I haven't seen it discussed here so would like to see your opinions on the line, "I've got some real estate here in my bag". I'm empty & aching & I don't know why", is expressing of the pains of growing into an adult & the uncertainty of his future. I have always felt Paul Simon writes possibly the most insightful & intelligent lyrics set to incredible but simple music.Īs for the meaning of the song I think a very poignant slice of youth transitioning into adulthood, searching for a better life no plans, no resources, no defined goals but idealistic. WOW! Very powerful! An incredibly broad, epic told from a seemingly very small & insignificant point of view in such a short space. After playing acoustics together all night, the host "closed the show" playing this song solo. One of the most hauntingly beautiful songs of all time! Although I grew up knowing this song, the first time I REALLY heard this was at a get together/jam with a bunch of friends a few years ago. Even if we don't agree with each other, let's be honest: this is one of the best songs of all time, and we should admire it instead of bickering. If you do, I hope you can understand the method to my madness. If you have no idea who Kathy is (I Googled her because she features rather prominently in Simon's writings), then this is a beautiful love song. It is night time in ordinary England for ordinary Kathy but on the way to exciting Michigan, the day is nowhere near over for the thoughtful and almost desperate Paul Simon.Īnyway, that's my interpretation. Whilst it might seem that she has merely become tired on this trip, what is actually happening (in my head, anyway), is Simon is yearning for her but, due to the time difference, she is sleeping. "Though I knew she was sleeping," is, to me, the most obvious. "I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine." Whilst Simon is on his travels and all the way to America, she is at home, minding her own business, reading a magazine. "Kathy, I sit" is him recounting his travels to her, action by action, in hope that she will respond and be interested. We can tell he missed Kathy who wasn't with him by the desperate phrases he uses - "Kathy, I'm lost," for example.īack to my point: Kathy is not with him. He was going back to America (perhaps with Art as it mentions two people in the song) on a train. Simon, on the other hand, wanted bigger things. She was ordinary Kathy from round the corner. She didn't want to be anything extraordinary. In fact, she refused to talk to the media about him and refused to attend the re-opening of the train stop where Simon wrote Homeward Bound. However, she didn't want to know him when he was famous. Kathy is Paul's lover who he met in England. Paul mentions Kathy and, whilst it might seem like the way he is talking sounds like he's with her, if we delve deeper we could see that she isn't. To me, Kathy is not with Paul in this song.
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