A Window in Your Heart

Let me start off by saying that I'm a little weird about some things. This is probably not really a surprising statement. But I'll clarify for the point of my blog story.

For instance, if there's a mad rush toward a pop culture moment or a new fad, with a ton of people raving over something, I usually run the other direction. Honestly, it's not the typical "I'm too cool for this" reaction commonly found amongst teens, emos, et al. I think it's more akin to "I'll never really discover why it's so amazing if I don't come to it on my own time." Whether it's a fluff song six months old that causes me to rabidly grab some poor soul from the karaoke table and drag them to the dance floor (cough, "Single Ladies" anyone?) or a film that everyone tells me I should see, it doesn't matter. I get all Stubborn Crab at the time and refuse on principle, but I usually end up truly enjoying it more because I'm not worn out on it three seconds after introduction.

That being said:

1) I've always been a Paul Simon fan but...
2) Have never really dug Elvis with the kind of passionate extravagance that most of his fans possess. Which meant...
3) That I had no vested interest in exploring the "Graceland" album once I was old enough to know about it.

My mind connected the two inextricably and, willfully disregarding any deeper meaning to the title, I couldn't possibly imagine listening to something that reflected the many things I expected Graceland, the abode, to represent:

Southern grandiosity
Sequins
Rabid tourists
Exponential waste of money & talent
Peanut butter sammiches



All this, I gleaned only from the media jokes
everyone tosses out about a guy who, honestly,
deserved more than my heart was giving him.

He was a very talented, very raw, very managed, very timely human being who had a massive impact in numerous arenas; musicianship, media savvy, sexuality, the Armed Forces, Hawaiian concerts in the round, Chris Isaak, and Lenny Kravitz just to name a few.

I kid a bit, but I do think it's a shame his legacy is overshadowed by the drama at the tail end.

In any case, back to Rhymin' Simon. The other irony I've failed to mention is that I have worshipped Ladysmith Black Mambazo from the moment I first heard their voices, and I had no idea how much a part of the genesis, development and creation of the album they were.

So, call me a fool for staying away so long, but call me lucky that I get that beautiful gleam of new discovery still happening at almost-33. I was reminded of the gleam on my way home tonight, when the title track came on the radio. Simon's lyrics are almost always poetry, stealing you away with their mental images, the life snippets that pop up, tangible in their sound and touching in their accuracy. He conjures up such a vivid road trip, laying bare the pain behind it and the hope beckoning ahead, and somehow makes it accessible to anyone who's ever felt like that, whether or not your destination ends in black velvet.



The Mississippi Delta was shining
Like a National guitar,
I am following the river
Down the highway
Through the cradle of the civil war,

I'm going to Graceland
Graceland
In Memphis, Tennessee
I'm going to Graceland

Poorboys and Pilgrims with families
And we are going to Graceland,
My traveling companion is nine years old
He is the child of my first marriage,
But I've reason to believe
We both will be received
In Graceland,

She comes back to tell me she's gone,
As if I didn't know that
As if I didn't know my own bed,
As if I'd never noticed,
The way she brushed her hair from her forehead,
And she said losing love
Is like a window in your heart,
Everybody sees you're blown apart,
Everybody sees the wind blow,

I'm going to Graceland,
Memphis Tennessee
I'm going to Graceland,
Poorboys and Pilgrims with families
And we are going to Graceland,

And my traveling companions
Are ghosts and empty sockets
I'm looking at ghosts and empties,
But I've reason to believe
We all will be received
In Graceland,

There is a girl in New York City,
Who calls herself the human trampoline,
And sometimes when I'm falling flying
Or tumbling in turmoil I say
Whoa so this is what she means,
She means we're bouncing into Graceland,
And I see losing love
Is like a window in your heart,
Everybody sees you're blown apart,
Everybody feels the wind blow,

In Graceland Graceland,
I'm going to Graceland,
For reasons I cannot explain
There's some part of me wants to see
Graceland,
And I may be obliged to defend
Every love every ending
Or maybe there's no obligations now,
Maybe I've a reason to believe
We all will be received
In Graceland

(Pause)

Woah in Graceland Graceland Graceland
I'm going to Graceland