Oprah says she and Gayle got into the worst spat of their 30-year friendship somewhere outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma. What did they argue about? Song lyrics.
The fight had been brewing for two days. While driving across the plains, Oprah and Gayle began discussing the meaning of ´Graceland,´ a Paul Simon song that Oprah says is one of her all-time favorites.
´Was he talking about Elvis Presley´s Graceland when he did that?´ Gayle said.
´He was talking about going to Graceland,´ Oprah said. ´Yes.´
´I thought he was talking about something in Africa, and his love for Africa,´ Gayle said. ´The story doesn´t make any sense about going to Elvis Presley´s home. ´¦ I understood ´Bridge Over Troubled Water.´ That made sense.´
´Gayle, it does,´ Oprah said. ´He obviously liked Elvis Presley, and he´s finding some solace there.´
After a lengthy disagreement, Oprah says she was very frustrated with her friend. ´What I wanted to do was stop the car, open the door and get out,´ she says. Instead, Oprah took a few ´cleansing breaths´ and continued on toward Tulsa.
Even with a copy of Paul Simon´s lyrics, Oprah and Gayle couldn´t agree on the meaning of his song, ´Graceland.´ Who did they find to settle their dispute? The songwriter himself!
´Let me see if I can clarify the issue a little bit,´ Paul says. ´Oprah, you´re right. The song is about a real trip that I took to Graceland. It´s not really autobiographical, although there are elements that are. It is about a trip there with a father and his 9-year-old son trying to find some kind of solace from a loss of love.´
Before Oprah can gloat, Paul says that Gayle´s interpretation is also right! ´The song is also about Africa,´ he says. ´The song was made in South Africa, and the musicians were South African. ´¦ The South Africans were going through a time when they went through the reconciliation with their past, and in that way, that´s what the father was looking for in his trip to Graceland and hoping to find there. So in a sense, you´re both right!´
Now that the spat is settled, Gayle says she´s never discussing ´Graceland´ ever again!
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