:: Biography  :: Albums  :: Lyrics

By Pages:   1    2    3    Add Your New Review About The Song The Reviews about American Tune (page 2/ 3) ------ performed by Paul Simon In harmony with America | Reviewer: Marty Stahl | 10/1/08 I don't remember when I first heard this or whether I first heard it from Simon and Garfunkel or the Starland Vocal Band cover of the song. I know I heard it after returning from Vietnam and before I had any idea how deeply that journey had affected me (others noticed and I did not). Somehow this song is the most honest and hopeful "American Tune" for me. It seems to reach right into my heart and the heart of America. It acknowledges the dream and that we often fall short of the dream and yet keep on to "another working day" with our rest disturbed by our thoughts of this land that is a part of us as much as we are a part of it. Thanks Paul! An eternally fresh song! | Reviewer: Prakash Rao | 6/18/08 As a 50 something, this song has been relevant for me decade after decade, experience after experience, crisis after crisis. After immigrating from India more than 7000 miles away and arriving on a jet plane and not the Mayflower, the words "Still, you don't expect to be Bright and bon vivant - - So far away from home, so far away from home" resonates. Many are the weary days when I asked myself what I am doing here. and then , Still, tomorrow's going to be another working day And I'm trying to get some rest That's all I'm trying to get some rest" The current oil crisis and the perceived decline of America - "for we lived so well so long" and later "You can't be forever blessed". In my opinion, one of the best songwriters - ever! this song is my favorite | Reviewer: Patty Long | 1/21/08 I used to listen to Graceland, over and over. I thought I knew most of Paul Simon's songs; funny I just discovered this one recently- I think it is my favorite. Takes everything that is happening in our country, and brings it home to the individual. I love how you feel the greatness and then the smallness of life all in one song. And the testiment to our fragility and resiliency. A great song that is as current today as when written | Reviewer: Roy Telfer | 1/11/08 This song means a lot to me as a disillusioned chid of the sixties. Now my daughter and I text it to each other when her university "life" gets too hard. "Tomorrow's (always) going to be another working day"......... A song of deep meaning | Reviewer: Pam | 11/27/07 This song had great meaning for me as I joined the workforce as an over-educated, underpaid drone in 1973. Like many, I reflected upon the trauma of Vietnam, the gas shortages, the pain of the reality not meeting the expectations of the dream. Today, at 57, the song has meaning for me as I reflect upon an America that seems to be going in the wrong direction, away from freedom and idealism and toward imperialism and socialism. This is a grey sad song for a middle-aged person who has seen her generation fail in its youthful quest to make America a better, happier place. What's gone wrong | Reviewer: Craig | 10/26/07 Ever since I first heard it, I've thought it was the saddest song ever written. "We come in the ages most uncertain hours and sing an American Tune... ...we lived so well so long Still, when I think of the road we're traveling on I wonder what's gone wrong I can't help it, I wonder what has gone wrong... The American "Recessional" | Reviewer: Nancy | 9/10/07 This song by Paul Simon has always given me shivers. I thank the people who point out that it is based on "O Sacred Head, Sore Wounded." Having had a Lutheran upbringing, you'd think I'd have figured that out . . . I've always thought this song is the American equivalent of Rudyard Kipling's "Recessional," which Kipling wrote for national celebration of Queen Victoria's 60th year on the throne. Kipling's language is dated, (and there is one line that is full of the racism of his time, so it's not the perfect, politically correct poem), but it took courage to write and publish it in the context of the pomp and glorification of the British Empire in 1897. And, man, he knew what was coming. The poets always seem to know. If Paul Simon hadn't written another song, this one alone would make his name. Paul Simon is a genius. | Reviewer: Alan | 8/22/07 Sometimes the creative process really leaps, over time, race, gender and is capaable of reaching Into your essence. When a person is able to accomplish this magic there is a tugging and I start to feel the wonder of life. Now that is a lot to say about how a song, photo, performance, film or even a chance encounter with everyday nature can make you feel > but when all the right stimuli are present ... BAM !! There it is: - a direct connnection to life. (or better yet you fill in the blank, "a direct connecton to life" is a poor description to what a masterpiece makes me feel.) Our artist peoples specialize in this. Paul Simon is a genius at his form of presentation and I thank him greatly for still allowing us all into his process. And I want to thank the first reviewer for mentioning the classical connection to American tune. I didn't know this and am now going to find that music. Written with a smile. alan American Tune | Reviewer: chris lucas | 7/13/07 The tune was written by Hans Hassler. JS Bach harmonized it and used it in The St. Matthew Passion. I've always been intrigued by Paul's use of the tune. His lyrics fit perfectly the somber mood, and he really makes the tune his own. As far as Paul's song goes, I've never heard any song sum up the feelings I get when I consider the events of 9-11. Although written some 30 years earlier, the images of dreams being shattered, the "soul rising unexpectedly", the "statue of liberty floating out to sea", and "the nation's most uncertain hour", and having to get up and go to work the next ("tomorrow is just another working day") never fail to conjur up that day for me. Oddly enough, another of my favorite Simon songs is America. Go figure. Even better | Reviewer: Mike Amis | 6/11/07 a great tune, borrowed from Bach, a work of common grace following the even better tune and lyrics "O sacred Head, now wounded", attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153). Add Your New Review About The Song By Pages:   1    2    3