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Album information
Album title: Bookends
Date of album release: April 3, 1968
Album producers: Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, and Roy Halee; with assistance by John Simon and Bob Johnston
Entrance of album to Billboard Pop Chart: April 27, 1968
Highest position held by album in Billboard Pop Chart: #01
Number of songs: 12
Notes: INSERT ALBUM NOTES HERE
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Album synopsis
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Sounds Of Silence is Simon & Garfunkel's second recorded album, but the first album that sold well both in the United States and in the United Kingdom.
With the exception of Anji, all the songs (music and lyrics) are written and composed by Paul Simon.
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Track listing
Click on a song title to view the respective lyrics.
Track listing and approximate lengths (mins:secs):
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Track One: Bookends Theme (Instrumental)
by Paul Simon
(c) 1968 Paul Simon (BMI)
(Instrumental)
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Track Two: Save The Life Of My Child
by Paul Simon
(c) 1968 Paul Simon (BMI)
"Good God! Don't jump!"
A boy sat on the ledge.
An old man who had fainted was revived.
And everyone agreed it would be a miracle
indeed
If the boy survived.
"Save the life of my child!"
Cried the desperate mother.
The woman from the supermarket
Ran to call the cops.
"He must be high on something," someone said.
Though it never made The New York Times.
In The Daily News, the caption read,
"Save the life of my child!"
Cried the desperate mother.
A patrol car passing by
Halted to a stop.
Said officer MacDougal in dismay:
"The force can't do a decent job
'Cause the kids got no respect
For the law today (and blah blah blah)."
"Save the life of my child!"
Cried the desperate mother.
"What's becoming of the children?"
People asking each other.
When darkness fell, excitement kissed the crowd
And made them wild
In an atmosphere of freaky holiday.
When the spotlight hit the boy,
The crowd began to cheer,
He flew away.
"Oh, my Grace, I got no hiding place."
(Repeat until end of song)
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Track Three: America
by Paul Simon
(c) 1968 Paul Simon (BMI)
"Let us be lovers,
We'll marry our fortunes together.
I've got some real estate
Here in my bag."
So we bought a pack of cigarettes
And Mrs. Wagner pies,
And walked off
To look for America.
"Kathy," I said,
As we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh,
"Michigan seems like a dream to me now.
It took me four days
To hitchhike from Saginaw.
I've come to look for America."
Laughing on the bus,
Playing games with the faces,
She said the man in the gabardine suit
Was a spy.
I said, "Be careful,
His bow tie is really a camera."
"Toss me a cigarette,
I think there's one in my raincoat."
"We smoked the last one
An hour ago."
So I looked at the scenery,
She read her magazine;
And the moon rose over an open field.
"Kathy, I'm lost," I said,
Though I knew she was sleeping:
"I'm empty and aching and
I don't know why."
Counting the cars
On the New Jersey Turnpike
They've all come
To look for America,
All come to look for America,
All come to look for America.
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Track Four: Overs
by Paul Simon
(c) 1967 Paul Simon (BMI)
Why don't we stop fooling ourselves?
The game is over,
Over,
Over.
No good times, no bad times,
There's no times at all,
Just The New York Times,
Sitting on the windowsill
Near the flowers.
We might as well be apart.
It hardly matters,
We sleep separately.
And drop a smile passing in the hall
But there's no laughs left
'Cause we laughed them all.
And we laughed them all
In a very short time.
Time
Is tapping on my forehead,
Hanging from my mirror,
Rattling the teacups,
And I wonder,
How long can I delay?
We're just a habit
Like saccharin.
And I'm habitually feelin' kinda blue.
But each time I try on
The thought of leaving you,
I stop. . .
I stop and think it over.
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Track Five: Voices Of Old People
by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel
(c) 1968 Paul Simon (BMI)
Liner note printed on the album:
"Art Garfunkel recorded old people in various
locations in New York and Los Angeles over
a period of several months. These voices were
taken from those tapes. We wish to thank
the United Home for Aged Hebrews and the
California Home for the Aged at Reseda
for their cooperation."
James Gilliard (of gilljam@ais.net) transcribed to text the voices on the track. Actions or special notes are noted in brackets ( [ ] ) while blank spaces indicate a new voice or scene.
Transcription:
"I've got little in this world. I give honesty without regret.
One hundred dollars for that picture. I remember taking a picture of. . . "
"Ohhhhh. I must show you. I must show you her picture. [Footsteps]
This was me and my husband when we were first married."
"I slept on one side and left room for my husband. But this, this, this,
Dr. Kayside, I still do it, I still lay on the half of the bed.
[Background: "And that's me when I was two years old."]
"He used to sneak in though."
"I still haven't seen [name, hard to make out] though. He was spitting
blood for the last forty-eight hours. And I can't get him to mucus for the last two
or three months. [Background: car horn]
Oh yes, and I maintain, I maintain strongly to this minute that I don't think
it's an ordinary cold"
"God forgive me. But no person allowed money is pathetic."
"Children and mothers, that's the way we have it, the mother give, there is mother, darling."
"Does mother. . . Do mothers?"
"That is mother's life to live for your child. Yes, my dear."
"I couldn't get younger. I have to be an old man. That's all. Well."
"Are you happy here honey? Are you happy living with us?"
"Yes, I have my walker" [hard to hear in background: two voices at once]
"But Mr. Singer, are you happy living with us here?"
"But we don't do that dear."
"But are you happy?"
"If you mean, if you could say yes and I saw and I was so happy and everybody. . . What is this?
What is it?"
"This just is beautiful. Like just a room. Your own room in your own home."
End of transcription.
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Track Six: Old Friends
by Paul Simon
(c) 1968 Paul Simon (BMI)
Old friends,
Old friends,
Sat on their park bench
Like bookends.
A newspaper blown through the grass
Falls on the round toes
On the high shoes
Of the old friends.
Old friends,
Winter companions,
The old men
Lost in their overcoats,
Waiting for the sunset.
The sounds of the city,
Sifting through trees,
Settle like dust
On the shoulders
Of the old friends
Can you imagine us
Years from today,
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange
To be seventy.
Old friends,
Memory brushes the same years.
Silently sharing the same fears. . . .
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Track Seven: Bookends Theme
by Paul Simon
(c) 1968 Paul Simon (BMI)
Time it was,
And what a time it was,
It was. . .
A time of innocence,
A time of confidences.
Long ago. . . it must be. . . .
I have a photograph
Preserve your memories;
They're all that's left you.
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Track Eight: Fakin' It
by Paul Simon
(c) 1967 Paul Simon (BMI)
When she goes, she's gone.
If she stays, she stays here.
The girl does what she wants to do.
She knows what she wants to do.
And I know I'm fakin' it,
I'm not really makin' it.
I'm such a dubious soul,
And a walk in the garden
Wears me down.
Tangled in the fallen vines,
Pickin' up the punch lines,
I've just been fakin' it,
Not really makin' it.
Is there any danger?
No, no, not really.
Just lean on me.
Takin' time to treat
Your friendly neighbors honestly.
I've just been fakin' it,
I'm not really makin' it.
This feeling of fakin' it--
I still haven't shaken it.
Prior to this lifetime
I surely was a tailor.
("Good morning, Mr. Leitch.
Have you had a busy day?")
I own the tailor's face and hands.
I am the tailor's face and hands and
I know I'm fakin' it,
I'm not really makin' it.
This feeling of fakin' it--
I still haven't shaken it.
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Track Nine: Punky's Dilemma
by Paul Simon
(c) 1968 Paul Simon (BMI)
Wish I was a Kellogg's Cornflake
Floatin' in my bowl takin' movies,
Relaxin' awhile, livin' in style,
Talkin' to a raisin who 'casionn'ly plays L.A.,
Casually glancing at his toupee.
Wish I was an English muffin
'Bout to make the most out of a toaster.
I'd ease myself down,
Comin' up brown.
I prefer boysenberry
More than any ordinary jam.
I'm a "Citizens for Boysenberry Jam" fan.
Ah, South California.
If I become a first lieutenant
Would you put my photo on your piano?
To Maryjane--
Best wishes, Martin.
(Old Roger draft-dodger
Leavin' by the basement door),
Everybody knows what he's
Tippy-toeing down there for.
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Track Ten: Mrs. Robinson
(from the motion picture "The Graduate")
by Paul Simon
(c) 1968 Paul Simon (BMI)
And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson,
Jesus loves you more than you will know
(Wo, wo, wo).
God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson,
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
(Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey).
We'd like to know
A little bit about you
For our files.
We'd like to help you learn
To help yourself.
Look around you. All you see
Are sympathetic eyes.
Stroll around the grounds
Until you feel at home.
And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson,
Jesus loves you more than you will know
(Wo, wo, wo).
God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson,
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
(Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey).
Hide it in a hiding place
Where no one ever goes.
Put it in your pantry with your cupcakes.
It's a little secret,
Just the Robinsons' affair.
Most of all, you've got to hide it
From the kids.
Coo coo ca-choo, Mrs Robinson,
Jesus loves you more than you will know
(Wo, wo, wo).
God bless you, please, Mrs. Robinson,
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
(Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey).
Sitting on a sofa
On a Sunday afternoon,
Going to the candidates' debate,
Laugh about it,
Shout about it,
When you've got to choose,
Every way you look at it you lose.
Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you
(Ooo, ooo, ooo).
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson?
"Joltin' Joe" has left and gone away
(Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey).
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Track Eleven: A Hazy Shade Of Winter
by Paul Simon
(c) 1966 Paul Simon (BMI)
Time,
Time,
Time, see what's become of me
While I looked around for my possibilities.
I was so hard to please.
But look around,
Leaves are brown.
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter.
Hear the Salvation Army band.
Down by the riverside's
Bound to be a better ride
Than what you've got planned.
Carry your cup in your hand.
And look around,
Leaves are brown,
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter.
Hang on to your hopes, my friend.
That's an easy thing to say,
But if your hopes should pass away
Simply pretend that you can build them again.
Look around,
The grass is high,
The fields are ripe,
It's the springtime of my life.
Seasons change with the scenery;
Weaving time in a tapestry.
Won't you stop and remember me
At any convenient time?
Funny how my memory skips
Looking over manuscripts
Of unpublished rhyme.
Drinking my vodka and lime.
I look around,
Leaves are brown,
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter.
Look around,
Leaves are brown,
There's a patch of snow on the ground. . .
Look around,
Leaves are brown,
There's a patch of snow on the ground. . .
Look around,
Leaves are brown,
There's a patch of snow on the ground. . .
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Track Twelve: At The Zoo
by Paul Simon
(c) 1967 Paul Simon (BMI)
Someone told me
It's all happening at the zoo.
I do believe it,
I do believe it's true.
It's a light and tumble journey
From the East Side to the park;
Just a fine and fancy ramble
To the zoo.
But you can take the crosstown bus
If it's raining or it's cold,
And the animals will love it
If you do.
(If you do now).
Somethin' tells me
It's all happening at the zoo.
I do believe it,
I do believe it's true.
The monkeys stand for honesty,
Giraffes are insincere,
And the elephants are kindly but
They're dumb.
Orangutans are skeptical
Of changes in their cages,
And the zookeeper is very fond of rum.
Zebras are reactionaries,
Antelopes are missionaries,
Pigeons plot in secrecy,
And hamsters turn on frequently.
What a gas! You gotta come and see
At the zoo.
At the zoo ooo. . .
(Repeat until end of song)
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