# 'America' by Simon and Garfunkel: Misheard lyrics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2015, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924 "2015-04-05T22:55:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/21 "2015-04-06T13:38:22Z")
Keep in mind that I was about 5 years old at the time. The line about the man in the gabardine suit – I somehow got “gabardine” associated with Galilee and thought it had something to do with Jesus. So the part about the bowtie camera was especially confusing. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/22 "2015-04-06T13:49:28Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > So, can you explain what the real estate in his bag means? It means he’s got some extra room in his bag–it’s not stuffed completely full. Ergo: "I’ve got some extra space available in my bag, let’s purchase some pies and cigarettes since I have room for them in here. " ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/23 "2015-04-06T13:53:13Z")
> [@Miss\_Mapp](#): > > I somehow got “gabardine” associated with Galilee and thought it had something to do with Jesus. There’s a Bible story sometimes called [Jesus and the Gadarene swine.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legion_%28demons%29) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/24 "2015-04-06T13:57:01Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > So, can you explain what the real estate in his bag means? I always assumed it was marijuana. _Bookends_ was always my favorite album by S&G. The song [“Old Friends”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4XCnYIcRgc) is poignant to the point of painful. “How terribly strange to be 70”, indeed. I’ll be finding out in a couple of years. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/25 "2015-04-06T14:01:44Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > It means he’s got some extra room in his bag–it’s not stuffed completely full. > > Ergo: "I’ve got some extra space available in my bag, let’s purchase some pies and cigarettes since I have room for them in here. " Okay, that makes sense, I suppose. An unusual phrase, though. I’ve frequently had room in my bags, and I’ve never called it real estate. Hold on, “real estate” and “extra room” have the same number of syllables. Why use such a strange phrase, when an ordinary one would have done? ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/26 "2015-04-06T14:05:09Z")
My purely personal take was the lines: > [@](#): > > Let us be lovers, > We’ll marry our fortunes together. > I’ve got some real estate > Here in my bag. Were meant as a self deprecating, humorous comment. ‘\*\*\*Let’s get married… We’re so rich and own so much property… \*\*\*’ (Although we’re so poor we travel by bus or hitch hiking and have run out of cigarettes.) TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/27 "2015-04-06T14:06:22Z")
Check out the prog rock version by Yes. An interesting choice of theirs to cover. Also, I like how “America” uses wistful and gently poignant major seventh chords to underscore the lyrics. Plus, it’s in ternary rhythm (I feel 6/8, but others might feel 3/4). ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/28 "2015-04-06T14:08:14Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Okay, that makes sense, I suppose. An unusual phrase, though. I’ve frequently had room in my bags, and I’ve never called it real estate. > > Hold on, “real estate” and “extra room” have the same number of syllables. Why use such a strange phrase, when an ordinary one would have done? It’s poetry- it plays off the previous line of “marrying our fortunes”. Their fortunes are some “real estate” in his bag to hold cigarettes and pies. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/29 "2015-04-06T14:37:09Z")
Remember, the lyrics were on the back of the album. I always got the right words, just never knew what they actually meant! What are reactionaries? What are hamsters turning on? Lights? These things aren’t clear when you are 8 years old. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/30 "2015-04-06T15:10:43Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > The word \*Saginaw \*might be obvious to people who know Michigan, but I never heard of the place. It’s a typical mid-sized Michigan city. Not nearly as bad as Flint but doesn’t have a lot to recommend it. Nearby Frankenmuth is worth a drive to go to Bronner’s Christmas store and then go eat the chicken at Zehnder’s . ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/31 "2015-04-06T15:15:55Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > The word \*Saginaw \*might be obvious to people who know Michigan, but I never heard of the place. You don’t have to “know Michigan” to recognize Saginaw as a semi-classic American end-of-nowhere place. And it sounds nothing like Saigon in the song. Next you’ll be claiming you never heard of Dubuque or Moline. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/32 "2015-04-06T15:22:01Z")
You’ve never heard of Saginaw? I was _born_ in Saginaw, Michigan. I grew up in a house on Saginaw Bay. My dad was a poor hard working Saginaw fisherman; too many times he came home with too little pay. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/33 "2015-04-06T15:24:55Z")
Immortalized in this [Lefty Frizzell classic.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tbrLDA18C4) ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/34 "2015-04-06T16:18:47Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > I like the song. As I have mentioned before it is unusual in that none of the lyrics rhyme. Unusual if you think of it as being simply ‘a song’; somewhat less unusual when you consider that it’s ‘a Paul Simon song’. The man certainly knows how to paint a picture with his lyrics though. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/35 "2015-04-06T18:37:01Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > It’s a typical mid-sized Michigan city. Not nearly as bad as Flint but doesn’t have a lot to recommend it. Nearby Frankenmuth is worth a drive to go to Bronner’s Christmas store and then go eat the chicken at Zehnder’s . What, no love for the Bavarian Inn? (Not that I’d say ‘no’ to Zehnder’s chicken, mind you). ---
**Author:** ![Achren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/36 "2015-04-06T18:51:34Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Remember, the lyrics were on the back of the album. I always got the right words, just never knew what they actually meant! What are reactionaries? What are hamsters turning on? Lights? These things aren’t clear when you are 8 years old. Yeah, my dad loves S&G so I grew up listening to them. Never had any trouble with the lyrics since Dad would sing along, but there plenty of words and concepts that went right over my head. (America and For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her always smack me right in the heart.) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/37 "2015-04-06T19:34:39Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > It’s poetry- it plays off the previous line of “marrying our fortunes”. Their fortunes are some “real estate” in his bag to hold cigarettes and pies. I read it as part of the ironic comment about their fortunes (which are non-existent.) People who are rich own real estate - he is so poor his can fit in his bag. I had never been to Saginaw, but I knew it. S&G at that time didn’t do subtle drug references. This song is way too sweet for that, not to mention that dope on a bus was really not a good idea back then. It’s a road trip, basically. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/38 "2015-04-06T19:37:23Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > You’ve never heard of Saginaw? I was _born_ in Saginaw, Michigan. I grew up in a house on Saginaw Bay. My dad was a poor hard working Saginaw fisherman; too many times he came home with too little pay. Do good I? No! Evil anon I deliver! Sanitary sword atuck Carol, I, lo, rack, cut a drowsy rat in aswan. I gas nine more hero men in **Saginaw**. Reviled, I Nona live on! I do, o God! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/39 "2015-04-06T19:46:05Z")
I like Paul Simon, but he is not a songwriter who makes you spend a lot of time digging out the hidden meanings of the lyrics. In other words, he is no Dylan. His early stuff was very much of the sensitive poet unlucky in love variety. Very good for kids feeling misunderstood. America is about two people finding themselves on a road trip. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924/40 "2015-04-07T00:03:16Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Please tell me you’ve at least heard of Paul Simon. > > (And get off my lawn.) Yes, I know many Simon and Garfunkel songs, including their solo hits, and have even seen (parts of) their special in Central Park, but that particular song has never knowingly crossed my path before. And I must say… it’s not very good, so maybe that’s why. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-by-simon-and-garfunkel-misheard-lyrics/716924.md?page=3)