The progressive rock band Yes recorded a vastly different version which they released as a single in 1972. The song is included on the soundtrack to the film. In the movie Almost Famous, the teenaged character Anita (Zooey Deschanel) plays this song to explain why she is leaving home to explore the country. When they actually see the moon rising over an open field, they feel their journey was meant to happen. The story begins with a pair of teenage runaways traveling by bus to New York, riffing off the lyrics all the way. This was used by James Leo Herlihy in his all-but-forgotten classic novel, The Season of the Witch. Other musicians on the track include Joe Osborn on bass and Larry Knechtel on organ.Īt their live show in Central Park, Simon & Garfunkel repeated the line “Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike” because the home crowd could relate to the image of massive traffic on New Jersey highways. Blaine also played on Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. The prolific session drummer Hal Blaine played on this, and considers it one of his favorites. You’re not sitting there going, ‘That didn’t rhyme, wait a second.’ It’s not an issue.” We’re oblivious to that being an ingredient because we’re so involved in the story. There’s not one line that rhymes and I will tell some of the best songwriters you’ve ever met that particular element and you can see them stop and go through it in their head. In his Songfacts interview, Gerry Beckley of America (no relation) broke it down: “The entire song is prose. There are no rhymes in this song, which is quite a feat of songwriting. We come from the identical place in our attitude, and the spine that’s holding us up, we are the same person. Garfunkel is especially fond of the section where they sing, “And walked off to look for America.” To told Paul Zollo in 1993: “That has a real upright, earnest quality because we both have the identical soul at that moment. The song is a great example of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel singing in unison, which was a hallmark of their sound. It is also about the “American Dream” – the guarantee that you will make it if you stumble upon this country. Paul is deeply confused and unsatisfied, but he doesn’t know why.
In this song, Paul Simon and his longtime girlfriend Kathy Chitty (from “Kathy’s Song”) are coming to America (moving from England). The first Simon and Garfunkel album I bought was the Greatest Hits in the 80s. The song was originally on the album Bookends released in 1968 but this record was released as single in 1972 to promote their Greatest Hits. This song peaked at #95 in the Billboard 100 and #25 in the UK in 1972. Paul Simon is on a different level than other songwriters. I could listen to this song on a tape loop for eons and eons and be happy.
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