Paul Simon’s second solo album, There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, was released a year after his first and featured some of his most enduring songs.
Album opener ‘Kodachrome,’ for example, is a lively concert staple which opens with the memorable line, “When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it’s a wonder I can think at all.” And the album’s final track, ‘Loves Me Like a Rock,’ is a bit of gospel among a bunch of mellow folk-pop.
‘St. Judy’s Comet’ is a gentle lullaby and ‘Something So Right’ is one of Simon’s finest songs, with its achingly perfect melody and bittersweet theme of romantic uncertainty.
But all those gems aside, my favorite song on There Goes Rhymin’ Simon has to be ‘American Tune.’ This is another song I heard for the first time on the Central Park CD, and another I assumed was a Simon and Garfunkel song at first.
‘American Tune,’ ostensibly about the immigrant experience but universal in its appeal as a balm for uneasy souls, is one of the prettiest songs I’ve ever heard.
I just learned that not all of the credit belongs to Simon, however, as the melody is based in part on a work by Bach. Well, ain’t that a kick in the pants! Still, it doesn’t take away from Simon’s achievement, as I doubt Bach could have matched his tune to lyrics as effective as these.
And many times confused
Yes, and I’ve often felt forsaken
And certainly misused
But I’m all right, I’m all right
I’m just weary to my bones
Still, you don’t expect to be
Bright and bon vivant
So far away from home, so far away from home
And I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered
I don’t have a friend who feels at ease
I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered
or driven to its knees
But it’s all right, it’s all right
We’ve 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’s gone wrong
And I dreamed I was dying
And I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying
We come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age’s most uncertain hour
and sing an American tune
But it’s all right, it’s all right
You can’t be forever blessed
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
Meet Me In Montauk 
Most days when I comment, I play the song while writing. Today, I couldn’t. I started, but then I just had to wait, because each line, each note of this song so grips me that it demanded my attention. That’s how great this song is.
I would be curious to hear the Bach piece that inspired Simon. I suppose if you are going to “steal” you may as well steal from another musical genius.
I did a little more digging, and found this Peter, Paul and Mary clip in which they sing a folk song set to the same Bach tune. Definitely the same melody in the verses:
What a lovely song, and I agree that the mix of the Bach tune with these beautiful lyrics works so well. As Amy said yesterday “I love Paul Simon!” Oh and I loved the Peter Paul and Mary clip, made me sad as Mary died recently.
How perfectly appropriate that a song called “American Tune” borrow music from another country and culture. I imagine Simon chose to integrate the Bach melody to further illustrate the point he’s making throughout the song.
Meanwhile, I can’t believe that I don’t own this album. I, too, have live versions of several of the songs you name above only on the Central Park album. Those versions are wonderful, but I’d like to own the original studio recording, too.
Good find on that Peter, Paul & Mary tune. And i think Amy’s point is well taken. Simon’s use of a “foreign” melody exemplifies all that Simon is saying lyrically as to what defines and makes special an “American” tune.