I’ve had some email interaction with my brothers lately (they’re smart enough not to deal with Facebook or its like) about a band famous in the 60s and 70s (their second album reached number one in 1969) and, as an Amazon Prime documentary asks, where the heck they went. An interesting story that got me listening to their music (I can’t say “again” here because I was a bit late to really “dig” them back in the 70s when my older brother liked them). I must say — they’re some incredible musicians.
And I’ll write more about them (and others of that era) someday. I’m leaving it to you to do the work if you want to hear more of whom I’m speaking. I’ve given you enough clues. I’ve got thoughts, and this piece here is just the opening salvo.
I was listening to one of my favorite groups today (Yes), and they’ve done a couple of covers of a song I love much more in the original, Simon and Garfunkels “America” from their album Bookends. If you know the pair, you know that Paul Simon did the heavy lifting when it came to the songwriting (although Art Garfunkel contributed significantly in vocals and arrangements). But what I love perhaps most about their songs are Simon’s lyrics, and “America” is an absolutely beautiful example. There have been many before and since, but I not many at all who can match Simon’s poetry; and in “America,” he takes you there, on a bus, but through something deeper. Questioning. There’s something there…we’re young and searching…but for what? And where?
If you’ve never heard, listen. It seems an anthem of the time, even if they didn’t know it.