Simon & Garfunkel - America (Audio)

“America” by Simon & Garfunkel
Listen to Simon & Garfunkel: SimonAndGarfun...
Subscribe to the official Simon & Garfunkel KZbin Channel: SimonAndGarfun...
Follow Simon & Garfunkel:
Facebook: SimonAndGarfun...
Website: SimonAndGarfun...
KZbin: SimonAndGarfun...
Spotify: SimonAndGarfun...
Lyrics:
Let us be lovers, we'll marry our fortunes together
I've got some real estate here in my bag
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner's pies
And we walked off to look for America
Cathy, I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
Michigan seems like a dream to me now
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've gone to look for America
#SimonAndGarfunkel #America #FolkRock

[@kazn4nn327]

I am Japanese. Thirty years ago, when I listened to this song when I was a kid because of my father's influence, I was strongly attracted to the powerful song even though I didn't understand English. As an adult, I understand the meaning of the lyrics, and this song gives me endless courage and hope. No matter how hard it may be, I want to continue walking toward hope and live.Thx, Simon & Garfunkel .Sometime at the New Jersey Turnpike.

[@martyengel917]

Same Kaz Nann 1970 in 8tg grade living in Captain Stockdale's house while he was POW after driving cross country in a new Winnebago for dad to return to the war. I was empty and didn't know why.

[@dewawirama8365]

I visited America in 1992 and was surprised that New Jersey Turnpike really exists :)

[@christiehoskins1433]

This was how our country was then, right wrong or indifferent, we all got along.p

[@dianequick3127]

you at the New Jersey Turnpike.

[@Kevinwayne199]

You are understood. Thank you from north america.

[@jimcyr9602]

"I'm empty and aching, and I don't know why." What a lyric. Who can't identify with that?

[@rodrigomondingo6553]

Lost, empty and aching... that's me everyday! 😅

[@sallyjoan]

Counting the cars on the new Jersey Turnpike.

[@happycamper6298]

My favorite line in the song.

[@marklaroche7981]

😢​@@rodrigomondingo6553

[@Pamela-s7e]

How right you are 😊😊😊

[@birdlynn417]

My boyfriend/husband and I hitchhiked across America from California to Tennessee to live on the farm to have our baby there with natural childbirth. He was 18 and I was 16. Actually our car broke down and we had to hitchhiked home on the way back. Finally our parents sent us money for a greyhound....what a trip that was, a real journey and traveling light, free, happy and unhappy, but looking for adventure, life, and new beginnings!! But what a time it was. ❤ We had the best of music to inspire us by that is for sure, and the full moon to rise over an open field, and lightening strikes with the heaviest of rain I ever did see driving through Kansas, it was the music of our days and time that kept us afloat every time. Blessings to you, Wes, and thank you, for traveling with me. RIP.

[@shaunadamson4634]

It was a joy to read your story ma'am. Your generation was truly blessed with music that will never be forgotten.

[@tenderpawsm473]

🤮

[@raybarger8119]

Wow that was everyone dream for our generation so glad u guys got to achieve it. RIP Wes

[@maryannbernardi7508]

​@@tenderpawsm473??!! What a wipe. I was just going to thank her for such a wonderful story, that I felt honored to hear.

[@MrDonsullivan]

Good for you.

[@egbertegberts5384]

I'm almost 70. I still get tears in my eyes when listening to this masterpiece. Thanks Simon& Garfunkel for being part of my life!

[@kathlake4009]

At 84 so do I 💙💙💙

[@jojoy1191]

48 and same 😂❤

[@darkstar32172]

Just finished listening to it and i know what you mean 😢

[@avijitbasu5789]

You belong to the turbulent 60s...Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, ALVIS, Jimmy Hendrix, Janis Joplin....in music!!! Dancong to TWIST !!! Vietnam War....Che Guevara...assassination of JFK....filled your emotions, politically.. unfortunately, I am 63 now....too young to recollect those events!!!! For us it was DISCO of SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER and of course, BEE GEES!!!!

[@Hotziggaty]

our soundtrack yeah.

[@avi1914]

One of the greatest songs in history

[@wallymarcel1]

I'm turning 70 this year and I bless my good fortune to have grown up in an era of such fantastic music and musical artists like this.

[@paulringwood8065]

im 69 soon wally you are so right. wouldnt want to be born now

[@PresidenteBush1337]

@@paulringwood8065 Still lots of good music out there fellas, don't frown on it; just discover new artists that have come around since 2000

[@robertcooper1564]

I’m 70 in February and I totally agree with your sentiments, so lucky

[@christopherorourke6543]

I agree with you, the music we listened to back in the late 1960’s, 1970’s was great. I will be 69 in October. I went through a lot over the years. Todays generation needs to listen to what we have to say because we have the experience and we have the best advice to give them.

[@tirebiter4009]

@@christopherorourke6543 I'm turning 67 soon, so I'm right behind y'all. We experienced things that today's generation never will. A totally analog world with no cell phones and other devices. Hitchhiking cross country. Smoking cigarettes on Greyhound buses. Maybe not the funnest things, but conceptionally, they were environments and experiences that shouldn't have been missed and cannot be recreated. Yes, kids still go through the same cognitive awakening of every teenager in the past, but now simple incredulity is given equal weight to hard, established facts. It's a different world. But don't forget. Question authority... (and the authorities will question you)

[@timwilkinsongs]

I am an Englishman, but once upon a time, long ago, I spent years in the USA on the road looking for America, with my young wife and our baby son. This song says everything.

[@dang2443]

Chances are, you never found it, only yourself.

[@v-town1980]

@@dang2443 I'm sure they found it. At the very least an interesting time.

[@dang2443]

@@v-town1980 um...no

[@jagboy69]

You would hardly recognize it these days. It's here, but ya gotta look hard. FJB

[@timwilkinsongs]

@@jagboy69 Yet I love it so.

[@wafldread2770]

Paul Simon is one of the greatest song writers ever. Truly brilliant...

[@hippiecheezburger5457]

Paul Simon has such a gentle and beautiful song writing soul

[@TheoreticalString]

And Art Garfunkel sings this like an angel.

[@cebriggs7135]

@@hippiecheezburger5457 @TheoreticalString it was written by Bert Sommers.

[@cebriggs7135]

Bert Sommer wrote it.

[@alexandersmithers4218]

No Bert Sommer covered it in 71. What an insult

[@135monster]

Imagine being so good you're writing songs that come to define the very era you're writing about.

[@birdlynn417]

Amen. So true, so true.

[@vinnart]

Music that touches the soul.

[@johnpaul8629]

“And moon rose over an open field .” This line and the harmonising vocals never fail to give me goosebump…

[@johnhollows2374]

The version on the Live in Central Park is just amazing. I always loved that line and the way it sounded also.

[@morbidvoy]

@@johnhollows2374 I will definitely check it out!

[@kurt6518]

Man! So many of us affected by the same lines in this timeless masterpiece . Paul Simon is such a gifted songwriter, a national treasure in my opinion . I’m grateful to have grown up in an era of music unfettered by so much emphasis on producing only hits. ( I am not naïve enough to think that they were not encouraged to write hits! But I don’t recall such commercialism back in the 60s and 70s.)

[@birdlynn417]

@@kurt6518 It was a time of unity that these times don't know of but only long for.

[@morbidvoy]

@@kurt6518 I agree. Musicianship is the priority at that time. Unlike the crap being produced these days.

[@janmatthews2536]

Kathy I'm lost I said, though I knew she was sleeping ... Makes me tingle every time I hear that line.

[@crumplezone1]

We all have moments of "feeling lost" it is one of the most unnerving conditions we as humans can experience

[@birdlynn417]

@@crumplezone1 Putting it to song and music makes it beautiful, especially when you are traveling.

[@lapdawg60]

That line always gets me, too.

[@kurt6518]

Same!!

[@kurt6518]

@@crumplezone1 Thank you! You put it perfectly.

[@HussyHarryet]

That intro is everything. I have no idea how many hundreds of times I've listened to this song over the years, I still get chills. Absolute poetry.

[@wdanielmurphy]

The intro! Yes! Can you believe such an atmospheric hook was teased out, put away, then never heard again throughout the song? They could've made an outtro out of it, but that would've cheapened it. Such a gorgeous passing moment. Like a memory they moved away from.

[@laurenrowell9251]

I get teary-eyed over the phrase, "counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike" - because when this song came out, my dad told us kids that we'd be leaving New Jersey in a year, since he was being transferred, and we had to move to Connecticut. To this day, I still think of New Jersey as my home, even though I've lived on 3 continents, travelled to 5, and don't even live in the States anymore. Anyway, yes - this song is just lovely, isn't it? @@wdanielmurphy

[@alancumming6407]

They crammed so much into an album which is about 30 minutes long. This song just about sums Paul Simon up, for me anyway. Brilliant story telling set to superb melody. And then there's Arty's voice......

[@stettan1]

I have probably listened to the Yes cover hundreds of times... maybe their greatest recording, maybe the greatest cover of all times. Better than the original? No, we should not compare apples and pears.

[@1chumley1]

For me it's the outro. It is kind of a haunting lullaby.

[@gregsmith6926]

All the lyrics are just perfect but I think my favorite is "Kathy I'm lost, I said, for I knew she was sleeping" its so simple but it makes you instantly relate

[@Ladylovemm]

I JUST posted that same line when someone asked on fb what's your favorite one line from a song. Came here and you wrote the same. Crazy.

[@BLA1NEK1NSEY]

I apologize for being pedantic, but the lyric is: "Kathy I'm lost, I said, THOUGH I knew she was sleeping"

[@premanadi]

@@BLA1NEK1NSEY Which makes so much more sense!

[@PogLewis]

Makes me cry every time

[@michaelpage2151]

"counting the cars on theNew Jersey turnpke" does it for me 75 now

[@charlesw9875]

Paul Simon is a genius.

[@darrellkastin6738]

At 1:18 if you listen closely there's a sax. My uncle is playing it. I never knew until a few years ago. I've always loved this song. Used to attempt to sing and play it.

[@henryijeoma]

Woah are you serious?!!

[@darrellkastin6738]

@@henryijeoma Yes, indeed. Ronnie Lang, who at the age of 15 was playing with Hoagy Carmichael, and then went on to play with Les Brown, and became LA's top studio musician on sax, flute, and clarinet.

[@tomfields3682]

Soprano sax? I always liked that part of the song.

[@darrellkastin6738]

@@tomfields3682 Yeah, it's such a nice touch.

[@autumnstevens9665]

Wow, amazing....💖 Old relatives... I missin mine!

[@paulisaac78]

“Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike. They’ve all come to look for America.” Imagery at its finest

[@jeffcwatson]

I’ve driven 49 states, this is one of the reasons 🇨🇦❤️🇺🇸

[@birdlynn417]

Yes, we must honor these same desires in our youth today, if they but feel so compelled to get up and go so freely these days, but these times are so stressed and unsafe it seems.

[@jamieminsky9436]

Let us all remember as it might pass quickly: that we all come to look for America…🙏🤞😇😘

[@callmemastermaster9875]

So I looked at the scenery, She read her magazine; And the moon rose over an open field. So simple yet astoundingly poetic and picturesque. Among the greatest lyrics in history.

[@jbr2991]

Agreed. I caught pictures of the moon setting over our field this morning. Every single time I see the large moon on the horizon I hear that verse. It’s classic.

[@Falconlibrary]

This song is a master showing other lyricists how it's done: specific imagery that stirs emotions we thought we'd buried, and before you know it, your heart is caught in your throat.

[@gropenfelt]

Absolutely. The simplicity of the lyrics is a complete paradox of the incredible depth they convey. Incredible genius.

[@warrenrosen132]

Countin' the cars on the nj tpke...

[@dennismurillodennis3079]

You are write. Best lines anywhere.

[@sammymiller7857]

“ Kathy I’m lost I said, though I knew she was sleeping” so damn good

[@007kosovaboy]

A song that captures existential anxiety like no other. “I’m empty and aching, and I don’t know why.” I can relate

[@taramilton8695]

beautifully put

[@shannonvanderhoof4810]

🖤🎼🖤

[@bigding8977]

The Kathy in the song was a reference to Paul Simon's girlfriend that he met abroad in England, Kathleen Chitty. The attention and scrutiny of being involved with a superstar was too much, and they broke up. She is now a grandmother living a quiet life in a small Welsh village and has three grandchildren.

[@AgentThursday]

This song was one of the cleanest examples of existential crisis ever conveyed in songwriting.

[@marycooney]

This was my favorite song when l was 23 when living in the Hamtons...best summer of my life.❤

[@StanfordFan-jn1dp]

America's gift to the world

[@kingsleykingachukwu]

These guys are simply great. What a way to remember my youthful days when this music ruled the radio waves. God bless Simon and Garfunkel

[@birdlynn417]

Yes, when this music ruled the radio waves.

[@rixxroxxk1620]

My grandparents immigrated from Italy. They settled in Somerville, NJ. They built a house and papa had a barber shop attached. I remember it well. They passed and the house was torn down. They found the American dream and when they died, it went with them. I cried so hard. This song always makes me think of them. Miss you papa and mama. We will meet again.

[@michellemcdermott2026]

❤

[@BSBSPSensGirl88]

I can't imagine that :( It was hard enough learning what my grandfather went through when he and his family immigrated from Italy to Montreal in the 20s. His house was sold and still stands (although they painted the trim black :( ), but was still very painful. I'm sorry your family had to experience that.

[@ratso-rizzo]

@@BSBSPSensGirl88 Ostie de calice ! Sono passati gli anni, cara mia. Ormai, sei una vera canadese. :)

[@ratso-rizzo]

Italy and New Jersey sound so nice to me... It reminds Tony Soprano. God bless James Gandolfini !

[@tome57a]

In the 1960s, i discovered Simon and Garfunkel, as a kid who wasn't supposed to be listening to such "hip" stuff. In 1983, i set off on cross-country a road trip to discover America's blue highways with Cathie, my friend and my obsession, only to discover that Simon and Garfunkel had already paved the way. And then, fast forward to January 2019, listening to the Bookends album for the first time in decades on tinny airline earphones, as i touched down in a strange land, only to find the music was as powerful there and then as it had been over half a century earlier. Some things never change, when everything around them does...

[@philipnorris6542]

My sentiments exactly.

[@AnthonyB2351]

"Now the years are rolling by me They are rocking easily I am older than I once was And younger than I’ll be But that’s not unusual No, it isn’t strange After changes upon changes We are more or less the same After changes we are More or less the same" Paul Simon: The Boxer from Live Rhymin' concert.

[@eggsamillion]

Sounds like you lived the good life my friend, and still are.

[@tinker6362]

@tome57a What a beautiful, beautiful message! You've so eloquently described the wonder of listening, and then re-listening to records years later. Thank you. Hope you're still listening and loving. X

[@tome57a]

@@tinker6362 Thank you, so kind of you... And yes, I'm still listening and loving. BTW i thought that Simon & Garfunkel's concert in Central Park was a magical event - check out the video if you're so inclined... P.S. the strange land was Egypt, and for whatever reason, Bookends was perfect for the occasion...

[@itsenid]

My parents came from England on a ship which landed in Hoboken, NJ in 1952. They came to see what America held for their fortunes. My dad died in 2014. My mother is bedbound with dementia. It makes me think of the dreams they had being young and in a new country 3,000 miles from home.

[@keithjones7390]

I hope their dreams came true in America and lived a happy life in their new home.

[@crumplezone1]

I wish you all the best my friend

[@ΑναστασηςΜπιλης]

I am currently in Indiana, Purdue, as an exchange student from Greece. When I was filling the application form in March, I was listening to this particular song. This song portraits the America I had in my mind, the America I wanted to find... Right now, looking out the window of the dorms, with a sweet tear listening to this same song, yet it feels so different. I can simply say I found the America I wanted to, with the beauties and the drawbacks... An experience that will last for ever... Simon and Garfungel, thank you!

[@ctcv-to8kq]

Yahsoo, phelos. I had the pleasure of living in your beautiful country in 1976-77. One of the best years of my life.

[@wngbjngwwgk]

It's still there in the interstices, even though when you go looking for America you're also going to see the same strip mall cut and pasted 250 million times.

[@cedricnoel5310]

Bless you my friend and may you have a happy life.

[@gmtbird677]

@usre-cs9bm9mt8d: Hope you enjoy your time and search for America. My son will start at Purdue in the fall, so it was a treat to read this. And, this music is timeless.

[@chasgerding5258]

I just wanted to tell you, I'm 75 and America was so much different and better then, I wish you could have experienced America at that time. I still LOVE my country even more as I grow older and wiser. Enjoy your time here, be blessed.

[@Zedwoman]

I cry every time I listen to this. I've been that person on the bus from Pittsburgh. 50 years ago.

[@kenlively6760]

Zedwoman, I am 70 YO, a grandpa and retired. I am still on that bus from Pittsburg

[@chrismakin4661]

I was on that bus also leaving Buffalo with my girlfriend in 1978

[@jonathanescriva]

Sounds nostalgic. How powerful this music should be and the harmony they were bringing when both lads were singing to touch me, a Spaniard like me who hasn't got English as first language.

[@jonathanescriva]

I love English language, but rhythm and instrumental plus sweet voice create an international language indeed regarding emotions.

[@itamarolmert3549]

@pete parker Can we not?

[@Sproogle777]

Melodically and emotionally, the line "It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw" is one of the greatest four seconds ever recorded. Prove me wrong ;-)

[@PhilSmithRHR]

It’s hard to beat!

[@gloriasowle8083]

My favorite. I was raised 20 miles from Saginaw. Then lived 20 miles outside of Philly. The road between Saginaw through Pennsylvania to Philly was one I traveled many times. I listen to this song and there I am again. To look for America.

[@paulhaynes8045]

As a Brit, with no idea of where Saginaw was, and with the way Simon moves on to the next line without a pause, I always heard "Saginaw Ohio". It's only today - 54 years after first hearing this song, that I've discovered that Saginaw is in Michigan!

[@kon5267]

Im a Japanese man who was born in 1992. My parents used to play this song in the car on the way to my grandparents house. I've been a big fan of Simon and Garfunkel for over 20yrs since then

[@Rui-x9w]

The lyrics reflect the anguish of the American people in 1968...Fabulous song!

[@waynedlugitch1489]

More anguish in 2023.

[@nondescriptbeing5944]

​ @waynedlugitch1489 arguable. You had war in Vietnam with our young men and sons being drafted, some never coming back, MLK Jr. assassinated, not long after our president JFK, new drugs and addictions going around, etc.

[@laurenrowell9251]

You make a valid point, however...now we have (in America, at least) complete disrespect for science, new phrases that mirror that new mentality, such as "fake news, alternative facts" and others, all because of trump. He gave a voice to the mean-spirited, hateful, racist, and isolationistic people in America. In effect, he is the reason why the "Great American Experiment" (a true republican democracy) has failed. He never wanted to be the president - he wanted to be the king. @@nondescriptbeing5944

[@lonnieosbourne818]

@@waynedlugitch1489 WAY more........

[@terryhayward7905]

And the world in 2024.

[@rogkeista1]

A masterpiece that speaks for and embodies a whole generation that went out searching for meaning in the big wide world. I was one of them. I remember hearing this for the first time when I was 16 sitting with others around a fire at the Isle of Wight music festival in 1969 and someone played this on his cassette player. It was like we were all looking in a mirror hearing this. It spoke for us and about us. Our hopes, our dreams, our pain, our search. And we really needed to hear it. It was like medicine for our souls. Arguably, the greatest song ever written about what it means to be young and fully open to life and the world at large.

[@jamesfeldmeyer7336]

Wow! You are a poet and your statement evokes STRONG EMOTIONS! As does this song.

[@GlitterGulch]

This is absolutely one of the most beautifully written songs in creation. Equally ethereal is Simon and Garfunkel's performance.

[@eyescandeceive]

this is my favorite Paul Simon song. "i'm empty and aching and I don't know why" -- that was the perfect lyric for that time in my life. I love Bridge Over Troubled Water as much as anyone else, but the poignancy and yearning of AMERICA just blows me away. it was years before I realized the lyric didn't even rhyme

[@paulisaac78]

I Definitely agree!

[@JJBushfan]

If I remember rightly, this was a commercial flop by their standards. It was always one of my favourites, particularly the vocal harmony at '...and the moon rose over an open field.' Your KZbin name is disturbing me, by the way.

[@gdalcorso1]

@Mary Smith you're a complete fool.

[@Acidfrog475]

Paul Simon is my favourite lyricist ever. (Though I'm young and don't have that wide a music taste, but I'd still say he is a masterful musician and, obviously, lyricist/songwriter.)

[@ttbo12]

I can't listen to this song without goosebumps.

[@mattisonquinn6486]

I wished I could explain how this song gives me warmth and heart break at the same time.

[@LadyJ09]

I understand completely

[@kurt6518]

Oh, I think you just did.

[@jojoy1191]

Bitter sweet ❤

[@bruceblakeslee2751]

Probably the greatest non-rhyming song ever written ("Michigan seems like a dream..." is maybe the only real rhyme in the song). "And the moon rose over an open field" is sublime poetic alliteration, with the repetition of the letter O echoing the round shape of the lunar body. Brilliant and haunting!!

[@v-town1980]

One of the greatest American songwriters of the last 50+ years.

[@frankieaddams3937]

Maybe THE greatest

[@ammaleslie509]

or ever. one of the greatest songwriters ever. Melodymaster McCartney had some nicer turns of musical phrase but Paul Simon is the whole package--words AND music, intellectual & emotional content. Timeless.

[@theatticaddict]

You mean TWO right?

[@v-town1980]

@@theatticaddict You're probably right. I knew Paul wrote most/all of their songs. Wasn't sure what Art wrote.

[@v-town1980]

​@@ammaleslie509Apples and Oranges. Paul and John wrote tunes/lyrics S/G would've sold their soul for.😊

[@yvonnegoble354]

My favourite Simon and Garf song... OH MY GOD these two were so ahead of their time!!! Tears in my eyes I am old now and STILL LISTENING TO THIS AND FEELING THE SAME FEELINGS AS THE FIRST TIME I HEARD IT

[@barbarawirkus5083]

I'm almost 90 ! Have a great grand child. Hope he someday hears this iconic song and loves it as much as I do! USA!

[@SisterDogmata]

@@ericrobson4291 So true!

[@nancygoldfarb1039]

❤I am 60 and this is one of my favorite Simon & Garfunkel song. Paul tells a story that reads like a. Adventure through the USA

[@doctorgarbonzo2525]

It's heavy how a 3 minute song could hold so many many memories

[@kerriwilson7732]

They weren't so much ahead of their time, as timeless. Primal, but poetry. 🍁

[@captainobvious3433]

This song always wants me to make me smoke even though I quit over 25 years ago.

[@robertlong2288]

Love the line counting the cars in the new Jersey turnpike.

[@gavrielladovbear7563]

Tears and goosebumps every time.

[@maxit-mw]

As a European this song reminds me the emotions of my youth back in the late '70s when we used to cross the continent with train, hitch-hiking and sometimes by car. It reminds me the frontiers, sometimes not easy to cross, and the different people. Different but very curious to meet and know each others. I remember the ride that the truckers gave us to reach Amsterdam. Since the documents were checked at the borders, we were always dropped off a few kilometers earlier and always had to cross them on foot. It was late afternoon when we entered a bar near Emmerich Germany, some boys of our age offered us a beer and when it got late a girl took us to sleep in her home's garage. The next morning her mother made us breakfast and we set off on foot towards the Dutch border which was only a couple of kilometers away. We wrote a postcard to the girl on our return, which she returned, and from there we lost contact. I remember the trip with the Citroen Diane to Berlin. From West Germany at a certain point we had to take a highway that crossed East Germany and it was a corridor bordered by high nets, barbed wire and watch towers. And when we went to Prague and Budapest, we joked saying "let's go find love beyond the Iron Curtain", using a saying dating back perhaps almost two decades earlier. Oh we did :) i must still have somewhere the photo of me and the girl in front of a Trabant that made me laugh for its size. In all these trips we met different people, with different habits and ways of living and this gave us curiosity and emotion. In those years young generations were dreaming of a world without frontiers where all peoples are equal, perhaps a little I believed in it too, but only later I did understand that differences, more than equality, are the most precious asset of the human being.

[@mikegalvin9801]

As an American 70s kid I remember going to Europe on I think it was Icelandic Airlines and traveling around on the Eurailpass. Didn't need a lot of money to have fun and everyone was very welcoming

[@user-rx4bi1ic4z]

Beautiful

[@pmore75]

I don't know what is better, the song or this comment.

[@TheThaggs]

Thanks for sharing that max.

[@danieldunlap4077]

Beautiful

[@Le-fishe-au-choculat]

I am 11 and yet love this kind of music

[@keithjones7390]

Good on you!

[@DavidFebruary]

One of the best songs I have ever heard. And I am not American. And I am no longer young. But the truth of this song has screamed at me from the first time I heard it.

[@jonathanescriva]

Where are you from, mate? Doesn't matter. English-speaking people like many of you have the priviledge to have the U.S.A as another English-speaking country and their accent is really for signing. English is a very good language for music. The English music repertoire shows it

[@jonathanescriva]

* really good for siging, sorry

[@jonathanescriva]

singing

[@robertwoodrow8337]

@@jonathanescriva That's it!

[@robertwoodrow8337]

I'm not American either, but this song has a great atmosphere and sense of 'angst' to it, that should appeal to all of a 'certain age' (as they say in France).

[@DanielPagath]

I moved to Pittsburgh in 1970 after being in the Army. Every time that I pass the Greyhound station I think of this song. Hitchhiked from Michigan to Pittsburgh. I can just feel how that would’ve been. 4 days.

[@jeffwatkins352]

Just listened to Simon's extended interview with Simon. So much I didn't know about him. So many flashes of my youth. Never realized he's older than me, a 71. year-old man. He never mentioned this song, which is hands down my favorite of all those I've ever heard of his. "And the moon rose over an open field. Cathy, I'm lost I said, though I knew she was sleeping." How this cosmopolitan straight man could so precisely echo the heart of a rural gay man is one of those glorious mysteries of poetry we've not granted to understand.

[@marshaturows8988]

2:34 ❤

[@dakotaboy80]

I'm empty and aching and I don't know why.

[@martinone9]

Who else but Paul Simon could write a great song where not a single line even rhymes?

[@clealinden7755]

John M. Blackburn (1913-2006)

[@nativetxntexas7341]

Always loved this song; it was playing on the radio when I was 15 years old and in the hospital nearly dying with measles. Doesn’t remind me of my illness but of a time I treasure, that of my family’s love and prayers for me to recover. It’s been 53 years and some of them are gone now but they are always in my heart. ❤

[@birdlynn417]

Ahh, beautiful. God bless you, what a lovely memory.

[@LINCOLNREALESTATE1]

“I’m empty and aching, and I don’t know why.” I can relate

[@ronaldhartke982]

LINCOLNREALESTATE1 ........ can't we all my friend?

[@bryanhood4110]

“Cathy I’m lost I said. Though I knew she was sleeping....”

[@jkanclark]

Who can’t?

[@RobertoMenjoulou]

Im a rock

[@christinadean2543]

@@bryanhood4110 I am lost too.

[@kumar107]

"Kathy, 'I'm lost,' I said though I knew she was sleeping/ "I'm empty and aching and I don't know why" An incredible lyrical passage that speaks for generations.

[@darsijohnson4206]

Beautiful

[@julieriley1059]

Paul simon a song writing genius

[@jayjones9125]

Immortal song that captures the rare, lost beauty of our nation.

[@alix660]

This song takes me back to a time and people I can never get back and it just makes me cry.

[@mickjagger8439]

I'm building a time machine, get in line if you want to go back. 😉

[@thomasmacentee6630]

Summer, 1975 boarded the ferry at Woods Hole, Mass. Set off for Martha's Vineyard. A sole troubadour started singing this song. Before too long the entire upper deck joined in. I suddenly felt alive for the first time in my 18 years. Oh youth, too short too long ago!

[@ed52369]

Look out for that shark. Hooper!

[@memayo]

How these memories speak to us over the years. Thanksgiving 1972. I left Virginia early Wednesday morning for what was normally a 7-8 hour drive. Not that day of course. At 5 pm I'm just coming into the NYC metro area, the sun is setting, headlights and tail lights coming on. I'm tired and starting to drift a bit when this song comes on, like a dream. Then, as I'm looking at a river of red tail lights stretching in the distance, Simon and Garfunkel sing "counting the cars on the NJ turnpike, they've all come to look for America" and I almost thought God was talking to me through the radio.

[@tinydancer62]

@@memayo What an amazing story. Simply beautiful.

[@thetek2006]

"And the moon rose over an open field". One of the greatest moments in music ever.

[@hanstauscheck9691]

This is so true.

[@dbdeg88]

That line is so perfect, so beautifully delivered, and so evocative of crystal clear imagery (not in spite of its simplicity, but because of it), that it has literally made me cry. Not in a sad way, just...the beauty of that one line moved me to tears.

[@charwest9449]

yes

[@seancoleman5021]

Yes, that is the line.

[@SuperNevile]

Yes, the pivot point, from optimism to pessimism, although "counting the cars on the New Jersey turnpike" always raises a cheer..........

[@jomo353]

When I lived in New York, travelled the east coast and found myself, this was the song. Back in Ireland nearly 20 years later, but this song nails America for me - A place where you arrive with nothing but yourself, but you'll meet and befriend all sorts of people of different ages and races. And it expands everything you think about life and people.

[@chrisshaughnessy138]

After undergraduate, best friend and I loaded caping gear into his vw rabbit and saw America.

[@chrisshaughnessy138]

Camping.

[@davidpitkin9352]

Batman!

[@pjxalien7599]

This song makes me feel like I’m coming home to myself. It’s about doing whatever it takes to have that dream, wherever it may be - ‘America’ is merely a metaphor for striving towards a dream that may be/feel so out of reach, but yet so close you can touch it. It’s living between this and that, here and there - in the grey areas. You’re on your journey and whatever happens, nobody can take away that feeling of utter dread and euphoria for the unknown that awaits.

[@johnporter3138]

WoW !

[@lequiakambui9515]

Nice! I’m feeling those vibrations from this song too..

[@nicaannjubi]

Beautifully said. 💕

[@shamelesschele242]

I've always found it fascinating to hear the different meanings people put behind songs... The moments in time a song can bring you back to, or the hope or encouragement a song can bring... It truly is a beautiful thing! Thanks for sharing yours!

[@people4peace999]

So we'll put!! Tyty

[@darkelady58]

And the moon rose over an open field. The way that line is sung always gets to me.

[@briancook5757]

me too

[@thefirstbushman]

yeah man they will go down in history as some of the greats

[@gropenfelt]

Me too.👍

[@boboneil849]

Me Too!

[@janjones4959]

Me too ❤

[@brettchaffe638]

One of the best written songs of all time

[@Mediumal]

Captured the whole spirit of a restless generation. This is like a lot of their best work, pure poetry. Fucking great poetry at that. The music isn't that bad either. "Bookends" is like Pet Sounds and Sgt Pepper - a seminal work of art that defines a period in time. Truly wonderful stuff.

[@jedw]

I can't get over how this was recorded 50 years ago, and yet somehow the audio fidelity, and production sounds far better than anything made today - with all of todays technology!

[@sebastianyu5383]

jedw because they had to use their brains to come up with the best ways to improve sound quality. I don’t know what they did here, but to make the drums sound so great for The Boxer S&G played them in a ducking elevator shaft. Who today would think of that when they could go the lazy way with tech?

[@VelcroKittie]

@jedw .....and lyrically the song is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. This tune is a true work of art.

[@kathywilkes8860]

@@VelcroKittie absolutely

[@SuperStrongdog]

@@sebastianyu5383 The lead into Cecelia has always been such an inventive riff.

[@user-wickedflower]

Matt Roswarski Absobloodylutly ,must be one of the most recognized openings ever

[@chrisledrew297]

A song that captures existential anxiety like no other.

[@babybuntin1]

I'd say Like a Rolling Stone covers that territory a little better. This seems to be more about the enormity of place.

[@llpd9468]

Absolutely...

[@gomogo2000]

Caused by S.A.D. and 85,000 chemicals...

[@CB-xr1eg]

@@gomogo2000 What does that even mean?

[@gomogo2000]

@@CB-xr1eg "I'm empty and aching and I don't know why." And they needed MJ just to feel O.K. It's about a century and a half since we've been more and more exposed to poisons, and malnourished. You can believe this is behind so much emptiness and restlessness today....even much worse than in the late 60's. One huge cause...plant oils...which cause MJ and many other addictions.

[@jakalamanewtown6814]

'America' can be proud, even today by a song the world keeps for people who walk alone in world.

[@basilthrush3537]

‘And the moon rose over an open field’ What a perfect line!

[@seanie002]

I wholeheartedly agree. It’s a line that’s journeyed through life with me since 1972.

[@Woodcut60]

Yes, and probably Paul got his inspiration from a line in ”Sonnets from an Ungrafted Tree” (1923) by Edna St. Vincent Millay, ”Stark on the open field the moonlight fell”.

[@georgestacey9558]

I love that line

[@MsJuliedlp]

There’s something especially magical about the way he sings that particular line too. ❤️

[@miriambucholtz9315]

To this day I get the mental image of the moon in the sky over an open field in a town in NJ where I lived as a little girl. I hated that place because it was so lonely and isolated back then. I saw the moon and the field that night as I was desperately trying to avoid even the possibility of seeing the house where I had lived.

[@angeladunlap3670]

Hurts my soul in a good way! Oh to be young again!

[@Prog-t9d]

Brilliant song: Timeless

[@edwardfestor8726]

Paul Simon at his songwriting.peak. There is an emotional truth to this song, and rich imagery. It perfectly captures an era of optimism and innocence that is now barely a speck in the rear view mirror of life.

[@tomfields3682]

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?

[@stereodreamer23]

My college sweetheart was named Cathy, and lived in Pittsburgh. After I graduated, she stayed there, and I moved to the DC area for a job, and took Greyhounds and Amrak to Pittsburgh frequently to visit her. We drifted apart after a few years, but this song reminds me of her, and those sweet visits, to this day, nearly 40 years later...

[@LeslieSuda]

Traveled often on the New Jersey Turnpike but, never got an accurate car count.

[@wirebrushofenlightenment1545]

Perfect. Just perfect. "I'm empty and aching, and I don't know why ..."

[@pamelanewman5470]

60 years ago I bought this album and it’s as true today as it was then sadly. Thank you Paul Simon.💔

[@rbeeler81]

I have always loved the organ outro, perfect ending.

[@boboneil849]

Chills every time! What a beauty...

[@KYBlooograz]

"..and the moon rose over an open field." Best line EVER!!!

[@thayerinthedesert608]

I was wondering how many people felt this way.

[@silverkitty2503]

@@thayerinthedesert608 beautiful

[@timharris2291]

I agree, but it is because it is in this setting. I'm trying to figure out why it hits so primally. If someone just walked up out of the blue and said the line, it wouldn't mean anything. It builds up step by step. The long hitchhike from Saginaw. Mrs. Wagner's pies. Playing games with the faces. Then stillness. We smoked the last cigarette an hour ago. (I don't even smoke, it's still great.) And then, the moon.

[@louisexplains2175]

"Kathy, I'm lost," I said, though I knew she was sleeping - I'm empty and aching and I don't know why... That line has done it for me for 30yrs.

[@popechucky]

Me too… but for 50 years

[@amyroyle3029]

Me too. And I've turned 40 this year

[@rubberducksays]

The most perfect Simon and Garfunkel song. And that's really saying something.

[@rickylock5609]

Absolutely beautiful song , always reminds me of my first magical trip to the states in 1983 when I was 21. I loved the states so much that it broke my heart to come back to the uk , the people ,the girls ,the sunshine and above all the music.....will always love america ,especially california , but that's what life is all about ...memories & love , u can never go back , so make the most of this precious life everyone and please dont forget to b kind to one another 😊god bless xxx😇

[@philipnorris6542]

My sentiments exactly, Ricky.

[@exactsame]

I had the same experience in 1987 when I was 19...and I really did board a Greyhound in Pittsburgh...I feel so fortunate looking back...

[@julec7337]

Love reading this! Had almost the same feelings. L, Julia

[@specialknees6798]

I know it's been years, but as an American, this comment is surprisingly touching. We get so much hate/ridicule(much of which is admittedly deserved) from the international community, so it's refreshing to see a foreigner(for lack of a better term) remind me that there is something special about this huge mess of a place. i've lived here all my life, yet I still search and yearn for America, should she exist at all.

[@jmilner4766]

And the moon rose over an open field... I love lyrics that create such powerful images in the mind.

[@CarlMCole]

Yes, so simple, yet my favorite line in the whole song!

[@briancook5757]

yep me too

[@basilthrush3537]

It’s the internal vowel aliteration that creates such an impact, as well as the image of loneliness here. I think Paul Simon credits this as one of his best lines. He also commented on the way he uses vowel sound to structure his poetry. This song is one of my absolute favourites - a work of genius.

[@pex_the_unalivedrunk6785]

This sounds absolutely insane with headphones on! 🎧 🔥

[@kylewalker9062]

This song forever reminds me of my long childhood road trips through the American Fronteir. The open roads. The endless fields. The walls of trees. The grazing horses and cattle. The delapidated barns and shacks sulking deep off-road (like the one I captured in my pfp in Georgia). It's amazing how much this song connects with people from all over the world. It articulates the human experience of freely traveling through nature without the restriction of destination. S & G are the voices of my happiest memories of living in America. When I listen to their music, I feel the greatest sense of anemoia and a connection to the many landscapes of North America and the hard but simple and humble lives of its past. To me, this is what folk music is at its core. There is a beautiful mundanity that fights for simplicity in a world of complication, straddles the line between tradition and progressive change, and mourns for those who are lost to time. Folk music is but an homage to the local moods of the natural world.

[@EugeneAxe]

This song was from a very different time. Has an innocent, profound, somber feel to it.

[@davidgottfried1842]

A song of this beauty would never be made in our tacky, crass and vulgar age

[@barredo60]

I'm 64 and although I grew up in the sixties I just discovered this gem for myself.😮 I've been listening to it many times a day for the past week and I keep loving it more and more!

[@horrido666]

One of the greatest years in music.

[@jorgefigueiredo5727]

Simon was a great man he makes the diference in a world with great diferences

[@TheHideChild]

'Kathy, I'm lost' I said, though I knew she was sleeping... What a wonderful lyric!!

[@nazirkazi2588]

I'm empty and aching and I don't know why

[@rosemariekury9186]

Remember riding a Greyhound about 55 years ago! Love this song, not PC correct with the cigarttes,LOL! All of their songs are wonderful.

[@v-town1980]

@@nazirkazi2588 yeah, that line stings.

[@carlrosendorf5210]

Quite simply an anthem for the ages.. I cry ...

[@edwardwelsh3202]

The fifth verse makes me cry.

[@DavidPScherer]

One of my all-time favorite songs. A beautiful melody and story and then one day I realized there isn't a single rhyme in all of the lyrics. His genius as a storyteller, musician, and songwriter and his understanding of the rhythm of words as music is unsurpassed.

[@EugeneTaylor-e2v]

These two really evoke the whole picture of the sixties hippie culture lsd folk and the best of that era

[@andrewjohnstone963]

No their music stood on its own I doubt either even smoked a joint And they were not involved in any hippie movement you have got it wrong These 2 were in a vacuum of their own making ❤

[@sloopjb5359]

Let us give a nice goodbye to America as we knew her..

[@billkenbridge]

She (America) is still there. No need to say 'goodbye.' Just be thankful we have this great music & our family/friends.

[@sloopjb5359]

@@billkenbridge She is still there and was saved by a few inches today. The Biden administration has brought chaos to the whole world and inside the US too

[@birdlynn417]

😭😢

[@oliviakirby1409]

Oh God, this song just distils what it is to be in your early 20s just graduated from college and absolutely lost in the world.

[@bloke_19xx33]

I can relate, Ms. Olivia. For me, it was just an empty feeling when I graduated college. Took me awhile to get over those anxieties, but as they say, 'time heals all wounds'. Hope this finds you well. Cheers and best wishes!

[@ortegaalex13]

You gotta get lost to find yourself....being lost isn't all too bad....It's just accepting who we are isn't always the same.

[@jkanclark]

Surely being educated you’ve heard the saying...”Not all who wander are lost.”

[@baba-yoshino]

it does resonate as well to a man in his 50’s-out of his country where he grew up. Until now me and my wife are still looking for our “America”

[@sebastianyu5383]

I think we’re it not for my struggles with depression I would be equally lost. I have struggled through and now I know exactly who I want to be from age 17.

[@skygazer6898]

You don't have to be American to appreciate this beautiful song. Even now, that line in the song " Cathy, I'm lost" still pulls at my heartstrings and I don't know why, or maybe I do........

[@paulstuder2468]

This song just evokes something that we all seem to have lost. That hope, esprit, love and enthusiasm that we had back in the 70s. That love of travel, when you were poor, but rich in the love for the moment. The future looked wistfully bright and people "loved". Nearly brings me to melancholic tears every time I hear this song...

[@DrBarbtv]

Me too, Paul.

[@Judah_Katzenberger]

Before corporations and CEOs took away all of our purchasing power and commoditized travel.

[@verdatum]

This is one of the greatest songs ever written. And this is one of the greatest recordings of this song ever recorded. It was written decades before I was even born, and yet it means so much to me that I can't even start to put it into words. This song is coupled with so many powerful emotions in my coming of age.

[@v-town1980]

Age has nothing to do with it.

[@alsue4752]

This song hits you on a gut level , like no other . The lyrics and their voices will never ever to be duplicated The Great Simon and Garfunkel ............... They are a True Gift From GOD !!!!!!!

[@howardjdownes]

Getting on the Central Line of the Tube at Tower Hill Station and slipping through the barriers right up a milliparsec away from coming into contact bodily but it is enough and once again we succeed.

[@MauroMoreiraBR]

I too was influenced by these guys, NJ Turnpike is so emotional to me. I found my America at 57, and I’m happy!

[@Cinemaphile7783]

I'm from Jersey and although the turnpike is the least emotional thing about Jersey I got emotional at that line. It has different meaning in the song.

[@MauroMoreiraBR]

@@Cinemaphile7783 You’re not wrong, but I have my reasons. Thx

[@Clownsareus]

Probably the greatest double act ever , waw what a sound