt to confuse me/It's such an unusual sight."
He is so used to things going wrong, he "can't get used to something so right." He is so accustomed to disappointment that he can't acknowledge that something good has happened to him, and he can't trust that it will last.
So here we have an anxious, introverted, undemonstrative person with a tendency toward doubt... and self-doubt. No one can say this person is not self-aware-- even a bit self-critical.
Yet, this amazing woman felt he was still worth it, and stuck with him until he was able to trust and appreciate her. With this song, he thanks her and expresses his astonishment that she is with him at all, let alone still with him.
This song is the inverse of a song like "My Funny Valentine," in which the woman says what's wrong with the man, yet she still loves him. This might be his response, in which he says, "Me? You want me? My mouth is a little weak and my figure is less than Greek! You... sure? Wow! That's great!"
Musical note: A previous incarnation of this song is called "Let Me Live in Your City." The verses are the same, but the choruses, which have the same melody of the final version, have these lyrics:
"Let me live in your city
The river’s so pretty, the air is so fine
Let me room where I can lay over
I’m just a traveler eating up travelin’ time
I’m just a traveler eating up
My travelin’ time."
IMPACT: The song went to #7 on the UK charts. It is very popular among female singers. British songstress Annie Lennox covered it on her Medusa album. It was also covered by songbirds Barbra Streisand, Simon collaborator Phoebe Snow, and country singer Trisha Yearwood. Someone tell Adele.
Next Song: One Man's Ceiling is Another Man's Floor
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The sexual undertone of that first verse strikes me as oddly dissonant with the understated, easy-listening vibe of the music. Is it just me?
ReplyDeleteWell, there is an obvious fire/sex metaphor that runs through all of music and poetry. But why would he sing a love song to someone who puts out his amorous "fever"? Why not turn to Peggy Lee, who likes being in such a "fever"?
ReplyDeleteI think, maybe, for once, a song is talking about feverish panic or stress. The parallel (in structure) lines "I was in a crazy motion/ 'Til you calmed me down" express the idea of liking someone calm his nerves. In "One Trick Pony," Simon also talks about a "herky-jerky motion" defining how he runs his life, especially when not in a relationship, where he finds order... and comfort.
Personally, I think it's important to distinguish between fever and fervor. Whilst fervor is described as an intense, burning passion, fever seems to lend itself to a feeling of discomfort. A rag soaked in cool water is often a compress used to suppress discomfort of the same nature. I think the song's original lyrics not only flow better, but also lend themselves better to this idea of being a traveller, who after many years of "flying and tumbling in turmoil" to finally stop and have a city in which he will be at peace. The original chorus provides a more abstract, but at the same time more powerful image of the same idea: that barriers between people must be torn down before they can find true peace and allow each other to be a part of one another's lives.
DeleteThe Paul Simon Thing-- I am not sure where "fervor" entered into things; is that part of the original lyric? I wrote this post back in 2011.
ReplyDeleteI think these are ultimately two different songs, about the same idea-- setting aside differences to form a bond-- but on a different scale. One is global, like the song "Imagine" about people worldwide and in general. The other is about just two people trying to form a relationship despite their flaws and defenses. Both kinds of reconciliation are needed, and so neither song is really "better"... any more that a global song like "All You Need is Love" is "better" than "We Can Work It Out."
I would only argue that the song is better in my own personal opinion. I can't tell another person what to think, but only provide my own interpretation of the two different works as they are presented. I personally believe that the idea of living in another's city is one that's much more personal and speaks to the heart in a way that words cannot. The point I made concerning fever v. fervor was one that I made in reference to your comments made on the matter of the fever metaphor. After re-reading it, I believe you and I actually arrived at the same conclusion, which would render the comments I made rather pointless; for this I apologize. Let Me Live in Your City, in my personal opinion, seems to still concern a relationship between individuals, as does Something So Right. Despite this, I think the beauty in art and music is the tendency of individual experience to interpret a song in different manners. Personally, I have always admired much of Paul's work that never made it to the final album release. For instance, I think the ideas promoted in the unfinished work-in-progress "In the Shelter of Your Arms" as opposed to the final version, otherwise known as "When Numbers Get Serious." As an artist myself, I understand Paul's wont towards changing the lyrics and overall themes of his songs, but sometimes I find his preliminary work so intriguing that I think, "I want to see more of that. I want to know what that looks like in a finished form." Unfortunately for me, the creative process works in its own way, and thus I will never see anything else that "In the Shelter of Your Arms" evolved into other than "When Numbers Get Serious." It's the disappointment I must live with, but it irks me to no end that the initial release will always be what it was, and as a result fewer people will hear what I perceive to be the superior incarnation of the song.
DeleteTPST-- I understand what you mean. I think that is why so many DVDs include "deleted scenes" and why viewers press for the "director's cut."
ReplyDeleteSimon has been pretty generous about sharing his in-progress drafts. And on In the Blue Light, he says, "But wait! I can get them to be even better! Those published works are, now that I look back, works in progress."