Thanks, I was going to make the same observation - each performance feels like a fleeting encounter, echoing his deep longing for his girlfriend back home.
🤭I think in this case the one night stands he's talking about are one night shows in different towns every night. It could definitely have a double meaning though🤷♂️
Paul Simon was a folk singer touring England on his and playing folk clubs every night on a series of "one night stands" where he sang his songs again, every evening, and then returned home after playing. His love, Kathy Chitty, lies waiting for him in Brentwood Essex, she ran the folk club there. He wrote Homeward Bound on Widnes Railway Station whilst waiting for a train in September 1965. He would also write Kathy's Song for her and he sings "Kathy, I'm Lost" in the song America. And then he married Princess Leia...
One night stands also means when bands were touring, they'd play one night and leave on to the next one. The song is about the grind of touring and the accompanying loneliness being away from and pining for home, and yes, "where my love lies waiting, silently for me." No cheating hearts here dear.
I had to laugh at your reaction to " a tour of one night stands" The phrase is also used in the music and entertaionment world when you only appear for the one night in a particular town .The usual tour pattern for music, Such a prim girl reaction :-)
One-night stand is a double entendre. Could be interpreted in the sexual nature, but also describing playing individual one night shows in varied locations as a musician or entertainer.
Yeah, that's the way I interpreted it as well. And knowing what a brilliant writer Paul Simon is he may have deliberately used the phrase, " one night stand" to imply he was playing to small, more "intimate" crowds.
Thanks for reacting to this. RU-vid reactors tend to react to the same 5 Simon and Garfunkel songs over and over when, in fact, they have many great songs. Thanks for thinking for yourself and reacting to one of their excellent songs which isn't done very often. Good reaction too!
I was there! Beautiful day and night in the park. Beautiful music. I didn't realize there are videos of this show. Now I've got to go... Got to play all of the videos of this show I can find!
After they split Paul SImon had a bunch of solo hits. Super talented singer and songwriter. Check out 50 ways to leave your lover, Kodachrome, You can call me Al, "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" and "Loves Me Like a Rock" are all upbeat fun songs!
Great choice of songs .👍🏽 If you want to hear some phenomenal vocal harmonies (from the same era) check out Crosby Stills and Nash Suite Judy Blue Eyes
I agree, those voices together are wonderful. They split in 1970, after the Bridge over Troubled Water album, and ten years later gave this great concert in Central Park. I remember seeing them perform about twenty years ago in Amsterdam, with Everly Brothers, but their performances together have been few since 1980. I am still happy with the five cd set I bought from their work in the sixties.
I've been listening to this song for over 50 years and it never occurred to me that anyone would read 'one night stands' as something sexual until I saw the look on your face. Before they became famous Simon was touring folk clubs in England solo, one night here, one night there. He wrote the song while waiting in a railway station for the train back to his then love, Kathy, who was referenced in Kathy's Song and America. S & G could do the 2 voices, 1 guitar stuff but could also do much more complex stuff such as The Boxer or The Only Living Boy in New York. Listen to the album versions of these and, above all of Bridge Over Troubled Water.
that song was written at Widnes Railway Station in 1965 and I live about 5 minutes from there and they have had plaques stolen from there in the past and replaced inside the station office
This was written by Paul Simon whilst waiting for a train at Crewe railroad station in the UK when he was on a tour of British clubs in the early 1960s, before he became famous. A one night stand, in this context, is a single gig whilst touring. I've done a few of those in my life!.
You should check out the Everly Brothers, a very strong influence on Simon and Garfunkel with their two-part harmonies. They sang with the Everlys during Simon and Garfunkel's big reunion show at Madison Square Garden.
Yes, in confirmation...One night stands are like I would call One nighters when I was gigging. A different place to play concert every night. Tiring to say the least and going home was always wonderful. Anyways , love your reactions and your smile 😁 You're awesome!
Paul Simon is a great musical genius, and the story basically goes that him and Art Garfunkel had been friends from very young and grew up together, they started performing together as teenagers, and Paul Simon was really the brains of the operation, but didn't really have the confidence to perform on his own, and needed Art. Once they got famous though, Art Garfunkel started trying to get an acting career going, and when Paul was writing and wanted to record songs, Art basically wasn't available, and Paul learned that he didn't really need Art, and that he could do it on his own. They have so many great songs together though, and we're a huge part of the folk scene at that time in the 60s! "The Boxer" is one of my favorite songs of theirs. This is a little off topic, but ... How do I explain this? So, there is, or was, a punk band from the 80s and 90s called NOFX (pronounced like "no effects"). They did a cover of Don McLean's "Vincent". Don McLean was a guy from the 70s, that's mostly known for his song "American Pie", which was inspired by "the day that music died", referring to his childhood reaction to the plane crash that killed rockers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and JP "The Big Bopper" Richardson in the end of the 50s, which is a whole other story, there's documentaries explaining it, as well as biopic movies from the 80s about Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, but Don McLean also has a beautiful song that he wrote about Vincent Van Gogh, called "Vincent", and NOFX did a really cool punk cover of it, and then I guess it became a thing, because a couple of the guys from NOFX ended up forming another band on the side, for fun, with some guys from other punk bands, called "The Me First and The Gimme Gimmes", that just did punk covers of classic rock, pop, and country songs. Fun band, but I guess it only works if you know the original songs first. Anyways, they do a cool cover of a really fun Paul Simon song called "Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard", which I think was one of his first solo songs without Art Garfunkel. He also had a very popular song from the 80s called "You Can Call Me Al", that had a goofy music video with comedic actor Chevy Chase.
I thought the dispute was over Art didn’t correct an interviewer who said that Art had written Bridge over troubled water. Paul took exception and they didn’t speak for a long time. I may be wrong.
Thank you! Would you consider "I can't tell you why" and "lying eyes" by the Eagles or "it's time to say goodbye" by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman?"
Inna seems sweet and wholesome, but she deems 'one-night stand' to mean a one-time sexual romp, rather than meaning musicians moving from town to town on a musical tour. If Inna wants to tap the darker side, she should try "Cecilia" by Simon and Garfunkel next.
