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| Headline | I know what diamonds is about |
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| Author | Comment |
Proof
May-24-2009, 07:05 GMT
USA - United Staates America
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| Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes means a rich girl who is in pain but can´t complain because of the suffering of the poor and sick around her...but her pain is real, she simply cannot in good conscious give it a voice...maybe paul feels this way about his own hurt sometimes...what right do I have to complain? It´s "Outrageous" to do so...but life is hard on everyone
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Ian
May-24-2009, 07:15 GMT
USA - United Staates America
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| ´´I said ´Hey Senor,that´s astute´...thinking´ What would the ´sign of a teaspoon...sign of a wave´ line about do you think? |
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Joey
May-24-2009, 15:01 GMT
Canada
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| She offers him a cup of tea, he turns it down. It all happens wordlessly. "Domesticity," is how Paul explained it. |
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DannyJ
May-24-2009, 15:22 GMT
United Kingdom
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| I always thought...
The sign of a teaspoon - Is everything ok?
The sign of a wave - A bit rocky, or So-So... |
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Scaaty
May-24-2009, 18:55 GMT
Ireland
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| there are those who think this is a very insensitive song, with total disregard for those South Africans who were so badly treated, maimed and/or died in the diamond mines. I know of a few people who still won´t listen to Paul Simon, because of that time. |
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Ian
May-25-2009, 01:38 GMT
USA - United Staates America
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| Yeah,you can see how the Simon detractors must feel about Graceland sometimes. First going to South Africa at that time to record with black musicians,and then singing a song about a presumably rich American woman who wears diamonds to accentuate her footwear,and then to write a song,and name an album Graceland,the name of a Southern mansion in the USA,in a state where slavery was rampant until the end of the Civil War! Of course,I don´t see it that way at all. Paul,I think,uses words sometimes just because they sound nice,or they scan well,and have enough syllables to fit whatever melody he´s writing. He´s too refined to write a song with a chorus like ´Botha is a pig,come see him roll in mud´. And thank heavens for that too I say! |
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Matthew Evans
May-25-2009, 03:59 GMT
United Kingdom
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| I cannot take credit for this but this is just the best interpretation of Diamonds I´ve heard (somebody posted it on an Old PS website about a decade ago)
Basically the "she" in the song (the person with "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes") is the South African music that Paul fell in Love with. People say she´s crazy but she´s actually hiding diamonds.
Paul is the poor boy and empty as a pocket. Now how empty is a pocket? A pocket could be full! Paul is saying he´s empty but he´s empty as a pocket - it is as full or empty as you make it. This refers to Paul´s writers block after Hearts And Bones. He was a "poor boy with nothing to lose"
She slipped into his pocket with his car keys - Paul has said he listened to the Gumboots tape while driving in his car. He started singing over the top of it without thinking ("She said you´ve taken me for granted because I please you")
So Paul´s attention has been caught and he teases the listener to try to understand the metaphor - as if everybody knows what he´s talking about.
The sign of the teaspoon and wave is to highlight the contrasting styles of Paul and the African musicians when they first met but soon Paul learns to change the way he writes songs (changes clothes) and even starts to improve as a songwriter (and puts on aftershave). This makes him almost an equal as it compensates for his ordinary shoes!
So now the album "Graceland" is written and the story is that it is released to major success around the world with a tour to follow... "Honey take me dancing" but the record company delays the release and the whole band ends up in New York "By the bodegas etc..." and Paul decides to write another song.
The new song is all about how he found S.African music, fell in love and made an album. The song is called Diamonds on the soles of her shoes. ;-) |
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Ian
May-25-2009, 06:47 GMT
USA - United Staates America
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| Whether that´s accurate or not,it´s a very interesting interpretation Matthew. I´m going to read it a few more times-I like it. In the end he sings ´People say ´I´m´ crazy...´,not ´She´. What might that signify? |
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Mimi
May-25-2009, 06:53 GMT
Austria
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| The strength of really good lyrics for me is, when everybody can put his or her own thoughts in it. I believe there is no such thing as the "right" interpretation. One can only find out, what the lyrics mean for them.
But it´s always fun to hear,what others think about it. |
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DannyJ
May-25-2009, 08:29 GMT
United Kingdom
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| Matthew, that was really interesting, Thank You!
Mimi, I agree with you, that a truly great song can be interpreted made personal by the listner... |
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Gerard
May-25-2009, 09:08 GMT
New Zealand
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| This is not a song I´ve ever analysed at all, just simply enjoyed the beauty of it. But I do like this interpretation alot. And it was the last song written for the album, almost an afterthought from what I understand - and written very fast.
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Nikki
May-25-2009, 12:03 GMT
Australia
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| What an interesting thread! I have to admit that i´m like you Gerard, I never really think much about the words, I just drink them up along with the music. That is a very clever interpretation though. Following the same line of thought, regarding the change from she to I, Ian, maybe now he´s caught the fever and the music´s part of him so he´s just as misunderstood as the music?
I like Paul´s explanation about teaspoon and the wave though - I´ve always wondered about that and it´s just a perfect display of his poetic capacity, being able to turn ´domesticity´ into two beautiful lines which take on this new mysterious air. |
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Bodo
May-25-2009, 12:59 GMT
Austria
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| Thanks for finding this again Matthew. Years ago I was reading it, but could not remember where and did not find it (ok I tried not too long because I had really no idea how to start)
It is the best and most interesting interpretation I have ever read. |
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Scaaty
May-25-2009, 14:43 GMT
Ireland
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| Wonderful interpretation, thanks. Paul uses the word Crazy referring to himself quite a lot in his work, Still Crazy, Crazy Love, part II, and one of my favourite lines, from Ace In The Hole,
some say I was crazy but my ace in the hole
Is that I knew that I was crazy
So I never lost my self-control
So Paul who is Mr Normal everyman in every other aspect of his life, has this crazy wonderful genius for music and lyrics
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Gerard
May-25-2009, 22:25 GMT
New Zealand
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| What I Love most about his songwriting is his capacity to convey so much with just one phrase, sometimes enough to summarise the meaning of the whole song. Two examples of that are "decades gliding by like Indians time is cheap" from Rene & Georgette Magritte and "the thought that life could be better is woven indelibly into our hearts and brains" from Train In The Distance.
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