Simon & Garfunkel's Old Friends album

Simon & Garfunkel's
Old Friends

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Album information

Album title: Old Friends
Date of album release: November 4, 1997
Compilation producer: Bob Irwin (along with various producers for individual songs)
Entrance of album to Billboard Pop Chart: [Not applicable]
Highest position held by album in Billboard Pop Chart: [Not applicable]
Number of songs: 59
Notes: INSERT ALBUM NOTES HERE

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Album synopsis

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):

The Sound Of Silence

Homeward Bound

I Am A Rock

The Dangling Conversation

Scarborough Fair / Canticle

The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)

A Hazy Shade Of Winter

At The Zoo

Fakin' It

Mrs. Robinson

Old Friends & Bookends Theme

The Boxer

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Cecilia

The Only Living Boy In New York

Song For The Asking

El Condor Pasa (If I Could)

For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her (Live)

America

My Little Town

4:05
2:03
5:06
1:41
3:07
2:49
3:10
2:29
4:55
3:40
2:52
3:10
1:22
2:45
4:55
3:40
2:52
3:10
1:22
2:45

Total time: 44: (43.14)

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Track One: The Sound Of Silence
by Paul Simon
(c) 1964 Paul Simon (BMI)

Hello darkness, my old friend,
I've come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
'Neath the halo of a street lamp,
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of
   a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence.

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening,
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence.

"Fools," said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows.
Hear my words that I might teach you,
Take my arms that I might reach you."
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
And echoed
In the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning,
In the words that it was forming.
And the signs said,
"The words of the prophets
   are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls.
And whisper'd in the sounds of silence."

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Track Two: Homeward Bound
by Paul Simon
(c) 1966 Paul Simon (BMI)

I'm sitting in the railway station.
Got a ticket to my destination.
On a tour of one-night stands
My suitcase and guitar in hand.
And ev'ry stop is neatly planned
For a poet and a one-man band.
Homeward bound,
I wish I was,
Homeward bound,
Home where my thought's escaping,
Home where my music's playing,
Home where my love lies waiting
Silently for me.

Ev'ry day's an endless stream
Of cigarettes and magazines.
And each town looks the same to me,
The movies and the factories
And ev'ry stranger's face I see
Reminds me that I long to be,
Homeward bound,
I wish I was,
Homeward bound,
Home where my thought's escaping,
Home where my music's playing,
Home where my love lies waiting
Silently for me.

Tonight I'll sing my songs again,
I'll play the game and pretend.
But all my words come back to me
In shades of mediocrity
Like emptiness in harmony
I need someone to comfort me.
Homeward bound,
I wish I was,
Homeward bound,
Home where my thought's escaping,
Home where my music's playing,
Home where my love lies waiting
Silently for me.
Silently for me.

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Track Three: I Am A Rock
by Paul Simon
(c) 1965 Paul Simon (BMI)

A winter's day
In a deep and dark December;
I am alone,
Gazing from my window to the streets below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

I've built walls,
A fortress deep and mighty,
That none may penetrate.
I have no need of friendship;
   friendship causes pain.
It's laughter and it's loving I disdain.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

Don't talk of love,
But I've heard the words before;
It's sleeping in my memory.
I won't disturb the slumber of feelings
   that have died.
If I never loved I never would have cried.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

I have my books
And my poetry to protect me;
I am shielded in my armor,
Hiding in my room, safe within my womb.
I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

And a rock feels no pain;
And an island never cries.

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Track Four: The Dangling Conversation
by Paul Simon
(c) 1966 Paul Simon (BMI)

It's a still life watercolor,
Of a now late afternoon,
As the sun shines through the curtained lace
And shadows wash the room.
And we sit and drink our coffee
Couched in our indifference,
Like shells upon the shore
You can hear the ocean roar
In the dangling conversation
And the superficial sighs,
The borders of our lives.

And you read your Emily Dickinson,
And I my Robert Frost,
And we note our place with bookmarkers
That measure what we've lost.
Like a poem poorly written
We are verses out of rhythm,
Couplets out of rhyme,
In syncopated time
And the dangling conversation
And the superficial sighs,
Are the borders of our lives.

Yes, we speak of things that matter,
With words that must be said,
"Can analysis be worthwhile?"
"Is the theater really dead?"
And how the room is softly faded
And I only kiss your shadow,
I cannot feel your hand,
You're a stranger now unto me
Lost in the dangling conversation.
And the superficial sighs,
In the borders of our lives.

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Track Five: The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)
by Paul Simon
(c) 1966 Paul Simon (BMI)

Slow down, you move too fast.
You got to make the morning last.
Just kicking down the cobble stones.
Looking for fun and feelin' groovy.

Hello lamppost,
What'cha knowing?
I've come to watch your flowers growing.
Ain't cha got no rhymes for me?
Doot-in' doo-doo,
Feelin' groovy.

Got no deeds to do,
No promises to keep.
I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep.
Let the morning time drop all its petals on me.
Life, I love you,
All is groovy.

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Track Six: Scarborough Fair / Canticle
Arranged by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel
(c) 1966 Paul Simon (BMI)

[Simon and Garfunkel:]
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Remember me to one who lives there?
She once was a true love of mine.

[Garfunkel-1:]
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt:
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
Without no seams nor needle work,
Then she'll be a true love of mine.

[Simon-1:]
On the side of a hill in the deep forest green.
Tracing of sparrow on snow-crested brown.
Blankets and bedclothes the child of the mountain
Sleeps unaware of the clarion call.

[Garfunkel-2:]
Tell her to find me an acre of land:
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
Between the salt water and the sea strand,
Then she'll be a true love of mine.

[Simon-2:]
On the side of a hill a sprinkling of leaves.
Washes the grave with silvery tears.
A soldier cleans and polishes a gun.
Sleeps unaware of the clarion call.

[Garfunkel-3:]
Tell her to reap it with a sickle of leather:
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
And gather it all in a bunch of heather,
Then she'll be a true love of mine.

[Simon-3:]
War bellows blazing in scarlet battalions.
General order their soldiers to kill.
And to fight for a cause they've long ago forgotten.

[Simon and Garfunkel:]
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Remember me to one who lives there?
She once was a true love of mine.

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Track Seven: 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 Eight: 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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Track Nine: 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 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: Old Friends & Bookends Theme
by Paul Simon
(c) 1968 Paul Simon (BMI)

Old Friends:

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. . . .

Bookends Theme:

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 Twelve: The Boxer
by Paul Simon
(c) 1968 Paul Simon (BMI)

I am just a poor boy.
Though my story's seldom told,
I have squandered my resistance
For a pocketful of mumbles,
Such are promises
All lies and jest
Still, a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest.

When I left my home
And my family,
I was no more than a boy
In the company of strangers
In the quiet of the railway station,
Running scared,
Laying low,
Seeking out the poorer quarters
Where the ragged people go,
Looking for the places
Only they would know.

iai iaaai iai iai iaai aaai iaaiaai (Li la li... li la la la li la li)
(Li la li... li la la la li la li)
(La la la la li...)
Lie-la-lie.....

Asking only workman's wages
I come looking for a job,
But I get no offers,
Just a come-on from the whores
On Seventh Avenue
I do declare,
There were times when I was so lonesome
I took some comfort there.

Lie-la-lie.....

Then I'm laying out my winter clothes
And wishing I was gone,
Going home
Where the New York City winters
Aren't bleeding me,
Leading me,
Going home.

In the clearing stands a boxer,
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of ev'ry glove that laid him down
Or cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame,
"I am leaving, I am leaving."
But the fighter still remains

Lie-la-lie.....

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Track Thirteen: Bridge Over Troubled Water
by Paul Simon
(c) 1969 Paul Simon (BMI)

When you're weary, feeling small,
When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all;
I'm on your side. When times get rough
And friends just can't be found,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.

When you're down and out,
When you're on the street,
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you.
I'll take your part.
When darkness comes
And pain is all around,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.

Sail on silvergirl,
Sail on by.
Your time has come to shine.
All your dreams are on their way.
See how they shine.
If you need a friend
I'm sailing right behind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.

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Track Fourteen: Cecilia
by Paul Simon
(c) 1969 Paul Simon (BMI)

Cecilia, you're breaking my heart,
You're shaking my confidence daily.
Oh Cecilia, I'm down on m my knees,
I'm begging you please to come home.

Cecilia, you're breaking my heart,
You're shaking my confidence daily.
Oh Cecilia, I'm down on m my knees,
I'm begging you please to come home.
Come on home

Making love in the afternoon with Cecilia
Up in my bedroom,
(Makin' in love in my bed)
I got up to wash my face
When I come back to bed,
Someone's taken my place.

Cecilia, you're breaking my heart,
You're shaking my confidence daily.
Oh Cecilia, I'm down on m my knees,
I'm begging you please to come home.
Come on home

(Pick it up, pick it up)

(Pick it up, pick it up)

Jubilation,
She loves me again,
I fall on the floor and I laughing

Jubilation,
She loves me again,
I fall on the floor and I laughing.

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Track Fifteen: The Only Living Boy In New York
by Paul Simon
(c) 1969 Paul Simon (BMI)

Tom, get your plane right on time.
I know your part'll go fine.
Fly down to Mexico.
Da-n-da-da-n-da-n-da-da and here I am,
The only living boy in New York.

I get the news I need on the weather report.
I can gather all the news I need on the weather report.
Hey, I've got nothing to do today but smile.
Da-n-do-da-n-do-da-n-do and here I am
The only living boy in New York

Half of the time we're gone but we don't know where,
And we don't know here.
(Ahhh. . . here I am)

Half of the time we're gone but we don't know where,
And we don't know here.

Tom, get your plane right on time.
I know you've been eager to fly now.
Hey let your honesty shine, shine, shine
Da-n-da-da-n-da-da-n-da-da
Like it shines on me
The only living boy in New York,
The only living boy in New York.

(Ahhh. . . here I am)
(Ahhh. . . here I am)

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Track Sixteen: Song For The Asking
by Paul Simon
(c) 1969 Paul Simon (BMI)

Here is my song for the asking
Ask me and I'll play
So sweetly, I'll make you smile

This is my tune for the taking
Take it, don't turn away
I've been waiting all my life

Thinking it over, I've been sad
Thinking it over, I'd be more than glad
To change my ways for the asking

Ask me and I'll play
All the love that I hold inside

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Track Seventeen: El Condor Pasa (If I Could)
by Paul Simon, Jorge Milchberg, D.A. Robles
English lyrics by Paul Simon
(c) 1970 Charing Cross Music, Inc.
Arrangement of 18th-Century Peruvian
Folk Melody by Jorge Milchberg,
(c) 1933, 1963, 1970 Edward B. Marks Music Corporation and Jorge Milchberg
Instrumental Track by Los Incas

I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail.
Yes I would.
If I could,
I surely would.

I'd rather be a hammer than a nail.
Yes I would.
If I could,
I surely would.

Away, I'd rather sail away
Like a swan that's here and gone.
A man gets tied up to the ground,
He gives the world its saddest sound. Its saddest sound.

I'd rather be a forest than a street.
Yes I would.
If I could,
I surely would.

I'd rather feel the earth beneath my feet,
Yes I would.
If I could,
I surely would.

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Track Eighteen: For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her (Live)
by Paul Simon
(c) 1966 Paul Simon (BMI)

What I dream I had:
Pressed in organdy;
Clothed in crinoline of smoky burgundy;
Softer than the rain.
I wandered empty streets
Down past the shop displays.
I heard cathedral bells
Tripping down the alleyways,
As I walked on.

And when you ran to me
Your cheeks flushed with the night.
We walked on frosted fields of
   juniper and lamplight,
I held your hand.
And when I awoke and felt you warm and near,
I kissed your honey hair with my grateful tears.
Oh I love you, girl.
Oh, I love you.

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Track Nineteen: 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 Twenty: My Little Town
by Paul Simon
(c) 1975 Paul Simon (BMI)

In my little town
Ask me and I will play
So sweetly, I'll make you smile

This is my tune for the taking
Take it, don't turn away
I've been waiting all my life

Thinking it over, I've been sad
Thinking it over, I'd be more than glad
To change my ways for the asking

Ask me and I will play
All the love that I hold inside

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