'America' by Simon and Garfunkel: Misheard lyrics

[Leaffan]

@GuanoLad

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.

It grows on you.

[kayT]

In your opinion, it’s not very good. In my opinion, it’s good.

ETA: this is to GuanoLad; Leaffan snuck in there.

[Baal_Houtham]

@TCMF-2L

My purely personal take was the lines:

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

Yeah, that’s closer to my take on the line… rather than it meaning there was some room in his bag for more stuff. “'I’ve got some real estate here in my bag” might translate to “we’re barely carrying anything, but here we are, living our lives.”

[Johnny_L.A]

@Chefguy

Me too, also.

Me too, also, as well.

[Spoke]

@Peter_Morris

So, can you explain what the real estate in his bag means?

I always took it to be a self-deprecating joke about being penniless. “We’ll marry our fortunes together; I’ve got some real estate here in my bag.”

IOW, he doesn’t own anything but what he has with him. It’s a gag. (Oh yeah, I’ve got some real estate. Let’s see, where did I put it?) Just like “marry our fortunes together” is ironic since they don’t have any fortunes.

[HyacinthBucket]

@bienville

That’s just because they recorded it before Simon was finished writing it. In the final version, the lyrics rhyme:

*“Let us be lovers, we’ll marry our fortunes together
I’ve got an aunt who’s been under the weather”
So we bought a pack of cigarettes
and Mrs. Wagner’s Chia pets
And walked off to look for America

“Kathy,” I said on a Carnival Cruise bound for Curaçao
“Michigan seems like a dream to me now”
I’ll pack a bag 'n I’ll
hitchhike to Saginaw
I’ve come to look for America

Laughing on the bus
Playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit needed braces
I said “Does he think that a bowtie
is better than no tie?”

“Toss me a cigarette, I think there’s one in my corvette”
“Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”
So I looked at the scenery, she read her birthday card
And the moon rose over an old junk yard

“Kathy, I’m lost,” I said, then I shouted to wake her
“I’m empty and aching and don’t call me a faker”
We’re supposed to meet Mike on the New Jersey Turnpike
They’ve all come to look for America
*

What date do you have for that final version? And where is it published?

It doesn’t even sound like Paul Simon to me. And the lyrics don’t make any sense at all. If they’re walking and hitch-hiking and taking a bus, where did the Corvette come from? Say what you like about Paul Simon, but his lyrics usually aren’t gibberish.

The REAL song was copyrighted in 1968. I first heard it at their Chicago concert at the Civic Opera House that year shortly before “Bookends” was released.

Carnival Cruises wasn’t even founded until 1972, so what’s it doing in a song from four years earlier? And Chia Pets didn’t even exist until 1977.

According to Google, the only place those lyrics have EVER appeared is right here in this thread, starting with your post.

Nice try, Ace, but no cigar. Leave the songwriting to the experts.

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

I believe it was a joke.

[Dallas_Jones]

@HyacinthBucket

What date do you have for that final version? And where is it published?

It doesn’t even sound like Paul Simon to me. And the lyrics don’t make any sense at all. If they’re walking and hitch-hiking and taking a bus, where did the Corvette come from? Say what you like about Paul Simon, but his lyrics usually aren’t gibberish.

The REAL song was copyrighted in 1968. I first heard it at their Chicago concert at the Civic Opera House that year shortly before “Bookends” was released.

Carnival Cruises wasn’t even founded until 1972, so what’s it doing in a song from four years earlier? And Chia Pets didn’t even exist until 1977.

According to Google, the only place those lyrics have EVER appeared is right here in this thread, starting with your post.

Nice try, Ace, but no cigar. Leave the songwriting to the experts.

The whooshing sound that you hear is something large going right over your head.

[bienville]

@HyacinthBucket

What date do you have for that final version? And where is it published?

It doesn’t even sound like Paul Simon to me. And the lyrics don’t make any sense at all. If they’re walking and hitch-hiking and taking a bus, where did the Corvette come from? Say what you like about Paul Simon, but his lyrics usually aren’t gibberish.

The REAL song was copyrighted in 1968. I first heard it at their Chicago concert at the Civic Opera House that year shortly before “Bookends” was released.

Carnival Cruises wasn’t even founded until 1972, so what’s it doing in a song from four years earlier? And Chia Pets didn’t even exist until 1977.

According to Google, the only place those lyrics have EVER appeared is right here in this thread, starting with your post.

Nice try, Ace, but no cigar. Leave the songwriting to the experts.

Although I strongly suspect HyacinthBucket is artfully taking the joke to the next level (for how can anyone really be whooshed this thoroughly?), this still may be my favorite ever response to anything I’ve posted in all my time here.
It’s the “Ace” that makes it a real thing of beauty.

[Cub_Mistress]

GuanoLad has company: Blake Shelton admitted on the Voice tonight he did not know this song after a contestant did a lovely version of it. I can only shake my head.

[5_time_champ]

Does anyone else sing this couplet as:
. . . So I looked at the scenery,
she read her magazinery. . .?

[beowulff]

‘America’ is one of the best Simon and Garfunkle songs, and a classic.
I never had any problems understanding he lyrics, although I didn’t know what the pies were (I always assumed some sort of pre-fab pot pie).

As for the “real estate” lyric, I always figured that it was a self-deprecating way to say that all he owned was right here with him.

[Typo_Negative]

@Hilarity_N.Suze

I was always more concerned with what kind of real estate was in that bag. It sounded like a veiled allusion to something else.

I always assumed the real estate in the bag was marijuana. I though everybody thought that. Apparently I was mistaken. :eek:

[Peter_Morris]

If it helps, I *suspected *it might be drugs, but I was never sure.

[Jinx]

I dunno. Always seemed very clear to me…Mrs. Wagners pies, that is. Not what is meant by “real estate”!

[GuanoLad]

@Cub_Mistress

GuanoLad has company: Blake Shelton admitted on the Voice tonight he did not know this song after a contestant did a lovely version of it. I can only shake my head.

Well, I don’t know Blake Shelton’s deal, he’s not in the same position as me, but I expect the issue is it wasn’t released, or failed to chart, internationally.

[Wendell_Wagner]

The album Bookends, which includes “America”, certainly charted internationally. It hit #3 in Australia. I don’t know if there was a separate release in New Zealand, where you might have been at that point:

Simon & Garfunkel discography

[Wendell_Wagner]

Blake Shelton was born after “America” was released and apparently doesn’t know much about music before he was born.

[Leaffan]

If it’s any comfort I have no idea who Blake Shelton is. I’ve never heard of him before.

[GuanoLad]

@Wendell_Wagner

The album Bookends, which includes “America”, certainly charted internationally. It hit #3 in Australia. I don’t know if there was a separate release in New Zealand, where you might have been at that point:

Simon & Garfunkel discography - Wikipedia

Probably was released in NZ. But I only know one song on that entire album, Mrs Robinson. (I also know of Hazy Shade of Winter, but not S&G’s version). I blame my musical ignorance coupled with limited local radio airplay.