![\"\u2018Mother](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2018Mother-and-Child-Reunion-Paul-Simon-1972-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Credit: Far Out \/ Album Cover<\/p>\n
Fri 17 July 2026 18:30, UK <\/p>\n
The surface can be deceptive in the world of music, particularly when it comes to a master craftsman like Paul Simon<\/a>.<\/p>\n The diminutive New Yorker is a true artist, not content with simply writing pretty melodies with words that don\u2019t strain to rhyme, like his hero Cole Porter, he\u2019s a firm believer that there should be a marriage between the music and the meaning. Sometimes, this marriage can also be a thrilling deception, revealing postmodernist depth when you glance at the lyric sheet.<\/p>\n Yet, there was one song where he feared that sense of juxtaposition was missed by the masses, and he worried that he had written \u201cthe wrong lyric\u201d as a result. While 1975\u2019s classic \u2018Still Crazy After All These Years\u2019 might have been a gorgeous track that captured a scene of city lights and reconciliations, the lyric sheet is far darker upon further inspection.<\/p>\n \u201cThe song is a bit darker than people think<\/a>,\u201d he told Q. \u201cBecause the chorus and the phrase are so suggestive of a long time passing, it has a touch of the \u2018Auld Lang Syne\u2019 to it.\u201d In reality, this is no \u2018long time no see\u2019 tale of reminiscence and reverie over a few casual beers. The melody might be luscious and candlelit, but the protagonist is bruised and battered.\u00a0<\/p>\n He doesn\u2019t \u201ctend to socialise\u201d, he sticks to his \u201cold familiar ways\u201d, and he sits in his darkened apartment watching \u201cthe cars\u201d and fearing that he\u2019ll \u201cdo some damage\u201d one of these days. The double meaning of the title is, in fact, that the heartbroken man at the heart of the tryst is attempting to cling to his sanity. In truth, the scene is less candelit and more like the classic scene that unfurls in Fargo.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think people pay attention to the lyrics of the song,\u201d Simon contested. In part, that\u2019s because of how beautiful it is and how quickly your mind is flooded with images from the truly evocative opening line: \u201cI met my old lover on the street last night\u201d. Not only is it a classic opening when it comes to storytelling, but it is also a masterstroke of psychological conditioning. <\/p>\n Interestingly, at the time, Simon\u2019s own love life was fraught. His first marriage to Peggy Harper was on the brink of divorce. His collaboration with Art Garfunkel was also in ruin. Was he contemplating loneliness and a tragic descent? <\/p>\n Further reading: From The Vault<\/strong><\/p>\n While there\u2019s certainly no suggestion that he was clinging to sanity, cosying up to this disposition gave him a starting point that ties into his philosophy on songwriting, which he described as thus: \u201cIt\u2019s very helpful to start with something that\u2019s true.<\/a>\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Simon continued, \u201cIf you start with something that\u2019s false, you\u2019re always covering your tracks. Something simple and true, that has a lot of possibilities, is a nice way to begin.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps that\u2019s also why \u2018Still Crazy After All These Years\u2019 is so misunderstood: at the outset, the tale is so utterly relatable.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/faroutmagazine.co.uk\/wp-content\/themes\/far-out-magazine\/img\/google-discover.svg\")
<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Far Out \/ Album Cover Fri 17 July 2026 18:30, UK The surface can be deceptive in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":485764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[29],"tags":[133883,20829,171,975,21043,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-941679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-133883","tag-1970s","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-paul-simon","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116936864487998339","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}