Tennessee

Simon's first wife was Peggy Harper, and they had a son in 1972 whom they named after her maiden name. In 2009, Harper Simon cut an eponymous album, and he invited his father to participate. Together, they wrote three songs, and the first one on the album is this one.

It's autobiographical, from the speaker's standpoint, although in the third line, he adds the caveat: "Most of it is true."

The first line, however, is "Howdy," and in the country-flavored song, the speaker describes how he identifies more with his mother-- he's "proud [his] mama comes from Tennessee"-- instead of New York City, where he was born and raised. (Harper himself was born and raised in New York, but I was unable to determine if Peggy was from Tennessee.)

He says she is, specifically, from Newport, "a place of moderation, common sense, and decency." While he has moved to her home state, he hasn't achieved that style of behavior, just as yet: "It's nothing like the way I am/ But it's how I'm gonna be."

So, how has he been, then, thus far? Well, he was "kicked out of" several schools, received many "incompletes" and finally "bought a C," by which he means bribed his teacher to give him a passing grade, or perhaps paid a student to take a test for him. (At this point, we know the song is not autobiographical to Harper, at least as far as he left out the part where he attended the prestigious Berklee College of Music.)

Next, the speaker says he"rambled around/ from Slumberville to Lonesome Town," which might be the locale of the Heartbreak Hotel.

At some point, he got bitten by the musical bug. He "joined a band" which proved unsuccessful but, undeterred, "booked some time on Nashville's Music Row." He tried to use music to connect to his Southern roots: "Don't want no electric guitars in the background."

Now, this plan is a work in progress. "I got issues/ I got pain," ("issues" being typically New York word) he admits, "There's a lot I can't remember/ Even more I can't explain" (this couplet is pure country, however).

See, he's "trying to concentrate on how you find serenity/ When you're born in New York City/ But your mom's from Tennessee." He feels that the bustle and shallowness of New York might be what has made him feel aimless, so his theory is that if he can-- through music-- reconnect with his traditional past, perhaps he can find both physical and emotional stability.

Perhaps by connecting with his roots through roots music, he can finally feel, well, rooted.

Musical note:
Paul sings harmony on this track, and played guitar on others on this album.

Many "ringers" were brought in as backups. A very good list is available at Harper's Wikipedia page; ones from the rock world include drummer Steve Gadd, and Steve Nieve, one of Elvis Costello's Attractions. It can be assumed that Paul was responsible for the presence of some of them, but Harper had been playing professionally for some time and it would be unfair to assume he had made no musical friendships of his own. In fact, there seem to be at least three generations of musicians here.

Next Song: Ha Ha

The 59th St. Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)

One of S&G's most beloved, if shortest, songs... and no compilation is complete without it.

The song is shorter than "Cloudy," but with much the same breeziness. It also recalls some of the London imagery of "Sounds of Silence," with its "lamppost" and "cobblestones," while being nearly opposite that song in tone.

(Later, The Lovin' Spoonful would capture some of this songs summer-Sunday ease with "What a Day for a Daydream." So would the Rascals, with "Groovin'," which even borrows from S&G's title.)

The first verse here exhorts the listener to "slow down" and enjoy the morning, even if the music itself skips along as excitedly as a hopscotching child.

The next verse continues this vein, with the speaker playfully asking an inanimate object for help in composing the song. The lamppost, sadly, does not have any "rhymes," leaving the speaker to improvise some 1950's-style doo-wop.

The final verse, structured more like a chorus, paints a lovely picture of falling asleep, perhaps on the grass in a park, being covered in "dappled" sunlight and falling flower-"petals." "All is groovy," indeed.

(Note: This seems to be the only other time, aside from "We Got a Groovey Thing Goin'", that Simon uses this quintessentially '60s word. As to why the titles spell the word differently? It's a slang word with no official spelling; perhaps one song was written in England and the other in the U.S.)

The song is more about creating a mood than telling a story, and the mood is simply one of languid tranquility, something very rare (unless you are a cat).

Since it does not require much explanation, let us take this opportunity to examine some of its technical aspects. Even is a song about being unstructured, Simon weaves in patterns.

The song is replete with alliteration and assonance:
The first verse gives us: "move too," "make the morning," "last/Just," "kickin' down the cobblestones," "for fun and feelin'"
The second: "Hello lamppost," "What 'cha/watch your" and then "ain't 'cha"
The third: "deeds to do... dappled and drowsy and ready"

The meter is mostly iambic (two syllables, accented on the second) in the first verse: "Slow down, you move too fast." The effect is of someone putting their foot out in front of them to brake while running downhill.

The meter shifts to trochaic (two, accent on first) on the words "feelin' groovy." It stays that way for the second verse: "Hello, lamppost, what 'cha knowin." The speaker is now propelled forward by the joy of being out in the sunshine.

The thid verse shifts meters again, to anapests. These are three-syllable sets, accented on the first. Usually, they imply urgent movement, as they simulate a horse's galloping (notably in the Tennyson poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade," about a cavalry attack: "Half a league, half a league, half a league...").

But here, Simon uses anapestic meter to evoke sunlight broken up by tree branches and the random fall of flower petals: "...dappled and drowsy and ready to... morningtime drop all its petals on..." The speaker, now lurching, can barely drag himself forward, so complete is his relaxation.

The song is about expending no effort at all, and it seems like an improvised little ditty. Turns out, it takes a lot of effort to sound effortless.

IMPACT: The duo performed it, one of their most popular tunes, on the show of another key duo of the decade-- The Smothers Brothers!


Next song: The Dangling Conversation