PAUL SIMON
01-THE BOY IN THE BUBBLE – La m
Paul Simon
It was a slow day
And the sun was beating
On the soldiers by the side of the road
There was a bright light
A shattering of shop windows
The bomb in the baby carriage
Was wired to the radio
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
There are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry
It was a dry wind
And it swept across the desert
And it curled into the circle of birth
And the dead sand
Falling on the children
The mothers and the fathers
And the automatic earth
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
Therse are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry
Instrumental break
It's a turn-around jump shot
It's everybody jump start
It's every generation throws a hero up the pop charts
Medicine is magical and magical is art
The Boy in the Bubble
And the baby with the baboon heart
And I believe
These are the days of lasers in the jungle
Lasers in the jungle somewhere
Staccato signals of constant information
A loose affiliation of millionaires
And billionaires and baby
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
Therse are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry
02-KODACHROME – Mi M
Paul Simon
When I think back
On all the crap I learned in high school
It's a wonder
I can think at all
And though my lack of education
Hasn't hurt me none
I can read the writing on the wall
Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's
a sunny day, Oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don't take
If you took all the girls I knew
When I was single
And brought them all together for one night
I know they'd never match
my sweet imagination
And everything looks worse in black and white
Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's
a sunny day, Oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don't take
03-LATE IN THE EVENING – Sib M
Paul Simon
The first thing I remember
I was lying in my bed
I couldn't of been no more
Than one or two
I remember there's a radio
Comin' from the room next door
And my mother laughed
The way some ladies do
When it's late in the evening
And the music's seeping through
The next thing I remember
I am walking down the street
I'm feeling all right
I'm with my boys, I'm with my troops, yeah
And down along the avenue
Some guys were shooting pool
And I heard the sound
Of a cappella groups, yeah
Singing late in the evening
And all the girls out on the stoops, yeah
Then I learned to play some lead guitar
I was underage in this funky bar
And I stepped outside to smoke myself a "J"
And when I came back to the room
Everybody just seemed to move
And I turned my amp up loud and I began to play
And it was late in the evening
And I blew that room away
The first thing I remember
When you came into my life
I said I'm gonna get that girl
No matter what I do
Well I guess I'd been in love before
And once or twice I been on the floor
But I never loved no one
The way that I loved you
And it was late in the evening
And all the music seeping through
04-LONG, LONG DAY – C1 Sol M
Paul Simon
It's been a long, long day
I got some run-down shoes
Ain't got no place to stay
But any old place
will be okay
It's been a long, long day
goodnight, ooooh, goodnight…
I sure been on this road
Done nearly fourteen years
Can't say my name's well known
You don't see my face
in Rolling Stone
But I sure been on this road
goodnight, ooooh, goodnight…
05-NOBODY – C1 Re M
Paul Simon
Who knows my secret broken
Who feels my flesh when I am gone
Who was a witness to the dream
Who kissed my eyes and saw the scream
Lying there
Nobody
Who is my reason to begin
Who plows the earth, who breaks the skin
Who took my two hands and made them four
Who is my heart, who is my door
Nobody
Nobody but you, girl
Nobody but you
Nobody in this whole wide world
Nobody
Who makes the bed that can't be made
Who is my mirror, who's my blade
When I am rising like a flood
Who feels the pounding in my blood
Nobody
06-ME AND JULIO DOWN BY THE SCHOOLYARD – La M
Paul Simon
The mama pajama rolled out of bed
And she ran to the police station
When the papa found out he began to shout
And he started the investigation
It's against the law
It was against the law
What the mama saw
It was against the law
The mama looked down and spit on the ground
Everytime my name gets mentioned
The papa said oy if I get that boy
I'm gonna stick him in the house of detention
Well I'm on my way
I don't know where I'm going
I'm on my way
I'm taking my time
But I don't know where
Goodbye to Rosie the
queen of Corona
See you, me and Julio Down by the schoolyard
See you, me and Julio Down by the schoolyard.
Me and Julio down by the schoolyard
In a couple of days they come and take me away
But the press let the story leak
And when the radical priest
Come to get me released
We was all on the cover of Newsweek
And I'm on my way
I don't know where I'm going
I'm on my way
I'm taking my time
But I don't know where
Goodbye to Rosie
the queen of Corona
See you, me and Julio Down by the schoolyard
See you, me and Julio Down by the schoolyard
Me and Julio down by the schoolyard
07-MOTHER AND CHILD REUNION – Re M
Paul Simon
No I would not give you false hope
On this strange and mournful day
But the mother and child reunion
Is only a motion away,
oh, little darling of mine.
I can't for the life of me
Remember a sadder day
I know they say let it be
But it just don't work out that way
And the course of a lifetime runs
Over and over again
No I would not give you false hope
On this strange and mournful day
But the mother and child reunion
Is only a motion away,
oh, little darling of mine.
I just can't believe it's so,
and though it seems strange to say
I never been laid so low
In such a mysterious way
And the course of a lifetime runs
Over and over again
But I would not give you false hope
On this strange and mournful day
When the mother and child reunion
Is only a motion away,
Oh, oh the mother and child reunion
Is only a motion away
Oh the mother and child reunion
Is only a moment away
08-THAT’S WHY GOD MADE THE MOVIES – Mi M
Paul Simon
When I was born
my mother died
She said bye-bye baby, bye-bye
I said "Where you goin'?"
"I'm just born"
She said I'll only be gone for a while
My mother loved to leave in style
And that's why God made the movies
So I laid around
in my swaddling clothes
Until the doctor came and turned out the light
Then I packed my bag
And my nametag
And stole away into the night
Hoping things would work out alright
That's why God made the movies
Say you will, say you will
Say you'll take me to your loving breast
Say you'll nourish me with your tenderness
The way the ladies sometimes do
Say you won't, say you won't
Say you won't leave me for no other man
Say you'll love me for the way I am
Say you will, say you will
When I was born
my mother died
She said bye-bye baby, bye-bye
And since that day
I've made my way
The notorious boy of the wild
Adopted by wolves when he was a child
That's why God.
That's why God.
That's why God made the movies
09-YOU CAN CALL ME ALL – Fa M
Paul Simon
A man walks down the street
He says why am I soft in the middle now
Why am I soft in the middle
The rest of my life is so hard
I need a photo-opportunity
I want a shot at redemption
Don't want to end up a cartoon
In a cartoon graveyard
Bonedigger Bonedigger
Dogs in the moonlight
Far away my well-lit door
Mr. Beerbelly Beerbelly
Get these mutts away from me
You know I don't find this stuff amusing anymore
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you Betty
And Betty when you call me
You can call me Al
A man walks down the street
He says why am I short of attention
Got a short little span of attention
And wo my nights are so long
Where's my wife and family
What if I die here
Who'll be my role-model
Now that my role-model is
Gone Gone
He ducked back down the alley
With some roly-poly little bat-faced girl
All along along
There were incidents and accidents
There were hints and allegations
Chorus
A man walks down the street
It's a street in a strange world
Maybe it's the Third World
Maybe it's his first time around
He doesn't speak the language
He holds no currency
He is a foreign man
He is surrounded by the sound
The sound
Cattle in the marketplace
Scatterlings and orphanages
He looks around, around
He sees angels in the architecture
Spinning in infinity
He says Amen! and Hallelujah! ….. Chorus
10-OH, MARION – C1 Sol M
Paul Simon
The boy's got brains
He just don't use 'em that's all
The boy's got brains
He just refuse to use 'em and that's all
He said "The more I got to thinkin
The less I tend to laugh"
The boy's got brains
He just abstains
The boy's got a heart
But it beats on the opposite side
It's a strange phenomenon
The laws of nature defied
He said "Its a chance I had to take
So I shifted my heart for its safety sake"
The boy's got a heart but it beats on
His opposite side
I think I'm in trouble here
I should have believed you
When I heard you saying it
The only time
That love is an easy game
Is when two other people
Are playing it
The boy's got a voice
But the voice is his natural disguise
Yes the boy's got a voice
But his words don't connect to his eyes
He says "Oh, but when I sing
I can hear the truth auditioning".
The boy's got a voice
But the voice is natural
11-ONE TRICK PONY – La m
Paul Simon
He's a one trick pony
One trick is all that horse can do
he does one trick only
It's the principal source of his revenue
And when he steps into the spotlight
You can feel the heat of his heart
Come rising through
See how he dances
See how he loops from side to side
See how he prances
The way his hooves just seem to glide
He's just a one trick pony (that's all he is)
But he turns that trick with pride
He makes it look so easy
He looks so clean
He moves like God's
Immaculate machine
He makes me think about
All of these extra movements I make
And all of this herky-jerky motion
And the bag of tricks it takes
To get me through my working day
One-trick pony
He's a one trick pony
He either fails or he succeeds
He gives his testimony
Then he relaxes in the weeds
He's got one trick to last a lifetime
But that's all a pony needs
(that's all he needs)
Guitar break
He looks so easy
He looks so clean
He moves like God's
Immaculate machine
He makes me think about
All of these extra movements I make
And all of this herky-jerky motion
And the bag of tricks it takes
To get me through my working day
One-trick pony, one trick pony…
12-JONAH – C1 Re m
Paul Simon
Half an hour you change
your strings and tune up
Sizing the room up
Checking the bar
Local girls unspoken
conversations
Misinformation
Plays the guitar
They say Jonah
was swallowed by a whale
But I say
there's no truth to that tale
I know Jonah
Was swallowed by a song
No one lets their dreams
be taken lightly
They hold them tightly
Warm against cold
One more year of traveling
'round this ciruit
Then you can work it
into gold
They say Jonah
was swallowed by a whale
But I say
there's no truth to that tale
I know Jonah
Was swallowed by a song
Here's to all the boys
who came along
Carrying soft guitars
in cardboard cases
All night long
Do you wonder where
those boys have gone?
Do you wonder where
13-GOD BLESS THE ABSENTEE – C1 Mi m
Paul Simon
Lord, I'm a working man
And music is my trade
I'm travelin' with this five-piece band
And I play the ace of spades
I have a wife and family
Who don't see much of me
God bless the absentee
Lord, I am a surgeon
And music is my knife
It cuts away my sorrow
And purifies my life
But if I could release my heart
And veins and arteries
I'd say God bless the absentee
I miss my woman so
I miss my bed
I miss those soft places
I used to lay my head
His bones are soft
He flies a silver airplane
He wears a golden cross
God bless the absentee
Lord, this country's changed so fast
The future is the present
The present's in the past
Highways are in litigation
The airports disagree
God bless the absentee
God bless the absentee
14-GRACELAND – Mi M
Paul Simon
The Mississippi Delta
was shining Like a National guitar
I am following the river
Down the highway
Through the cradle of the civil war
I'm going to Graceland
Graceland
In Memphis Tennessee
I'm going to Graceland
Poorboys and Pilgrims with families
And we are going to Graceland
My traveling companion is nine years old
He is the child of my first marriage
But I've reason to believe
We both will be received
In Graceland
She comes back to tell me she's gone
As if I didn't know that
As if I didn't know my own bed
As if I'd never noticed
The way she brushed her hair from her forehead
And she said losing love
Is like a window in your heart
Everybody sees you're blown apart
Everybody sees the wind blow
I'm going to Graceland
Memphis Tennessee
I'm going to Graceland
Poorboys and Pilgrims with families
And we are going to Graceland
And my traveling companions
Are ghosts and empty sockets
I'm looking at ghosts and empties
But I've reason to believe
We all will be received
In Graceland
There is a girl in New York City
Who calls herself the human trampoline
And sometimes when I'm falling, flying
Or tumbling in turmoil I say
Oh, so this is what she means
She means we're bouncing into Graceland
And I see losing love
Is like a window in your heart
Everybody sees you're blown apart
Everybody sees the wind blow
In Graceland, in Graceland
I'm going to Graceland
For reasons I cannot explain
There's some part of me wants to see
Graceland
And I may be obliged to defend
Every love, every ending
Or maybe there's no obligations now
Maybe I've a reason to believe
We all will be received
In Graceland
15-HOW THE HEART APPROACHES WHAT IT YEARNS - Mi M
Paul Simon
In the blue light
Of the Belvedere Motel
Wondering as the television burns
How the heart approaches
what it yearns
In a fever
I distinctly hear your voice
Emerging from a dream,
the dream returns
How the heart approaches
what it yearns
After the rain on the Interstate
The headlights slide past the moon
A bone-weary traveler
Waits by the side of the road
Where's he goin?
---Guitar break---
I dream we are lying on the top of a hill
And headlights slide past the moon
I fold in your arms
And your voice is the heat
of the night
I'm on fire
In a phone booth
In some local bar and grill
Rehearsing waht I'll say,
my coin returns
How the heart approaches
what it yearns
How the heart approaches
what it yearns