(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Sun 2 November 2025 21:00, UK
It’s difficult to pinpoint the beginning of the end for Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.
It’s hard to figure out what sparked the start of their drawn-out fallout because there were countless chips along the way. The nail in the coffin, however, had to be Simon’s decision to put out a solo album when they’d been working on material together, material that would eventually be re-worked and released as Simon’s solo record, Hearts and Bones.
Simon and Garfunkel were already clinging to the frayed edges of their relationship at this particular moment in time. The record went out in 1983, and when you think about the fact that Simon once said that he and Garfunkel were already “over before the ’70s began”, any attempts to rectify a partnership that only flourished at one moment in time seem especially futile.
That said, the reasons why Simon eventually erased Garfunkel’s work from Hearts and Bones make sense. A lot of the material is incredibly personal, especially songs like the title track, which saw Simon reflecting on his relationship with Carrie Fisher, asking questions like, “Tell me why / Why won’t you love me / For who I am.”
Simon and Garfunkel had worked together on personal lyrics before, but this reached deeper into the dynamics of self-consciousness and the battle of the heart and mind, with specific references to things in Simon’s own life. Another that seemingly saw Simon expressing his displeasure and constant wishing of a better future was ‘Train in the Distance’. Hinging on the literal metaphor of waiting for something to arrive, ‘Train in the Distance’ tackles a complex relationship and the constant “thought that life could be better”.
At first, Simon wasn’t sure that the meaning would be clear. The lyrics themselves speak to a convoluted dynamic and the persistent waiting, the haunt at the back of the mind that wonders whether there’s something better. But he isn’t necessarily saying that those anxieties come from anywhere real. Much like the metaphor of the train in the distance, it’s there, a lingering presence, but there’s no evidence to suggest it’ll arrive – or if it’s even the train you need to get to where you want to be.
As Simon once explained, per Unmask Us, “The title of the song and the line that keeps recurring is a metaphor.”
He went on, “And although I liked the metaphor and I thought it was effective, by the time I got to the end of the song, I said, ‘Well, look, I don’t know if anyone will understand what I’m talking about here.’ So, in case you didn’t get what this metaphor is about, let me just say this is what it is: everybody thinks things could be better.”
One of the biggest themes of the song – and the relationship that Simon is reflecting on – is disagreement. Not necessarily in the finer details, or relating to trivial matters, but in the fundamental meaning of marriage. In the beginning, Simon’s narrator is young, but he goes through the motions and ticks all the boxes, before reflecting upon the years about whether he decided not to give it all a chance before it had even begun.
Simon concludes all of this towards the end of the song, recalling how their moments are now civil, sometimes they’ll laugh together, and everything will be as fine as it can be. But “what information pertains” is that we’re always thinking about what else is out there, whether things could be better, which, according to Simon, is forever “woven indelibly into our hearts and our brains”.
Related Topics