"Good art shouldn't instruct, it should evoke." Linda Ronstadt
Graceland was released in 1985 when I was three years old. I don't know when my mom bought that familiar casette, but I do know I was born in 1982 and I don't remember my life without that album and Paul Simon. We listened to it on endless repeat. When I was older, I dubbed my mom's tape so I could listen to it in my room and on my walkman. I still go through phases where the album is all I listen to, and sometimes I'll put the title song on repeat and listen to it endlessly. I've owned the album on tape, CD (twice), and MP3, and I'll never be without it.
Lately, I've been unsettled mentally and emotionally. I'm a writer by trade, but I've realized that writer's block is real and it can be crippling when combined with unexpected tragedies and jarring emotional events. Paul Simon was going through something similar when he traveled to South Africa because he loved the music. Like Mr. Simon, I'm going through a divorce. Like Mr. Simon, I felt like I've been in a downward spiral. I'm starving for inspiration.
So I put on Graceland. And the title track started. Paul Simon called it his favorite record. He said it was perfect, and I have to agree with him.
So follow me over the fold and let's discuss the perfect song from a perfect album.
The Mississippi Delta
Was shining like a national guitar
I am following the river
Down the highway
Through the cradle of the civil war
I'm going to Graceland,
Graceland
In Memphis Tennessee
The overriding theme in this first verse is complete separation. First geographically, the Mississippi is the national divide between east and west. But buried in the first line is another historical difference--the Mississippi Delta is home of the blues, bringing to mind the cultural division between black and white America. The ambivalence towards African and African American culture is a unifying theme on Graceland, so I'm not surprised it's showing up in the opening lines of the title track. So the "national guitar" is in the land where some of the ugliest scenes in American's civil rights history happened.
He's following the river--a natural divide-- down the highway--a manmade scar on the land--to the "cradle of the civil war." And we have the next level of division in our United States. The Civil War is the biggest rent in the fabric of America, with hundreds of thousands of men killed, many more lives and homes destroyed, and scars that still haven't quite healed over to this day. Yet it was a necessary evil, the only thing that would save the nation.
So in the first verse he's in a land torn apart geographically, culturally, socially, and historically. And those invisible scars, like the visible ribbons of highway and river, wind through the music. But he's going to Graceland--perhaps to find a way to heal those fractures? Because Graceland is Elvis, and Elvis is where some of these disparate ties met. At least he provided space for a cultural healing of sorts, bringing "black music" to over white public (the same way Paul Simon was bringing South African music to an ignorant population).
I'm going to Graceland
Poor boys and pilgrims with families
And we are going to Graceland
My traveling companion is 9 years old
He is the child of my first marriage
But I have reason to believe
We both will be received in Graceland
The song makes an effort at inclusion here with the mention of "poor boys" and "pilgrims with families." But of course he's singing about disenfranchised population--people with poor and those who are pilgrims because they lack a home, thus the necessity of bringing their families along.
The narrator of the song has brought his family, too. Again a gesture of inclusion--his "traveling companion"--only masks the deep separation between them. First there's the obvious gender gap. How much fun is a nine year old going to have in Graceland? Will he even know who Elvis was? Will he care about the opulent mansion, the sake of decadence for decadence sake? Then there's the more telling division--this child is a child of divorce. There's already been one major rift in his young life, and the family is broken apart, even if they're together in this moment.
But he has reason to believe they'll both be welcomed where they're going. This is a moment of pure optimism in the song. Graceland is of course the "promised land" where both--where all--are welcome and things can be mended.
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 never noticed the way she brushed her hair
From her forehead
And now the separation becomes absolute and personal. Their separation was so acute that she had to "come back" to where he is in order to tell him she's already left--gone. Who created that distance though? Did she do it by leaving him, or did he give her reason to think he didn't notice the little things, like brushing her hair from her forehead? We see that it doesn't matter, because he did notice, he knew her better than anybody, and she's still gone.
She said losing love is like a window in your heart
Everybody sees your blown apart
Everybody sees the wind blow
What's a window if not a rift or a hole? Losing love tears you open, and it doesn't stop there. It reveals all the pain and devastation left in its wake for everybody to see. The ultimate exposure and vulnerability.
He reiterates that he's headed to Memphis, Tennessee, and then the song takes a turn from the literal journey to something more metaphysical.
And my traveling companions
Are ghosts and empty sockets
I'm looking at ghosts and empties
But I have reason to believe
We will be received in Graceland
Now he's singing about the ultimate gap, the only one that matters. The River Lethe--life and death. Ghosts are with him, death is on his mind, and from this point forward he doesn't refer to Memphis Tennessee again. Graceland becomes a resting place. Somewhere the dead will be "received"--that is, accepted and held, as opposed to the earlier use of the word, where he and his son will be received as guests.
There is a girl in New York City
Who calls herself the Human Trampoline
And sometimes when I'm falling, flying
Or tumbling in turmoil
I say Oh so this is what she means
She means we're bouncing into Graceland
I remember Paul Simon was on the Oprah Winfrey show. He wrote the song she used for her credits her 10th season, and I believe he was the first guest of that season. She asked him all kinds of questions, but the most mundane and tedious were "Is there really a girl in New York City who calls herself the human trampoline?" and "What was Julio doing in the schoolyard?" (No, and I don't know were his respective answers).
Anyway, having said that, I always envision this girl as somebody who is completely jaded, somebody who doesn't live within the boundaries of "respected" society. Maybe she's promiscuous (the sexual connotations of "human trampoline" rather obvious here). Maybe she does drugs. Either way, her message is we're all "bouncing" into Graceland--we're all dying. The falling, flying, tumbling in turmoil is ultimately meaningless because one day that's all going to be gone.
And I see losing love
Is like a window in your heart
And everybody sees your blown apart
Everybody feels the wind blow
This demonstrates a new level of understand and knowledge he didn't have before. The first time he sings this, she tells him that this is what losing love is like. Now this is something he "sees" something he understands himself. But at the same time, the destruction level is increased. Because now everybody "feels" that cold wind blowing. At first I thought this might be a negative thing--his pain is impacting those around him. On the other hand, this is the first time in the song when it seems like emotions are shared, and perhaps this is how the rift can be closed.
In Graceland, In Graceland
I'm going to Graceland
For reasons I cannot explain
There's some part of me wants to see
Graceland
No sense of trepidation here. He's still committed to this journey. But he can't explain why. Of course, he explained his reasons why in the previous verse.
And I may be advised to defend
Every love and every ending
Or maybe there's no obligation now
Maybe I have reason to believe
We all will be received in Graceland
He acknowledges the possibility of Judgement Day and the fact that he should have some sort of defense prepared. An explanation of all of his mistakes and regrets, ever person he hurt, every person who hurt him. But then he backs away from that. No, in Graceland there won't be any obligations. There's no defense, explanations, or judgement. There's only forgiveness. There's only grace. The clue is in the third use of "received" and its third possible meaning: to regard with approval. Here in Graceland, we'll all be approved of.
An analysis of this song is incomplete if only the lyrics are discussed. The music picks the listener up from the first beat and says "Come along, we're going on an adventure." There's movement, the tempo picking up and more instruments gradually joining before Paul's voice finally joins. The lyrics depict a singular lack of unity, but the music has multiple layers and instruments working well. It changes with the tone of the lyrics, slowing and shifting to a minor key when he sings "She comes back to tell me she's gone."
For me, the most notable shift in the music happens right after the final "We all will be received in Graceland." Suddenly the music picks up. There are more voices, like a heavenly choir, and they climb higher and higher until it hits its peak--it becomes transcendent. The music, like the narrator, has finally risen above the division, the heartbreak, the pain. The narrator concludes there will be peace and forgiveness, and the music supports him, reaching a crescendo of beauty.
The narrator repeats with joy that he's going to "Graceland, Graceland" and the music returns to the sound of adventure and travel. Once transcendence is reached, the journey doesn't end. It only continues with new understanding into an unknown destination.
Now I wrote all this out because I'm a giant dork, but I didn't have to post it here at the DKos--where it's not like I have a huge readership. And by "huge" I mean "any". Still, I think Paul Simon is one of the most astute political voices in the past forty years (his music is full of social, cultural, religious, personal, and world politics). There are rifts and divisions everywhere around us--the most obvious between Democrats and Republicans, but we all know that there are minor and major divides within each bloc. Hell, there are major rifts right here on the DKos. But I feel like there's so much hope in this song. I'm not a religious person, and honestly, I don't think Paul Simon is singing about Heaven when he refers to "Graceland." I think it could be comparable to the standard concept of heaven, but heaven is exclusionary by its very nature. I'm not familiar with every religion and I'm not really interested in exceptions to this rule--we all "know" that the good people are rewarded in heaven and the bad are punished elsewhere.
But not in Paul Simon's Graceland. There "we all will be received." And I think that's the answer for ALL the rifts alluded to in the song. We have the power to bring Graceland to America now, to heal the rifts that divide us. Maybe it begins with music...with a song that transcends culture, social, and national boundaries, reaching across wounds, rifts, and scars to change lives. And I think that's reflected not only in the content but in the actual creation and development of the album. From the wiki article
Much of the album was recorded in South Africa, and it features many South African musicians and groups. Simon faced accusations that he had broken the cultural boycott imposed by the rest of the world against the apartheid regime in South Africa, which was in its final years at the time. This view was not supported by the United Nations Anti-Apartheid Committee, as the album showcased the talents of the black South African musicians while offering no support to the South African government. The worldwide success of the album introduced some of the musicians, especially the vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, to global audiences of their own. Simon included American 'roots' influences with tracks featuring Zydeco and Tex-Mex musicians. The Everly Brothers sing harmony on the title track. Linda Ronstadt appears on the track "Under African Skies", the second verse of which Simon wrote based on her childhood experiences.
8:03 AM PT: Wow, thank you everybody who read, recc'ed, tipped this diary. Also I was so pleased and excited to see it under Community Spotlight this morning :) But I hardly staked out a controversial position, I suppose. Paul Simon is amazing and Graceland is beautiful, after all :)
Also it's sad to see "Gumboots" isn't getting any love in my poll. Today I'd like to change my answer to that. It was the early morning hours when I fell into a phone call. Believing I had supernatural powers, I slammed into a brick wall. I said is this my problem? Is this my fault?