A few months ago, Pat and I visited New York City. On a day when we happened to be down on the lower East Side, we decided to conclude our day by taking a subway up the 5th Ave line, so we would be closer to the Port Authority station to get back to our New Jersey overnight place.
We got off at 59th Street, where I was expecting to see a bridge over the East River, or a lampost that might have inspired Paul Simon’s rhyme of long ago.
Back in the day, long about 1967, my high school civics class assembled a video that ostensibly depicted the feeling of being a happy-go-lucky teen during those revolutionary (or so we thought) curio 1960’s. Wandering through those unprecedented, unduplicated times of peace-obsession and protest. . . and believing we could change the world. . . we clipped our collection of home-made film footage to make a movie that would express. . . well, we weren’t so sure.
There was a scene in which one of us-- a fellow named Al who also played in our little rock band— was traipsing along in bright morning sunshine, probably on his way to school.
We leaned upon a Paul Simon song for the sound track during that scene. Our civics teacher helped us put together a sound track for our little movie.
The song was “59th Street Bridge Song.”
About a week ago, we were sitting in some grand old theatre in Boston, listening to Paul Simon sing his songs.
Accompanied by a multiplicity of musicians in the background, Paul did what I suppose all great songwriters and performing musicians do when after they’ve achieved the heights of success and then lived to tell about it.
So there we were, about a week ago, as Don McLean had sung. . . a generation lost in (time and) space. . .at Paul’s presentation in the Boston theatre. Of course the big question in everybody’s minds was. . . what great oldies would Paul pull out of his sound hole?
Now i’m sure that Paul understood everything about what was going on in our minds. . . what we were thinking and feeling about those halcyon days. . . and maybe what songs we were expecting to hear.
So. . . Paul did his thing. . . whatever he chooses to do during this time of our lives. But . . . funny thing happened on the way to the 21st century. . . Paul saved the greatest songs. . . some of those that he knew we most wanted to hear . . . for the end. “The Boxer” was an encore, and the original greatest Simon song of all, “Sounds of Silence,” was the second encore.
My only disappointment was that Paul did not sing his song that is most relevant to our present dilemma in these United States: “An American Tune” includes Paul’s line: “And I dreamed I was flying. . . high up above. . . my eyes could clearly see. . . the statue of Liberty, sailing away to sea. . .” Selah