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Song of the Day #1,163: ‘Sparrow’ – Simon & Garfunkel

It seems appropriate a week after I named Paul Simon as my favorite songwriter to explore his work in more detail. Welcome to Paul Simon Weekends!

Over the next few months, I will explore Simon’s work both with Simon & Garfunkel and as a solo artist. His career has spanned 47 years and 16 studio albums, plus a soundtrack and several live records. Lots of blog fodder there. So let’s dive right in with the 1964 debut of Simon & Garfunkel.

Wednesday Morning, 3 AM is a modest little folk record, released quietly in 1964 and quickly forgotten. It features five Paul Simon originals and seven covers of classic folk songs. The duo cover ‘Peggy-O’ and ‘Go Tell It On the Mountain’ as well as a track by one of Simon’s heroes — Bob Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’.’

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Song of the Day #1,162: ‘I Would Be In Love Anyway’ – Frank Sinatra

Track Five of Frank Sinatra’s Watertown is the concluding song of Side One (or Part One, as it is labelled on the packaging). Remember when albums had sides?

The segmentation is appropriate on an album like this one. You can even look at the the two sides as separate acts in a play, with the flipping of your vinyl record playing the role of intermission. I believe the composers plotted and sequenced the album with exactly that in mind.

This concluding song of Part One has our protagonist looking back at the events that have led him to this point and deciding that he wouldn’t trade the past for a better present.

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Song of the Day #1,161: ‘Michael & Peter’ – Frank Sinatra

‘Michael & Peter’ doesn’t fall at the exact center of Frank Sinatra’s Watertown, but it is nonetheless the emotional centerpiece of the album. So much hope, pride and regret is packed into the song’s five minutes.

It starts off with a slow intro in which the abandoned husband describes his two sons. “If you look at them both for awhile, you can see that are you, they are me,” he says, beautifully summing up the way we see ourselves in our children, not just physically but emotionally.

The song then kicks it up a gear, and we get our first glimpse of the life this man is leading on his own. Unlike in ‘For Awhile,’ it now feels like he really is moving on and making the best of things.

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Song of the Day #1,160: ‘For a While’ – Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra’s Watertown is wonderful from start to finish, but I consider ‘For a While’ its first truly transcendent moment.

The song swells to life with an orchestral flourish before settling into an easy stroll over which Sinatra gives one of his most effective vocal performances.

I’ve read criticism of Sinatra’s voice on this album, and certainly he was on the other side of his best years when he recorded it, but I find these among his most heart-breaking vocals.

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Song of the Day #1,159: ‘Goodbye (She Quietly Says)’ – Frank Sinatra

Song Two of my ten-day exploration of Frank Sinatra’s Watertown takes place chronologically earlier than the opening track. Here Sinatra sets the scene of the married couple’s break-up.

One of my favorite things about Watertown is how much lyricist Jake Holmes conveys about these characters in very few words. In the excellent liner notes of my Watertown CD, Holmes is interviewed about his use of subtext throughout the song cycle and touches on some of the moments I’ve always loved in these tunes.

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