"God Bless You Please....."

All resolutions to put everything else on hold and concentrate on studying for exams that are fast-approaching were abandoned immidiately post conception yesterday ,when I heard the opening strains of this song.

"Are you going to scarborough fair?
Parsley , sage, rosemary and thyme.
Remember me , to the one who lives there.
She once was a true love of mine...."

A couple of weeks ago my dad bought a DVD of the recording of Simon and garfunkels' Concert In the Park (1981) . And of all the days , they had to choose yesterday , the day I chose to renew all efforts to focus , the weakest moments of a laziness-addict , to watch it.

For god's sake , could they have just not stuck to watching their usual Friends , News Radio ...routine. The sort of t.v that I can insulate myself from. And not be drawn to.

And so , there I was sitting in my room , trying hard to focus on the probability of an electron being able tunnel through an 'impenetrable' barrier and other such 'complex' concepts and suddenly , I find myself singing . Well, singing along was more like it. I steeled myself to concentrate, and then looked down determinedly at my notebook only to realise that I hadn't written a thing in the ten minutes that I thought I was absorbed in solving a problem.

So I promised my conscience that I would only take a tiny break , just to get something to snack and take a sneak peek at what they were watching.

I walked purposefully into my parents bedroom ,the stride of someone who was busy and is annoyed at being interrupted. Then I said something redundant like "oh, you are watching the concert is it???" . As though I did'nt know that..Ha.

I declared to the world in general and to assuage (is that right?) my conscience..."Hey...This is My Favourite Song..I think I'll just stay a minute and watch this... I'll go after that because I cannot afford to waste anymore time . Got to get back to work."

Two hours later: I've watched the entire concert..Even the 10 minutes that I missed initially and I'm in the midst of having a heated discussion with dad about Simon and garfunkel and why they broke up and whose fault it was and how sad it is, about their new tour and how I seem to have shamelessly adopted my dad's taste in music , books and many other things.

(I resent that. I can't help it if my dad's older than me , has read and heard stuff before me and likes the same things as I do . But it's my own taste. I cannot also help the fact that he filled the house with music and books that I happened to like. I don't like it just because he does...I have my own senses and my own mind ..Thank you very much Appa.)

Basically , I think Simon and Garfunkel are cat's whiskers and definitely my favourites of all time. There is something about Paul simon's lyrics , Art garfunkel's voice ....The Boxer , Sound Of Silence, Homeward Bound , Mrs. Robinson , Bridge over troubled waters , America , American Tune , Dangling conversation, Old friends , I am a rock , For Emily ...and ofcourse Scarborough Fair...are the sounds I have grown up on .

I relate to them , feel stirred by their music and touched by their words , both of which I have come to know so well. Every song is so special and reminds me of some fleeting moment that it has inexplicably come to be associated with .

My earliest memories of my childhood, In fact , are of my dad singing Scarborough fair or Bridge over troubled water to me. Carrying me in his arms, he would walk up and down the room ,singing softly , trying to get me to sleep.

When I was 5 or 6 ,I remember, he'd come home early from work and we'd sit in his room and he'd take out his guitar and play all of these songs .I guess I learnt them way back then. And then there was our old panasonic portable cassette player. We must have listened to that one cassette that we had ,thousands of times.

Road trips , that was when we'd play these songs so loudly. (Dad is a believer of Louder Is Better) . NH-4 has resonated with the echoes of simon's lyrics year after year when we'd drive down to bangalore for christmas.

And now as I write this , their CD plays in the background.
I am reminded of the time when I first realised that it was 'whores' not 'hoarse' that Paul Simon was singing.. and that's when the lyrics of The Boxer made so much more sense. (It's my dad's fav song..) I truly fell in love with their music when I begun to understand the depth in their lyrics .

I have listened spell bound to the profound even philosophical words coupled with the haunting music , drinking in the sounds and drowning in it all. I remember this one time , when I first watched Almost Famous , The opening scene is of the kid listening to S&G , I think it was "America" ...and it was so haunting..I got goose bumps.

When I was little , I guessed I liked them 'cos I heard them all the time and my parents liked them. Now , I just love the poetry and the music for itself. For my dad , these songs take him back to his childhood .I can see the wistful look in his eyes and sometimes I think he is secretly proud that I have independently come to love and enjoy something that he loves so much.

More than anything else ,what makes these songs so special is all the times my dad and me have sung them together. In a time when my dad and I find it hard to let a day go by without having some sort of altercation , when I find myself wishing and longing for the days when I will be independent and out of the house, this remains our strongest link.(apart from a love for P.G wodehouse as well...well I'll save that for another post..lol)

(Assuming he's not too pissed off with me over something ) I need only to start singing any of Simon and garfunkel's songs and in a while , my dad joins in . Perhaps just humming or whistling along and then softly singing and maybe even keeping sync with me.

And these are the moments , so seemingly insignificant, that I will truly cherish for years. I wonder if when I am old , I will sing these songs with my children and they will see me wear the same wistful look that I see in my father eyes now.


P.S: You must congratulate me. I have successfully curbed the urge to post all of simon and garfunkels lyrics on this blog. I think they are extremely profound and so beautiful and if it was not for the dire threat of not being read by my few readers , I would. Perhaps , I'll dare to pepper my posts with them occasionally in future.Oh and If you are not a fan and are wondering , the title is from their song Mrs. Robinson.

P.P.S: Paul (McCartney)and Ringo , If you are reading...I love The Beatles a whole bunch as well...Almost as much as I like Simon and Garfunkel. Almost.

For lyrics and blah...