Da quarant’anni ormai il nome di Paul Simon rimanda ad echi di canzoni che sono entrate, a pieno diritto, nell’immaginario collettivo come un susseguirsi piacevole di ritornelli, musiche e testi che hanno segnato la semplice storia di un contemporaneo songwriter d’oltreoceano. E di chi ha avuto il piacere di stare ad ascoltare queste canzoni, a volte di straordinaria bellezza.
Non è un mistero che Simon fosse arrivato recentemente ad un punto difficile della sua carriera, che a sessantaquattr’anni sembrava stesse dando segni di cedimento. Poi, grazie ad una provvidenziale, quanto occasionale e per certi aspetti bizzarra convergenza, Simon è entrato in contatto con il “mago” Eno con il quale è riuscito a superare lo stato di “empasse”.
Come qualcuno ha osservato prima di me, è sorprendente come Simon canti in “Surprise” con la sua naturale e ancora limpidissima voce, come se intorno a sé vi sia ancora il consueto background fatto di strumenti perlopiù esclusivamente acustici, laddove invece Eno ha provveduto a tessere i suoi “Sonic Landscapes”con aromi e sapori “discretamente etnici” o, comunque, in odor di “world music”.
Le canzoni, già ariose nella scrittura, raggiungono climi di variabile intensità, anche ritmica che lasciano intendere un Simon convinto e, a mio parere, convincente, sulla bontà del progetto. Sono 11 canzoni in cui il tradizionale lirismo di Simon si incontra con i fantasiosi dettagli elettronici di Brian Eno in un fenomeno creativo inatteso e talora entusiasmante per gli effetti armonici che ne scaturiscono.
Se poi si aggiunge che sono stati scelti musicisti di indiscutibile talento, come Steve Gadd, Bill Frisell o Gil Goldstein non risulterà difficile comprendere come tutti i tasselli sembrino combaciare . Simon, in reatà non è nuovo alle molteplici e svariate possibilità delle contaminazioni. Già “Graceland” o “Rhythm Of the Saints” suonavano in questa direzione ; dopo sei anni di silenzio, quando già mille dubbi si affacciavano sul futuro del cantautore, Simon è però riuscito a fugarli in modo semplice: lasciandosi avvolgere da climi per lui insoliti e curiosi.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
03 Outrageous (03:24)
It's outrageous to line your pockets off the misery of the poor.
Outrageous, the crimes some human beings must endure.
It's a blessing to wash your face in the summer solstice rain.
It's outrageous a man like me stand here and complain.
But I'm tired.
Nine hundred sit-ups a day.
I'm painting my hair the color of mud,
Mud okay?
I'm tired, tired.
Anybody care what I say?
No!
I'm painting my hair the color of mud.
Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Tell me, who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Aw, who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
It's outrageous the food they try to serve in a public school.
Outrageous, the way they talk to you like your some kind of clinical fool.
It's a blessing to rest my head in the circle of your love.
It's outrageous I can't stop thinking 'bout the things I'm thinking of.
And I'm tired.
Nine hundred sit-ups a day.
I'm painting my hair the color of mud,
Mud okay?
I'm tired, tired.
Anybody care what I say?
No!
Painting my hair the color of mud.
Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Tell me, who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Tell me, who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
God will.
Like he waters the flowers on your window sill.
Take me.
I'm an ordinary player in the key of C.
And my will was broken by my pride and my vanity.
Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
God will.
Like he waters the flowers on your window sill.
Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
05 Wartime Prayers (04:49)
Prayers offered in times of peace are silent conversations,
Appeals for love or loves release, in private invocations.
But all that is changed now,
Gone like a memory from the day before the fires.
People hungry for the voice of God
Hear lunatics and liars
Wartime prayers, wartime prayers
In every language spoken,
For every family scattered and broken.
Because you cannot walk with the holy,
If you're just a halfway decent man.
But I don't pretend that I'm a mastermind
With a genious marketing plan.
I'm trying to tap into some wisdom,
Even a little drop would do.
I want to rid my heart of envy
And cleanse my soul of rage
Before I feel.
Times are hard, hard times,
But everybody knows all about hard times.
The thing is, what are you gonna do?
Will you cry?
And try to muscle through?
And try to rearrange your stuff?
But when the wounds are deep enough,
And it's all that we can bear,
We wrap ourselves in prayer.
Because you cannot walk with the holy,
If you're just a halfway decent man.
But I don't pretend that I'm a mastermind
With a genious marketing plan.
I'm trying to tap into some wisdom,
Even a little drop would do.
I want to rid my heart of envy
And cleanse my soul of rage
Before I'm through.
A mother murmurs in twilight sleep
And draws her babies closer.
With hush-a-bies for sleepy eyes,
And kisses on the shoulder.
To drive away despair
She sends a wartime prayer.
08 Another Galaxy (05:22)
On the morning of her wedding day, when no one was awake, she drove across
the border. Leaving all the yellow roses on her wedding cake. Her mother's
tears, her breakfast order.
She's gone, gone, gone.
There is a moment, a chip in time, when leaving home is the lesser crime.
When your eyes are blind with tears, but your heart can see: another life,
another galaxy.
That night her dreams are storm-tossed as a willow. She hears the clouds, she
sees the eye of a hurricane, as it sweeps across her island pillow.
But she's gone, gone, gone.
There is a moment, a chip in time, when leaving home is the lesser crime.
When your eyes are blind with tears, but your heart can see:
Another life, another galaxy.
11 Father and Daughter (04:11)
If you leap awake in the middle of a bad dream
And for a fraction of a second you can't remember where you are
Just open your window and follow your memory upstream
To the meadow in the mountain where we counted every falling star
I believe the light that shines on you will shine on you forever (forever)
And though I can't guarantee there's nothing scary hiding under your bed
I'm gonna stand guard like a postcard of a golden retriever
And never leave til I leave you with a sweet dream in your head
I'm gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you'll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father who loved his daughter more than I love you
Trust you intuition
It's just like goin' fishing
You cast your line and hope you get a bite
But you don't need to waste your time
Worrying about the marketplace
Try to help the human race
Struggling to survive it's harshest night
I'm gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you'll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father who loved his daughter more than I love you
I'm gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you'll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father who loved his daughter more than I love you
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Altre recensioni
Di The Punisher
"Sto girando il mondo a cercare un’ispirazione che mi riporti agli antichi fasti del passato."
"Ci ha pensato il genio di Eno a farle carucce e trendy con quei bassi finissimi e quei suoni glaciali e cool."