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Chi di voi, nato negli anni dell'italico boom ecomico ('50es) non ha/avuto nella propria discoteca questo album, alzi la mano? Ne conto pochi, davvero pochi! Alla pari di coloro che non hanno visto almeno una volta il film "Il Laureato" (The Graduate) di Mike Nichols (Oscar) col grande Dustin Hoffman. I "Greatest Hits" qui raccolti rappresentano la summa musicale di Simon & Garfunkel popolare duo pop-folk americano attivo alla fine degli anni '60 e scioltosi all'alba del nuovo decennio, per intraprendere onorate carriere soliste mai all'altezza di quanto precedentemente raggiunto. Una parte dei brani è proprio tratto dalla colonna sonora del film e si può dire siano anche i brani più famosi e scrivo in particolare della celeberrima Mrs. Robinson in esordio, la trascinante "The Sound of Silence" qui in versione live ed ancora l'ammaliante, ma anche un po' soporifera (e mi scusino i fan più accesi) "Scarborough Fair" l'unica scritta a quattro mani dagli autori oltre alla bellissima "Condor Pasa".
Gli altri brani sono tutti firmati da Paul Simon fra questi "Bridge over Troubled Water" tratta dall'album omonimo del 1970, l'autentico canto del cigno ed l'ultimo prodotto assieme da questa copia ben assortita, quattro sono tratti da concerti dal vivo come "Kathy's Song" dedicata al primo grande amore di Simon l'allora diciassettenne Kathleen Chitty conosciuta nel suo primo viaggio in Inghilterra e "For Emily" assai adatta ad esaltare la vellutata voce di Art Garfunkel ed infine "The 59th Bridge Song", oltre naturalmente al già citato "Souno del Silenzio". Purtroppo non è dato sapere ove siano stati registrati ne quando questi brani in quanto sia l'originale 'LP, che il CD, entrambi editi dalla CBS, erano alquanto spartani: copertina fronte e retro (foto dei protagonisti in quel di New York) titoli dei brani, loro durata e ciccia.
Nonostante la "povertà" informativa questa notevole raccolta è accreditata di vendite, solo negli Stati Uniti, per 14 milioni di pezzi, ovviamente senza contare i numerosissimi successi dei singoli qui riportati di cui almeno una coppia giunsero al vertice delle classifiche sia americana che inglese (per non citare quelle delle decine d'altri paesi in cui raggiunsero il medesimo apice)......... e scusate s'è poco.
Ecco, mi pareva doveroso riesumare questa raccolta epocale, che magari poco dirà ai più giovani senza sua memoria, qualcuno la troverà addirittura sonnacchiosa, salvo "I'm a Rock" e ovviamente "Cecilia" non a caso posta alla fine dell'album giusto per risvegliare gli animi assorti degli ascolatatori, ma che ha rappresentato lo specchio di una giovane generazione, borghese ed irrequieta, abbastanza ben rappresentata dal "laureato".
In genere non mi pare corretto dare un giudizio ad un album che contiene grandi successi anche se la scelta può essere stata fatta correttamente, infatti ogni appassionato del duo americano troverà facilmente qualche assenza importante o magari un esubero, quale potrebbe essere l'inedita "America", ma per i motivi di cui sopra è doveroso fare un'eccezione ed il risultato non può che portare al massimo dei voti.
Concludo osservando che dopo quasi mezzo secolo dalla produzione, depurato dall'aspetto sentimentale, trovo seppur abbastanza semplici gli arrangiamenti, come essi siano ancora originali, freschi e gradevoli, probabilmente ancora in grado di trasmette la magia degli anni in cui riscossero tanto successo.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
01 Mrs. Robinson (03:54)
And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know
God bless you, please Mrs. Robinson
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
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
God bless you, please, Mrs. Robinson
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
Hey, hey, hey
Hide in the 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
Koo-koo-ka-choo, Mrs. Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know
God bless you, please, Mrs. Robinson
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
Hey, hey, hey
Sitting on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon
Going to the candidate's debate
Laugh about it, shout about it
When you've got to choose
Every way you look at this you lose
Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio
Our nation turns it's lonely eyes to you
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson
Joltin Joe has left and gone away
Hey hey hey
03 The Boxer (05:12)
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.
Lie-la-lie...lie-le-lie-le-lie-le-lai.... lai-le-lai...........lai-le-lai-lelelelelai-lelelelelaiii
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
And 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...
05 The Sound of Silence (03:08)
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 shared
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 sign said, "The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls, and whispered in the sounds of silence."
06 I Am a Rock (02:54)
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,
Well, I've heard the word 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.
07 Scarborough Fair / Canticle (03:11)
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.
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt:
(On the side of a hill in the deep forest green,)
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
(Tracing a sparrow on snow-crested ground,)
Without no seams nor needlework,
(Blankets and bedclothes, a child of the mountains)
Then she'll be a true love of mine.
(Sleeps unaware of the clarion call)
Tell her to find me an acre of land:
(On the side of a hill, a sprinkling of leaves.)
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
(Washed is the ground with so many tears,)
Between the salt water and the sea strand,
(A soldier cleans and polishes a gun.)
Then she'll be a true love of mine.
Tell her to reap it in a sickle of leather:
(War bellows blazing in scarlet battalions,)
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
(Generals order their soldiers to kill)
And gather it all in a bunch of heather,
(And to fight for a cause they've long ago forgotten.)
Then she'll be a true love of mine.
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.
09 Bridge Over Troubled Water (04:54)
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.
10 America (03:35)
"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 bowtie 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
13 Bookends Theme (01:22)
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
14 Cecilia (02:53)
Oh Cecilia, you're breaking my heart
You're shaking my confidence daily
Oh, Cecilia, I'm down on my knees
I'm begging you please to come home
Oh Cecilia, you're breaking my heart
You're shaking my confidence daily
Oh, Cecilia, I'm down on my knees
I'm begging you please to come home
Come on home
Making love in the afternoon with Cecilia
Up in my bedroom (making love)
I got up to wash my face
When I come back to bed
Someone's taken my place
Oh Cecilia, you're breaking my heart
You're shaking my confidence daily
Oh, Cecilia, I'm down on my knees
I'm begging you please to come home
Come on home
Jubilation, she loves me again,
I fall on the floor and I'm laughing,
Jubilation, she loves me again,
I fall on the floor and I'm laughing
Carico i commenti... con calma
