Sunday, February 18, 2007

"the sound of silence" - simon and garfunkel

"people writing songs that voices never share and no one dared disturb the sound of silence"



i don't get the graduate. there's nothing sexy about it. hoffman is too old looking at 30 to convincingly be young. bancroft at only 6 years older is too similar an age for the age gap thing to be believable. i know the jumpyness is part of the mood but it just irritates me - as does the whole formality of pretty much noone having a first name. far be it from me to disregard what is widely regarded as a classic - but i honestly don't understand what all the fuss is about.

and then there's the soundtrack. maybe my modern ear expects too much from a soundtrack but it mostly seems to consist of variations on mrs robinson and sound of silence over and over again - doing nothing to enhance for me the viewing experience.

but here's the kicker. i don't get simon and garfunkel. i don't understand why anyone would choose to listen to them - let alone get excited about them. i'll give you that paul simon is a talented songwriter with a pretty good voice - but i'm not really sure what garfunkel is for. the pretty much live versions of the same songs on "the paul simon songbook" are much more listenable. but i still don't really like that material. his eponymous album, or even graceland, are so much better and have videos where he takes pride in beating children at baseball or pretending to be chevy chase.

and if i never hear bridge over troubled waters again it will be much too soon.