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P_SnA_Gluv
May-08-2005, 18:17 GMT
IP:
USA - United Staates America

I´m 15 and I Love Simon and Garfunkel ans solos...etc. I listen to them because they actually make MUSIC with a MEANING as opposed to this....stuff...people listen to today.

Eileen
May-09-2005, 05:29 GMT
IP:
USA - United Staates America

So, what about rebelliousness? Is it true that Paul Simon fans aren´t rebellious?

Eileen
May-09-2005, 07:39 GMT
IP:
USA - United Staates America

Also, how do you physically respond to his music? Do you dance, sing, just sit and listen?

Klausi
May-09-2005, 08:23 GMT
IP:
Germany

I think Paul Simon-Fans listen to American Tune, dance to Late In The Evening or You Can Call Me Al, maybe cry to Slip slidin`away and sing to The Boxer.

More important is the question of "rebellion".

Rock and Roll was the connection of black and white music, Elvis Presley the sexual hero of this generation. After these messages it was finished.

60`s Rock also was the message of sexual liberation (being possible without "negative consequences"), peace, flower-power, drugs, protest against the "establishment", anti-racism, anti-war.

These were heavier messages, but ca. by 1970 you could say everything in public or at home without shocking anybody. And you could dress and behave like you wanted.

As Paul Simon never wrote trendy, he was always relevant. Sometimes you even had the impression, he is "anti-trendy". He is the sort of man who is automatically careful, if many people say the same. He fought against any image one gave him.

So the average Simon-Fan is definitely not rebellious, except against stupidity or intolerance.

Guido
May-09-2005, 16:05 GMT
IP:
Italy

First of all, why I became a fan. I was hooked by the music. I had been "educated" with music of the same era (Dylan, the Beatles), later I met Simon and Garfunkel; it all started with a song (The Boxer), then the more I discovered his songs, the more I felt that this man was saying things that I felt and thought. I was completely won by Graceland, and once again it was the music (the novelty and the beauty) that got me.

I am not totally sure that Paul never wrote trendy. In the ´50s he was writing rock´n´roll, in the ´60s he wrote folk and later folk rock,in the ´70s he was closer to black music, in the ´80s he wrote world music. He always wrote with much personality (and at least in the cases of folk rock and world music he was among the "leaders" of the new wave), but in those moments he was surely "trendy" (although he contribute to create the trend). I understand what Klausi means saying ""He is the sort of man who is automatically careful, if many people say the same. He fought against any image one gave him."", and I agree with that; nevertheless I think that there were moments when Paul was trendy or in the mainstream of his time. However, he always kept relevance because he always wrote with a strong pernoality, with a trademark.

I don´t know if there is a protype fan, the question is surely too big (at least for my Possibilities). I guess that, in addition to an innate (or acquired) availability for some features of the singer or the songs, people tend to be influenced by models and environments (in the very large meaning of the word). So, perhaps, people start to read poetry because they like Paul Simon... Am I confusing cause and effect? Perhaps it is so, but I don´t think that I would ever have bought a Derek Walcott´s book if it was not for Paul Simon.

I must close saying that I have met several Paul Simon fans, from many places in the world, and I felt very comfortable and at ease with most of them, even when music was not the subject.

Bye :-)

Marieno
May-09-2005, 16:27 GMT
IP:
France

Rebellious??? who is rebellious? rebellious against what?..."rebellion" (with many commas) is good for the 14 years Old teenagers of the richer countries of this world... do you have to be "rebellious" or to have "rebellious" fans to be a great singer songwritter?...Fortunately, Paul Simon doesn´t try to be a "protest singer" (with many commas, again); On the contrary, he talks about the individual, that´s why everybody can be touched...

Nathgertsch
May-09-2005, 16:51 GMT
IP:
France

Yes, MarieNo is right : most of us are too Old now to be really rebel :-)but I would say that if it´s not real rebellion, we must admit that most of Paul´s fans have "special" musical tastes, to mean that we seem to be much more "open" to any kind of music and most of all, the one you don´t find at the supermarket. The same, in my opinion, for arts in general, for cultures and maybe for politic : Paul´s music has "educated" us (though I don´t like this word), or better, has led us to see elsewhere, to look for much more complex and complete sounds and lyrics than the ones of the pop charts and through his songs, he has shown us too a certain political way (even if he has always said his songs were not so engaged, at least much less than the Bob Dylan´s ones for ex)and cultural ones too (with Graceland, Rythm of the Saints and well before songs like Sunny day or El Condor Pasa).

Eileen
May-09-2005, 18:53 GMT
IP:
USA - United Staates America

I guess I knew that Simon fans didn´t rebel because of listening to Paul Simon, but I didn´t realize that there was so much hostitlity toward the idea of rebellion. What I was getting at with my question was that Simon is a rock artist, but seems to be different from other rock artists in that he has a much more peaceable quality about him. Compare him to Rolling Stones, for example. And I Love both of them. I was just wondering if most Simon fans don´t generally listen to rock and roll, or if Simon fans can enjoy Paul Simon but also enjoy .... AC/DC for example? All I am asking is, is there ROOM for rebellion in Simon´s music?

Brandy
May-09-2005, 21:06 GMT
IP:
Canada

Hi Eileen!

I´m a 16-year Old Canadian PS (and S&G) fan. I was raised on his music with Garfunkel as well as his solo music, so it´s always been a part of my life. More recently, I have been learning to play his songs on the guitar, so his music inspires me not just to listen to his songs with admiration, but to also imitate and perform myself as well.

Your most current question: is there room for rebellion in Simon´s music?

Well, I think Paul´s music does rebel, but makes "a strong point gently." For instance, "The Sound of Silence" rebelled against anti-communication and dehumanization, "America" spoke with concern about the state of the country, and "Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine" poked fun at TV commericials. Those are just the few examples that come to mind at the moment.

So I think Paul doesn´t like using "rebelling" in his music in his typical sense, but RESISTANCE to the many ills of the world are present in his lyrics.

Klausi
May-10-2005, 05:47 GMT
IP:
Germany

Hmm, Eileen, I must confess, I still do not understand the word "rebellious", and I think, this is the "hostility" of others here too.

To me rebellious means a certain negative intention or protest with the fear or danger of a repression from more established or more "mighty" people.

This was in the sixties. Now those "rebels" are the establishment and soon will go into pension.

In the seventies there was a short period where total passivity and refusal marked the end of "rebellion". "No future", Punk/New Wave. Some good elements of this music survived, but not the solution of denial.

Today you have to use physical violence to be rebellious in democratic countries, which no Simon-Fan would accept.

Klausi
May-10-2005, 06:05 GMT
IP:
Germany

Forgot to say, I like MUSIC of the Rolling Stones (mostly not political), Jackson Browne (often political provoking in sixties way), Bob Dylan (not the typical political writer anymore) and many others, also Old music. I ignore the lyrics then.

For most, the music anyway is more important than the words. There is much good music with bad lyrics, the bad or boring music with good lyrics is ignored.

Rock music certainly still has a "left" political background, you could almost say, tradition.

But that doesn`t count nearly as much as before.

pet
May-10-2005, 11:47 GMT
IP:
Hungary

Hi Eileen!
I´ve been listening to Simon&Garfunkel since I was about 10 and not much later I became a PS solo fan.
I don´t know anything about the typical Simon-fan but I feel that many of them are able to connect to PS´ personality or the way it comes through his music and lyrics. PS fans are emotionally intelligent, they care about world issues, they know themselves ie. their own personalities and they stay most loyal to their choices. Also, Simon-fans are strong, they are not afraid to stand apart(rebelliousness maybe?).
I always felt that Paul Simon´s music is not about really "big" emotions in the romantic sense, he seems to shy away from being too dramatic and tends towards harmony, to keep everything balanced.

gypsy
May-10-2005, 21:35 GMT
IP:
United Kingdom

I think it depends on what you mean by the word rebellious. For example, an AC/DC fan would typically be more rebellious in terms of being less well-behaved. (Just to clarify, I´m not saying ALL AC/DC fans, I´m just saying typically). They don´t exactly make the kind of records you would play at your grandparents house!

However it´s much more socially acceptable (with my age group certainly) to say you like AC/DC, Iron Maiden etc, than to say you like PS. Therefore, PS fans are more into standing up for the music they like.

Also, I have just discovered today that my friend loves Graceland, it´s one of her favourite albums. I´m delighted that someone of my age actually likes PS, but Graceland is the only PS album she has. What other PS albums do you think i should introduce her to first?

Eileen
May-11-2005, 03:25 GMT
IP:
USA - United Staates America

Klausi...let me clarify. I don´t be politically rebellious, or even socially rebellious on a large scale. I mean rebellious in the very individual sense . . . doing things your parents don´t want you to do. I guess I don´t think Paul Simon fans are rebellious (at least by virtue of listening to Simon), and parents certainly aren´t threatened by him...mostly I´m just trying to figure out why...I think, what I´ve come to so far, is that Paul Simon doesn´t present the opportunities for role playing that other rock artists do...like punk rock, for example. His audience typically doesn´t "wear" their identity. So even if someone does listen to Paul Simon and AC/DC/, for example, they have completely different motivations when they do so...

and gypsy, there are lots of good simon albums, but what you should look into is getting the Paul Simon box set.

jarda
May-11-2005, 08:17 GMT
IP:
Czech Republik

I Love Paul Simon´s poetry inspite of I can´t appreciate it like you native American. I don´t agree with the statement that Simon´s fans are mamas´boys etc. I don´t beleive in prototypes. Paul Simon has been developing his skills and wisdom for years, so his latests songs as "You´re The One" are something very different from his begins. But still I am sure, that most of his fans are rather educated and introverted people. I am a little surprised, that rebellion against authority should be measure of quality in poetry.

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