Paul Simon Album

Words & music by Paul Simon

Somewhere in a burst of glory
Sound becomes a song
I'm bound to tell a story
That's where I belong

When I see you smiling
When I hear you singing
Lavender and roses
Every ending a beginning

The way you turn
And catch me with your eye
Ay ay ay
That's where I belong

When I see you smiling
When I hear you singing
Lavender and roses
Every ending a beginning

That's the way it is
I don't know why
Ay ay ay
But that's where I belong

A spiny little island man
Plays a jingling banjo
He's walking down a dirt road
Carrying his radio
To a river where the water meets the sky
Ay ay ay
That's where I belong

Words & music by Paul Simon

The first time I saw her
I couldn't be sure
But the sin of impatience
Said, "she's just what you're looking for"

So I walked right up to her
And with the part or me that talks 
I introduced myself as Frank
From New York New York

She's so hot
She's so cool
I'm not
I'm just a fool in love with darling Lorraine

All my life I've been a wanderer
Not really, I mostly lived near my parents' home
Anyway Lorraine and I got married
And the usual marriage stuff
Then one day she says to me

From out of the blue
Frank, I've had enough
Romance is a heartbreaker
I'm not meant to be a homemaker
And I'm tired of being darling Lorraine

What - you don't love me anymore?
What - you're walking out the door?
What - you don't like the way I chew?
Hey let me tell you

You're not the woman that I wed
You say you're depressed but you're not
You just like to stay in bed
I don't need you darling Lorraine

Darling Lorraine
Lorraine
I long for your love

Financially speaking
I guess I'm a washout
Everybody's buy and sell
And sell and buy and
And that's what the whole thing's all about
If it had not been for Lorraine
I'd have left here long ago
I should have been a musician
I love the piano
She's so light
She's so free
I'm tight, well, that's me
But I feel so good
With darling Lorraine

On Christmas morning frank awakes
To find Lorraine has made a stack of pancakes
They watch the television, husband and wife
All afternoon "it's a wonderful life

What - you don't love me anymore?
What - you're walking out the door?
What - you don't like the way I chew?
Hey let me tell you
You're not the woman that I wed
Gimme my robe I'm going back to bed
I'm sick to death of you Lorraine

Darling Lorraine
Lorraine
Her hands like wood
The doctor was smiling
But the news wasn't good
Darling Lorraine
Please don't leave me yet
I know you're in pain
Pain you can't forget
Your breathing is like an echo of our love
Maybe I'll go down to the corner store
And buy us something sweet
Here's an extra blanket honey
To wrap around your feet

All the trees were washed with April rain
And the moon in the meadow
Took darling Lorraine

Words & music by Paul Simon

The first time I heard "Peggy Sue"
I was 12 years old
Russians up in rocket ships
And the war was cold
Now many wars have come and gone
Genocide still goes on
Buddy Holly still goes on
But his catalog was sold

First time I smoked
Guess what paranoid
First time I heard "Satisfaction"
I was young and unemployed
Down the decades every war
Summer leaves and my birthday's here
And all my friends stand up and cheer
And say man you're old

Getting old
Old
Getting old

We celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas day
And Buddha found nirvana along the lotus way
About 1,500 years ago the messenger Mohammed spoke
And his wisdom lire a river flowed
Through hills of gold

Wisdom is old
The Koran is old
The bible's old
Greatest story ever told

Disagreements?
Work 'em out

The human race has walked the earth for 2.7 million
And we estimate the universe about 13-14 billion
When all these numbers tumble into your imagination
Consider that the lord was there before creation

God is old
We're not old
God is old
He made the mold

Take your clothes off
Adam and Eve

Words & music by Paul Simon

May twelve angels guard you
While you sleep
Maybe that's a waste of angels I don't know
I'd do anything to keep you safe
From the danger that surrounds us

Little by little
Bit by bit
Little bit by little bit
Now you got it that's it
What're you thinking?
Things'll go sour?
Take its temperature every hour
Nervous when you own it
Nervous when it's gone
What do you think has been going on
For so long?

Bridge:
You are the air 
Inside my chest

Chorus:
You're the one
You broke my heart
You made me cry
You're the one
You broke my heart
You made me cry

You're the one
You broke my heart
You made me cry
You're the one

But when I hear it from the other side
It's a completely different song
I'm the one who made you cry
And I'm the one who's wrong
In my dream you spoke to me
And you said


Chorus:

You're the one
You broke my heart
You made me cry
You're the one
You broke my heart
You made me cry
You're the one
You broke my heart
You made me cry
You're the one

Verse:

Nature gives us shapeless shapes
Clouds and waves and flame
But human expectation
Is that love remains the same
And when it doesn't
We point our fingers
And blame blame blame

Chorus:

You're the one
You broke my heart
You made me cry
And I'm the one
I broke your heart
I made you cry
And you're the one
You broke my heart
You made me cry
We're the ones

Words & music by Paul Simon

There once was a teacher of great renown
Whose words were like the tablets of stone
Because it's easier to learn than unlearn
Because we've passed the point of no return
Gather your goods and follow me
Or you will surely die

Verse:

I was only a child of the city
My parents were children of immigrant stock
So we followed as followers go
Over a mountain with a napkin of snow
And ate the berries and roots
That grow along the timberline
Deeper and deeper the dreamer of love sleeps on a quilt of stars

Bridge:
It's cold
Sometimes you can't catch your breath
It's cold

Verse:
Time and abundance thickened his step
So the teacher divided in two
One half ate the forests and fields
The other half sucked all the moisture from the clouds
And we, we were amazed at the power of his appetite
Deeper and deeper the dreamer of love sleeps on a quilt of stars

Verse:
Sometimes we don't know who we are
Sometimes force overpowers us and we cry
My teacher carry me home

Carry me home my teacher
Carry me home
Carry me home my teacher
Carry me home

Words & music by Paul Simon

Look at that
Look at this
Drop a stone in the abyss
Then walk away and know that anything can happen
Just like that
Just like this

Look at that
Look at this
Gimme a hug, gimme a kiss
Then hey, hey, off to school we go
You might learn something
Yeah you never know

Look at that
Look at this
Lovers merge and make a wish
They close their eves and now their dreams are legal
Over the mountain the eagle flies
Through clouds of fire
Swoop and glide
You can't believe it,
You can't decide

Ask somebody to love you
Takes a lot of nerve
Ask somebody to love you
You got a lot of nerve
Ask somebody to love you
Takes a lot of nerve
Ask somebody to love you
Ma ma ma ma
Ma ma ma ma
Da da da da
Da da da da
La la la la
La la la la
Oom bop a doom

Look at that
Look at this
This is near enough to bliss
Then over the top we go and down
Down to the bottom
If you're looking for worries
You got 'em

Ask somebody to love you
You got a lot of nerve
Ask somebody to love you
Takes a lot of nerve
Tih tih tih tih
Tih tih tih tih
Gur gur gur gur
Gur gur gur gur
Lih lih lih lih
Lih lih lih lih
Oom sop a doom

Come awake, come alive
Common sense we survive
Then hey, hey, down the road we go
You might learn something
Yeah you never know
But anyway you've got to go

Words & music by Paul Simon

I have a wisdom tooth
Inside my crowed face
I have a friend who is born again
Found his savior's grace
I was born before my father
And my children before me
We are born and born again
Like the waves in the sea
That's the way it's always been
And that's how I want it to be

Nothing but good news
There is a frog in South America
Whose venom is a cure
For all the suffering that mankind
Must endure
More powerful than morphine
And soothing as the rain
A frog in South America
Has the antidote to pain
That's the way it's always been
And that's the way I like it

Some people never say no
Some people never complain
Some folks have no idea
And others will never explain
That's the way it's always been
And that's the way I like it
And that's how I want it to be
That's the way it's always been
And that's the way I like it
And that's how I want it to be

If I could play all the memories
In the neck of my guitar
I'd write a song called
"Se?orita with a necklace of tears"
And every tear a sin I'd committed
Oh these many years
That's who I was
That's the way it's always been

Some people always want more
Some people are what they lack
Some folks open a door
Walk away and never look back
I don't want to be a judge
And I don't want to be a jury
I know who I am
Lord knows who I will be 
That's the way it's always been
And that's the way I like it
And that's how I want it to be
That's the way it's always been
And that's the way I like it
And that's how I want it to be

Words & music by Paul Simon

Cool me 
Cool my fever high
Hold me when I cry
I need it so much 
Makes you want to get down and crawl like a beggar
For its touch
And all the while it's free as air
Like plants the medicine is everywhere

Love
Love
Love

We crave it so badly
Makes you want to laugh out loud when you receive it
And gobble it like candy

We think it's easy
Sometimes it's easy
But it's not easy
You're going to break down and cry
We're not important
We should be grateful
And if you're wondering why

Love
Love
Love

The price that we pay
When evil walks the planet
And love is crushed like clay
The master races, the chosen peoples
The burning temples, the weeping cathedrals

Words & music by Paul Simon

Big and fat
Pig's supposed to look like that
Barnyard thug
Sleeps on straw and calls it a rug
Yeah that's a rug, ok
Se's walking down the street
And nobody's gonna argue with him
He's a half-a-ton of pig meat

Up in the hills above the farm
Lives a pack of wolves
Never did no harm
Sleep all day
Hunt till four
Maybe catch a couple of rodents
You know carnivore

Sheep in the meadow
Nibbling on some clover
One of the sheep wanders over
Sits by a rock
Separated from the flock
He's just sitting by a rock

Where'd he go? Don't know
Well he was here a minute ago
I don't know
Sheep's dead
Got a gash as big as a wolf's head
Oh god
Big and fat
Pig's supposed to look like that
Wallowing in lanolin
He's rubbing it into his pigskin
Police going crazy
Let's get him
Let's get that wolf
Let's get him
Let's get that wolf
Let's get him
Let's kill him, let's get him
Let's kill him

Court-appointed lawyer wasn't very bright
Oh maybe he was bright
Maybe he just had a late night
Yeah it was just a late night
And he files some feeble appeal
And the governor says forget it
It's a done deal
Election, i don't care, election
Let's give that wolf a lethal iniection
Let's get him, yeah get him,
Let's kill him, let's get him
Let's kill him, let's get him, kill him
Let's get him and kill him

Whew, slow
Here comes the media
Setting up their camera
Asking everyone's opinion


About pigs, sheep and wolves

Big and fat
Pig's supposed to laugh like that
This is hilarious
What a great time
I'm the pig who committed
The perfect crime

All around the world
France, Scandinavia
There's candle light vigils
Protesting this behavior
It s animal behavior
Animal behavior
Its pigs, sheep and wolves
Pigs, sheep and wolves
Pigs, sheep and wolves
It's animal behavior
It's pigs, sheep and wolves

Words & music by Paul Simon

Tell us all a story
About how it used to be
Make it up and write it down
Just like history
About goldilocks and the three bears
Nature in the cross hairs
And how we all ascended
From the deep green sea
When it's not too hot
Not too cold
Not too meek
Not too bold
When it's just right and you have sunlight
Then we're home,
Finally home
Home in the land of the homeless
Finally home

Oh what are we going to do
I never did a thing to you
Time peaceful as a hurricane eve
Peaceful as a hurricane eye

A history of whispers
A shadow of a horse
Faces painted black in sorrow and remorse
White cloud, black crow
Crucifix and arrow
The oldest silence speaks the loudest
Under the deep green sea

When speech becomes a crime
Silence leads the spirit
Over the bridge of time

Over the bridge of time
I'm walking with my family
And the road begins to climb
And it's oh lord how we going to pray
With crazy angel voices
All night
Until it's a new day

Peaceful as a hurricane
Peaceful as a hurricane
Peaceful as a hurricane eye
Peaceful as a hurricane
Peaceful as a hurricane
Peaceful as a hurricane eye
Peaceful as a hurricane eye

You want to be a leader?
You want to change the game?
Turn your back on money
Walk away from fame
You want to be a missionary?
Got that missionary zeal?
Let a stranger change your life
How does it make you feel?
You want to be a writer
But you don't know how or when
Find a quiet place
Use a humble pen

You want to talk talk talk about it
All night squawk about
The ocean and the atmosphere
Well i've been away for a long time
And it looks like a mess around here
I'll be away for a long time
So here's how the story goes
There was an old woman
Who lived in a shoe
She was baking a cinnamon pie
She fell asleep in a washing machine
Woke up in a hurricane eye

Words & music by Paul Simon

I am heading for a time of quiet
When my restlessness is past
And I can lie down on my blanket
And release my fists at last

I am heading for a time of solitude
Of peace without illusions
When the perfect circle
Marries all beginnings and conclusions

And when they say
That you're not good enough
Well the answer is
You're hot
But who are they
Or what is it
That eats at what you've got
With the hunger of ambition
For the change inside the purse
They are handcuffs on the soul, my friends
Handcuffs on the soul
And worse

I am heading for a place of quiet
Where the sage and sweetgrass grow
By a lake of sacred water
From the mountain's melted snow