My son was born in February '86. Graceland was released on 25th August '86. My son didn't sleep and just cried for 18 months except when I played "The baby in the bubble" and danced around the room with him in my arms. All through the night!!! God damn! Thank you Paul!
Rest in peace to Forere Motloheloa of the Sesotho Traditional band Tau Ea Matšekha. He was the accordionist on this song. He passed away on 9 February 2021 from a short illness, at the age of 74. Rest in peace. 🙏🏿 Robala ka khotso Ntate 🇱🇸
I find this comment confusing, but I’m willing to keep an open mind. I like this music though not a whole lot but I like it better than like rap. Still my favorite Negro music is still rhythm and blues and fog. Wait, was that racist?
My mother loved this album and we listened to it so much when I was a little girl. She is gone now and when I hear Paul say "don't cry baby, don't cry, don't cry" I imagine it's her speaking to me. Life is bewildering.
+Emily C I know it's a cliche Emily but I understand what you have gone through and how much a thing as simple as a song can mean so much.With me it was Kathleen Ferrier singing Blow the Winds Southerly.
E C This whole album beginning to end reminds me of my mom. An entire summer driving in a station wagon listening to it over and over again. Such strong, vivid memories.
You can't be serious?? Its not a song you listen to lyrics to, its the African beat. Have you seen him sing it live 😂😂 and people wonder why youth stopped listening to guitar music. Just look at paul simon with his wig and blazer dancing trying to sing and you get your answer!!! Terrible terrible!!!!!
This song, and the whole Graceland album was my mother’s favorite. She played this album so much that I hated it. It took age and maturity to see that Graceland is a masterpiece. I miss my mom
I do think it's an album that you appreciate the older you get. I'm in my late 40s now, and I treasure Graceland, but didn't respond the same way as a teen.
I didn’t like it the first time I heard it at maybe 12 or 13 (I certainly didn’t think it was nearly as good as his earlier work with Garfunkel). As the years went on, I loved it more and more. It is my favorite piece of music now and in my opinion, the single finest piece of American songwriting.
Seemed very of the time in the late 1980s. Handheld cell phones had just arrived and the computer boom was beginning. Life was becoming more... well, more modern I suppose. It is brilliant. He says 'don't cry', but now I cry for my old days back then!
Just after Call Me Al came out as a single I ended up going home with a girl from a club one night in Aberdeen. She lived in a tenement flat somewhere in Rosemount if memory serves me right. Anyway, in the morning she had to get up for work, so she told me to get up when I wanted and make myself a coffee of whatever - just making sure the door was locked when I left. Anyway, eventually I got up, made a coffee and some toast and with nothing to do ( I was working offshore), started looking through the albums in the living room for something to put on. I found Graceland. I knew Call Me Al from the radio, but I'd never heard the rest of it and when I did, it just blew me away. I stayed there the whole morning putting it on again and again. Most songs it's hard to recall exactly where and when you first heard them, but this is one album that stands out like a beacon - and this song in particular. It's like a photo-shot of a point in time somewhere in my 20s. Before and after - not a related memory at all. There's just a room in a strange apartment and me listening to Graceland over and over.
"And I believe These are the days of lasers in the jungle Lasers in the jungle somewhere Staccato signals of constant information A loose affiliation of millionaires And billionaires..." Words of the prophets.
Recalls another Paul Simon genius work "And the sign said, "The words of the prophets Are written on the subway walls And tenement halls And whispered in the sounds of silence"" Paul is a poet first and foremost and possibly the best of my lifetime.
You ever notice that in the lines: "Medicine is magical and magical is art /Think of the Boy in the Bubble and the baby with the baboon heart" that the consonance of the repeating double B mimics a heartbeat? I still get chills when I hear that line.
@rjblaskiewicz Thanks for trading your 2011 Topps #US175 Mike Trout rookie card to me worth $600.00 now! For my 2015 Topps Chris Bryant rookie what's that worth now about $20.00 dollars! Thanks again,Robert
Over 25 years ago now I had the privilege (luck, really) to have a teeny, tiny part in making of this video, as a worker for a company assisting Jim Blashfield and his visionary team that made this. I can still remember seeing the still photos to this day and wondering what the final video would be like.
No words. I always saw this song as a piece of some kind of meta-art, a song that sang about its own existence, about its own dying age and frightening future, about long-distance-calls and lasers in the jungle, about constellations dying in space. To me, Paul Simon was way ahead of his time back then. This is one of the deepest songs in popular music ever.
@@annalisavajda252 I know!!! 😀 The point of my comment was to emphasize the poeticism of the song and the growing fear of technology during the cold war.
The references are dated, yet this song feels more relevant now than ever. The art that intensifies over time rather than diminishes is rare and great.
Graceland. One of; if not the, greatest albums ever produced. There is no filler, just straight up megahits, one after another. Decades later it still stands tall as a masterpiece.
I first heard this album in 1986 on the very first Walkman I ever heard. It blew me away. I knew every single song word by word... I still do... Even at 44
The accordion is playing in Sotho style as played by traditional musicians in Lesotho. Search for Tau Ea Matsekha - Thokolosi, I'm sure you'll love it.
In the Classic albums episode about "Graceland" Paul reveals that to make the accordion sound deeper, they actually overdubbed it using a synthesizer but it's done so discreetly that you wouldn't even notice it.
not to mention... the mp3 version (or the cassette, or vinyl) sounds so much better than this video... RUclips is probably the worst thing to happen to sound quality in sixty years. go buy a downloadable copy, or a physical copy, see for yourself. Man... I love this song, but this video... ick.
+godriczimmerman It's not any particular album of his, it's him in general. I'm more of a alt and/or new wave fan. I heard this first at a friend's house, and from the first note of the first song I heard, I was hooked on Graceland.
Paul got better with age. I loved his soft folk ballads, back when I had hair on my head, instead of in my ears and nose, but, Graceland was a major work of art by an accomplished genius. This particular song has been overshadowed by events, having proved eerily prophetic, but it resonates with the soul, communicates the delicious sense of wide eyed wonder that an adult feels when he embarks upon a new voyage of discovery. 11 thumbs up.
The juxtaposition of “the way the camera follows us in slow-mo, the way we look to us all” with “the way we look to a distant constellation that’s dying in a corner of the sky” has always invoked this somewhat indescribable emotion, a medley of pity and fondness and elation, with a healthy dose of resignation. Among the best lyrics ever written.
Other than a few big hits from Graceland on the radio, it wasn't until "Rythm of The Saints" hit Tower Records in the Village and buying it (possibly my favorite P.S. album) that I was led back to fully knowing, understanding and embracing "Graceland"... both are impeccable. The Art will long outlive the reductive controversy.
Back when I was about 6, my grandfather showed me this song. He had this album on cd, and every time I road in his car, he played this album, and this track. I loved it for years. Last time I herd it, I was about 10. Now I’m coming back to it for the first time in 5 years, and wow. The nostalgia is insane. And I’m not even that old! What an incredible song.
I wish it they'd put it on here a bit louder,though. I went from the living room into the kitchen to collect a cup of tea and,with the door to the garden open and the patter of rain outside,I had to strain a bit to hear it properly!
This song hasn't aged one bit and neither has this video. "The way we look to a distant constellation that's dying in a corner of the sky..." is how we should all think of ourselves.
Nope, the video has a certain funky charm and always will. It is sufficiently "low tech" enough to stand the test of time. I cringe when I look at a LOT of videos from the "MTV 80s". Not this one.
I wish the volume level was louder,though. For some reason they've made it very quiet here. I had to turn my speakers right up to do some kind of justice,and even then a Spinal Tap level 11 wouldn't have gone amiss.
I remember listening to this tape as a kid over and over with my dad. All of Graceland brings back so much nostalgia, I had no idea how amazing this music was at the time.
Hello I really do appreciate you for being a big fan thank you for your wonderful comments on my post it really means a lot to me.I sincerely hope you never stop listening to my music…..❤️❤️❤️
I remember the anticipation of the Graceland album release in 1986. The album lived up to ALL expectations. A marvellous album which needs to be in everyone's collection
It was a slow day And the sun was beating On the soldiers by the side of the road There was a bright light A shattering of shop windows The bomb in the baby carriage Was wired to the radio These are the days of miracle and wonder This is the long distance call The way the camera follows us in slo-mo The way we look to us all The way we look to a distant constellation That's dying in a corner of the sky These are the days of miracle and wonder And don't cry baby, don't cry Don't cry It was a dry wind And it swept across the desert And it curled into the circle of birth And the dead sand Falling on the children The mothers and the fathers And the automatic earth These are the days of miracle and wonder This is the long distance call The way the camera follows us in slo-mo The way we look to us all The way we look to a distant constellation That's dying in a corner of the sky These are the days of miracle and wonder And don't cry baby, don't cry Don't cry It's a turn-around jump shot It's everybody jump start It's every generation throws a hero up the pop charts Medicine is magical and magical is art The Boy in the Bubble And the baby with the baboon heart And I believe These are the days of lasers in the jungle Lasers in the jungle somewhere Staccato signals of constant information A loose affiliation of millionaires And billionaires and baby These are the days of miracle and wonder This is the long distance call The way the camera follows us in slo-mo The way we look to us all The way we look to a distant constellation That's dying in a corner of the sky These are the days of miracle and wonder And don't cry baby, don't cry Don't cry
Oh man! The SOUNDS of this recording...the song, the arrangement, the instrumentation, the mix.......one of the greatest pop recordings I've ever heard. That stuttering, backward sounding accordion just kills me every time I hear it. Oh, that bass! The sound of the drums. Just brilliant.
Hello I really do appreciate you for being a big fan thank you for your wonderful comments on my post it really means a lot to me.I sincerely hope you never stop listening to my music…..❤️❤️❤️
In 1986 I started my studies at Helsinki School of Economics. I lived in a room in a student apartment that had cable-tv. On it I found MTV. And this video was shown frequently. Today I associate it with all the nice feelings I had at that time. A new town, lots of new people, the lectures and much more. It still nearly forty years later sound as fresh as it did in the fall of 1986.
This is jim blashfield's greatest work. Jim you are a genius. You gave me 37 years of happiness with this masterpiece paul simon the boy in the bubble. For that im ever indebted to you.
I was introduced to this video by a drama teacher after that I went looking for everything Paul Simon ever did and have been addicted to his music ever since. 30 years well spent listening to great music.
Everything about this track is amazing the lyrics and how the instruments just blend in together it is absolutely fabulous and is the perfect beginning to one of the greatest albums of all time and is definitely far ahead for its time which impresses me alot
Only 1.8 million views??!!!IMO this is his best song,sounds like nothing else you've ever heard & it's bloody fantastic!!!Paul Simon is most definitely a genius & a national treasure
The whole Graceland album is great, really. The lyrics for this piece could stand alone as poetry; Simon's use of alliteration especially in the last stanza is nothing short of genius.
“I believe these are the days of lasers in the jungle, lasers in the jungle somewhere - staccato signals of constant information, a loose affiliation of millionaires and billionaires”. This song is more prophetic than we realize. How bad is he describing the 2010s, way back in 1987?
I think sort of like the Beatles Paul Simon understood how crappy the world can be sometimes but taken as a whole Simon's work captures a joy and optimism about humanity. Because after that he reaffirms 'these are the days of miracle and wonders' and I don't think that claim is meant to be completely ironic.
The song actually isn't affirming a positive future, I think the singer is pointing out that it's ridiculous to have violence and destruction in an age where there are miracles and wonders. How can the same civilization that is battling disease, and preserving life with baboon hearts and bubble children, be the same one that is so bent on annihilating humanity.
@@zachhardy6469 I also don't think it's an affirmation. I think it's sarcastic, "these are the days of miracle and wonders... don't cry, baby, don't cry." He's repeating what modern life is marketed as, and consoling someone, maybe the average listener, who doesn't identify with that image at all, who finds modern life to be rife with hardships, moral dilemmas, and all manners of abuse.
We have to play this music to our children, have it in the background while we do everyday stuff, I listened to the radio when I was a kid and fell in love with Presley, nat king cole, paul Simon is just as influential, he affected me in ways I’m still processing, will always love this
Graceland was one of the most important albums of the 1980s, both artistically and politically. Though some said that he was making money off the plight of black S Africa, others knew that it bred more awareness to the suffering than anything else in the music world.
My parents had this album and once I found it in their record collection I listened to it over and over again on the headphones in their sitting room and learnt all the words. It was one of the first albums that got me into music. Beautiful track and beautiful album. :-)
I woke up this morning and I HAD to listen to this great American troubadour. He is, in his own way, the GOAT, an astounding lyricist as well as a fine composer. Now don't get me wrong; Paul isn't Jerry and the Dead GOAT. But the man has left his mark. This is a great album; you get joy, you get sorrow, you get shock and you get awe. If not Simon himself, this album belongs on the list of GOAT records.
I know this is not Christmas songs but to me it is. my mother would put this when we did the Christmas tree because my brother and I wanted to listen to music while doing it but she didn't have any Christmas songs. so we would listen to this instead. now she is gone but I still listen to this when I put up my Christmas decorations in memory of her and the good times we spent listening to those songs
Great 'Mom' memories, too. She and I saw him a few times, but the Wiltern show was our favorite because he had the full percussion set with him, like we hear on 'You Can Call Me Al'. She was crazy about 'Graceland', and we always played it to get a great start on a camping trip.
I grew up with the album, My mom spent many years in Africa and carried her love of the the cultures with her. I'd long forgotten about this album and picked it up by chance a few months ago when the remaster came out and the moment I put it on it brought back so many fond memories.
This album came out when in was in H.S.. and I still love this entire record. I listen to this particular song when I become hopeless about how much technology was about to explode and change our world as we knew it and I wonder if we are the better for it? Or Not? It's over whelming. Paul did make on helluva record, though. Peace.
Hello I really do appreciate you for being a big fan thank you for your wonderful comments on my post it really means a lot to me.I sincerely hope you never stop listening to my music…..❤️❤️❤️
Absolutely love this... Bright light shattering of shop windows... Perfect description of what's wrong with the world... Absolute gem of a track,, 10/10
'Graceland' is one of my Top 5 Greatest Albums of all time. Every track is a gem.
And it so well recorded too. Definitely top 10 for me.
You are so right about that.
100%
Spot on
Completely agree! If I’m stuck on and island it’s one of the ones I’m bringing!
My son was born in February '86. Graceland was released on 25th August '86. My son didn't sleep and just cried for 18 months except when I played "The baby in the bubble" and danced around the room with him in my arms. All through the night!!! God damn!
Thank you Paul!
The baby in the bubble
The baby in the bubble
I also had a baby with insomnia, in 1987 tho.
My 2024 baby absolutely loves this song too!
❤😊😊😊
Rest in peace to Forere Motloheloa of the Sesotho Traditional band Tau Ea Matšekha. He was the accordionist on this song. He passed away on 9 February 2021 from a short illness, at the age of 74. Rest in peace. 🙏🏿
Robala ka khotso Ntate 🇱🇸
Great track he laid down here.
Thank you for sharing this. I'm only reading this news now, but the music is very powerful. May he continue to play his accordeon wherever he is now.
You can’t overestimate the musicianship of the Africans on this album.
...Think you might have meant ''overestimate''? ;)
I find this comment confusing, but I’m willing to keep an open mind. I like this music though not a whole lot but I like it better than like rap. Still my favorite Negro music is still rhythm and blues and fog. Wait, was that racist?
@@holymoley1920 I did! Thanks for the correction!
My mother loved this album and we listened to it so much when I was a little girl. She is gone now and when I hear Paul say "don't cry baby, don't cry, don't cry" I imagine it's her speaking to me. Life is bewildering.
+Emily C "Death is but a momentary parting from those we love." W. B. Yeats
+Emily C I think She is Emily and she knows good music too,and is telling you something here My best wishes to you Emily.
Thank you for your kind words.
+Emily C I know it's a cliche Emily but I understand what you have gone through and how much a thing as simple as a song can mean so much.With me it was Kathleen Ferrier singing Blow the Winds Southerly.
E C This whole album beginning to end reminds me of my mom. An entire summer driving in a station wagon listening to it over and over again. Such strong, vivid memories.
Paul Simon - One of the finest writers of all time. A phenomenal artist and visionary.
webwhisper well said!
I am hoping that he is busily penning something about these strange dark times....
He just seems to be able to capture the Zeitgeist !
@@m.maclellan7147 He did...... this song. Listen to the lyric.
sharing🥰🥰🥰😇😇😇Thanks for sharingTesla’s 3-6-9 and Vortex Math
@@thewomble1509 This. I mean, it’s bordering on prophetic. Or maybe we humans really are just _that_ predictable.
One of the greatest lyrical songs ever
I like the groove though ;)
You need to get out more
Who does?
For real! The whole album's an absolute gem!
You can't be serious?? Its not a song you listen to lyrics to, its the African beat. Have you seen him sing it live 😂😂 and people wonder why youth stopped listening to guitar music. Just look at paul simon with his wig and blazer dancing trying to sing and you get your answer!!! Terrible terrible!!!!!
Paul Simon is definitely one of the godfathers of Rock and Roll. His DNA shows up in uncountable bands.
One of the great artists of our time
This song, and the whole Graceland album was my mother’s favorite. She played this album so much that I hated it. It took age and maturity to see that Graceland is a masterpiece. I miss my mom
I do think it's an album that you appreciate the older you get. I'm in my late 40s now, and I treasure Graceland, but didn't respond the same way as a teen.
Your mum was right. You were wrong
I didn’t like it the first time I heard it at maybe 12 or 13 (I certainly didn’t think it was nearly as good as his earlier work with Garfunkel). As the years went on, I loved it more and more. It is my favorite piece of music now and in my opinion, the single finest piece of American songwriting.
I loved it when I was in high school in the 80s. I love it more in 2022.
@@jenniferrobinson1792 I loved it when I was in high school in the 90s and still do today
And the cat at 0:22 looks like our late Oreo. Loved him.
This song was way way waaaaaay ahead of it's time, brilliant.
꧁꧂ Blakjak ꧁꧂ true
This is a long time ago
It's a good song but how the heck is it ahead of it's time?
Seemed very of the time in the late 1980s. Handheld cell phones had just arrived and the computer boom was beginning. Life was becoming more... well, more modern I suppose. It is brilliant. He says 'don't cry', but now I cry for my old days back then!
It's about its time though isn't it?
Just after Call Me Al came out as a single I ended up going home with a girl from a club one night in Aberdeen. She lived in a tenement flat somewhere in Rosemount if memory serves me right. Anyway, in the morning she had to get up for work, so she told me to get up when I wanted and make myself a coffee of whatever - just making sure the door was locked when I left. Anyway, eventually I got up, made a coffee and some toast and with nothing to do ( I was working offshore), started looking through the albums in the living room for something to put on. I found Graceland. I knew Call Me Al from the radio, but I'd never heard the rest of it and when I did, it just blew me away. I stayed there the whole morning putting it on again and again. Most songs it's hard to recall exactly where and when you first heard them, but this is one album that stands out like a beacon - and this song in particular. It's like a photo-shot of a point in time somewhere in my 20s. Before and after - not a related memory at all. There's just a room in a strange apartment and me listening to Graceland over and over.
That would make a brilliant scene in a film!
Miracle and wonder right there bro
I, particularly, love "Call Me Al", but I'm a big fan of his music both with Garfunkel and in his solo career. He is a genius songwriter.
I love this mini-story. It took me away immediately!
STD-mania
"And I believe
These are the days of lasers in the jungle
Lasers in the jungle somewhere
Staccato signals of constant information
A loose affiliation of millionaires
And billionaires..."
Words of the prophets.
Recalls another Paul Simon genius work
"And the sign said, "The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence""
Paul is a poet first and foremost and possibly the best of my lifetime.
You ever notice that in the lines: "Medicine is magical and magical is art
/Think of the Boy in the Bubble and the baby with the baboon heart" that the consonance of the repeating double B mimics a heartbeat? I still get chills when I hear that line.
@rjblaskiewicz, want to trade baseball cards! My name is Lewis Robert Burton Jr!
@rjblaskiewicz Thanks for trading your 2011 Topps #US175 Mike Trout rookie card to me worth $600.00 now! For my 2015 Topps Chris Bryant rookie what's that worth now about $20.00 dollars! Thanks again,Robert
Over 25 years ago now I had the privilege (luck, really) to have a teeny, tiny part in making of this video, as a worker for a company assisting Jim Blashfield and his visionary team that made this. I can still remember seeing the still photos to this day and wondering what the final video would be like.
Wow!! I'm really intrigued by people and history (even if it's not really old), stories such as these always fascinate me!
So, did you like have to cut out photos and stack them on top of each other? Then, photograph those stacks?
eh di wiw
I know Jim and I had absolutely no part in this video! 🙃
@@philippesauvie639 Touché Philippe!
May be more relevant today than the day it was written.
I'm in 2024 and it's even getting more true
The sweetest bass line ever.
What a work of art it is.
"Every generation throws a hero up the pop charts." I love that lyric.
The sound of Krishna Das playing the harmonium reminded me of this song today.
No words. I always saw this song as a piece of some kind of meta-art, a song that sang about its own existence, about its own dying age and frightening future, about long-distance-calls and lasers in the jungle, about constellations dying in space. To me, Paul Simon was way ahead of his time back then. This is one of the deepest songs in popular music ever.
Amen
All that to *such* a nasty groove!
“We didn’t start the Fire: Billy Joel another, similar.
No most of the lyrics were about news in the early 80s the boy in the bubble with a baboon heart the bomb in the baby carriage wired to the radio etc.
@@annalisavajda252 I know!!! 😀 The point of my comment was to emphasize the poeticism of the song and the growing fear of technology during the cold war.
The references are dated, yet this song feels more relevant now than ever. The art that intensifies over time rather than diminishes is rare and great.
Paul Simon is a national treasure.
...& international too xxx
international aswell, Shalom from Israel! ♥
Hello from Canada!
Will Hunter. WORLD Treasure!!
William Hunter He is a GLOBAL treasure
not a huge Simon fan but I recognize he was a brilliant songwriter. This song is bloody brilliant.
Graceland. One of; if not the, greatest albums ever produced. There is no filler, just straight up megahits, one after another. Decades later it still stands tall as a masterpiece.
Paul Simon had a way of capturing broad and vivid images of the human condition in the short moments of a brilliant song.
I first heard this album in 1986 on the very first Walkman I ever heard. It blew me away. I knew every single song word by word... I still do... Even at 44
here is a question, do you know what you know and have you said what you said?
That accordion sounds so awesome. It's an amazing instrument when used correctly.
The accordion is playing in Sotho style as played by traditional musicians in Lesotho. Search for Tau Ea Matsekha - Thokolosi, I'm sure you'll love it.
My mother can play the Accordion and she would agree. It always enrages her how the instrument gets such disrespect.
In the Classic albums episode about "Graceland" Paul reveals that to make the accordion sound deeper, they actually overdubbed it using a synthesizer but it's done so discreetly that you wouldn't even notice it.
Classical Music11 Not to mention that bassline.
not to mention... the mp3 version (or the cassette, or vinyl) sounds so much better than this video... RUclips is probably the worst thing to happen to sound quality in sixty years.
go buy a downloadable copy, or a physical copy, see for yourself. Man... I love this song, but this video... ick.
Paul Simon is not my normal cup of tea, but this album is amazing. It absolutely blows me away. One of my Top 10 albums ever.
+Buster Hymen Which albums/songs of his are not your "cup of tea"?
+godriczimmerman It's not any particular album of his, it's him in general. I'm more of a alt and/or new wave fan. I heard this first at a friend's house, and from the first note of the first song I heard, I was hooked on Graceland.
The album after this one is also fantastic, Rhythm of the Saints. It has always been overlooked.
It one of those things.
Paul Simon himself is decent; some hits and some misses, but THIS album is-to borrow a chess term-“immortal.”
Thankyou Paul Simon for bringing so much joy to the world with this album. It really is a masterpiece.
Paul got better with age. I loved his soft folk ballads, back when I had hair on my head, instead of in my ears and nose, but, Graceland was a major work of art by an accomplished genius. This particular song has been overshadowed by events, having proved eerily prophetic, but it resonates with the soul, communicates the delicious sense of wide eyed wonder that an adult feels when he embarks upon a new voyage of discovery. 11 thumbs up.
I think this song resonates even harder in the 2020s than for the era it was written for.
2024 here, and even worse need for this song.
At the time I or many other people never realised how talented and how good Paul Simons music is.
What a well-written song. They don't make 'em like this anymore.
One of my favourites off the Graceland album. I always liked its quirkiness.
The greatest LP ever, in the history of music, totally brilliant
The juxtaposition of “the way the camera follows us in slow-mo, the way we look to us all” with “the way we look to a distant constellation that’s dying in a corner of the sky” has always invoked this somewhat indescribable emotion, a medley of pity and fondness and elation, with a healthy dose of resignation.
Among the best lyrics ever written.
Other than a few big hits from Graceland on the radio, it wasn't until "Rythm of The Saints" hit Tower Records in the Village and buying it (possibly my favorite P.S. album) that I was led back to fully knowing, understanding and embracing "Graceland"... both are impeccable. The Art will long outlive the reductive controversy.
This was just a masterpiece album, and that's saying a lot for Paul Simon.
Without a doubt one of the greatest albums ever.
What an opening track for one of the most brilliant albums.
Back when I was about 6, my grandfather showed me this song. He had this album on cd, and every time I road in his car, he played this album, and this track. I loved it for years. Last time I herd it, I was about 10. Now I’m coming back to it for the first time in 5 years, and wow. The nostalgia is insane. And I’m not even that old! What an incredible song.
Yeah this record goes hard
Great opening track off what I believe to be one of the top ten best albums of all time. Just my not so humble opinion
Still gives me chills when I hear it.., thank you Paul.
I wish it they'd put it on here a bit louder,though. I went from the living room into the kitchen to collect a cup of tea and,with the door to the garden open and the patter of rain outside,I had to strain a bit to hear it properly!
Britain has Paul McCartney;
We (America) have Paul Simon.
This song hasn't aged one bit and neither has this video. "The way we look to a distant constellation that's dying in a corner of the sky..." is how we should all think of ourselves.
please eleborate wat u mean 😊
Insignificant in comparison.
the song hasn't aged but the video definitely has.
Nope, the video has a certain funky charm and always will. It is sufficiently "low tech" enough to stand the test of time. I cringe when I look at a LOT of videos from the "MTV 80s". Not this one.
Like "You Can Call Me Al," or example?
The song and video is still phenomenal. Timeless.
I wish the volume level was louder,though. For some reason they've made it very quiet here. I had to turn my speakers right up to do some kind of justice,and even then a Spinal Tap level 11 wouldn't have gone amiss.
For some reason this song always makes me emotional.
MelissaWithLove Me too, especially in combination with the video.
I remember listening to this tape as a kid over and over with my dad. All of Graceland brings back so much nostalgia, I had no idea how amazing this music was at the time.
For me personally, the whole Graceland album reminds me of my mom and wet hot Florida days. Makes me emotional also.
I'd look up at the clouds and let my mind wander with my Walkman playing this album. Amazing album, some of his best work.
Probably the best song of one of the best albums ever made.
Hello I really do appreciate you for being a big fan thank you for your wonderful comments on my post it really means a lot to me.I sincerely hope you never stop listening to my music…..❤️❤️❤️
"These are the days of lasers in the jungle" I don't think I've heard such a short line that says so much
Yes, that lyric, along with the first verse have always stuck with me.
"These are the days of lasers in the jungle, lasers in the jungle somewhere."
That verse really bites into you
Was he predicting the movie "Congo"?
I love how Paul Simon hid one of the best protests of modern pop culture in a song that he knew would hit the pop charts. Bold.
I remember the anticipation of the Graceland album release in 1986. The album lived up to ALL expectations. A marvellous album which needs to be in everyone's collection
One of the greatest songwriters ever I think.
It was a slow day
And the sun was beating
On the soldiers by the side of the road
There was a bright light
A shattering of shop windows
The bomb in the baby carriage
Was wired to the radio
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry
It was a dry wind
And it swept across the desert
And it curled into the circle of birth
And the dead sand
Falling on the children
The mothers and the fathers
And the automatic earth
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry
It's a turn-around jump shot
It's everybody jump start
It's every generation throws a hero up the pop charts
Medicine is magical and magical is art
The Boy in the Bubble
And the baby with the baboon heart
And I believe
These are the days of lasers in the jungle
Lasers in the jungle somewhere
Staccato signals of constant information
A loose affiliation of millionaires
And billionaires and baby
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry
Much love for COMPLETE lyrics! Thanks!
Thank you for the words to this song "boy in the bubble "it's now reflecting on what's going on in Ukraine .let's bring them hope and peace xx👍
Thank you!
Thanx
Paul Simon managed such interesting and complicated thoughts in such literate lyrics.
Oh man! The SOUNDS of this recording...the song, the arrangement, the instrumentation, the mix.......one of the greatest pop recordings I've ever heard. That stuttering, backward sounding accordion just kills me every time I hear it. Oh, that bass! The sound of the drums. Just brilliant.
Timeless,amazing Song And vídeo clip👏👏👏👏👏
Listening to this over 30 years after it's release, and it's sad how little has changed in the world.
So much poetry in one song! Such a masterpiece...
Hello I really do appreciate you for being a big fan thank you for your wonderful comments on my post it really means a lot to me.I sincerely hope you never stop listening to my music…..❤️❤️❤️
I love reading all the comments in this thread about memories of this song with loved ones, some of whom may no longer be here. Music is amazing.
In 1986 I started my studies at Helsinki School of Economics. I lived in a room in a student apartment that had cable-tv. On it I found MTV. And this video was shown frequently. Today I associate it with all the nice feelings I had at that time. A new town, lots of new people, the lectures and much more. It still nearly forty years later sound as fresh as it did in the fall of 1986.
One of my favorites by Paul Simon that is sadly never played any more. A forgotten late 80s Gem 💎
Phil, thanks to you and anyone else who had a hand in making this video. 25 years later, it still gives me chills. Magnificent work.
Happy 80th birthday Paul Simon!!!
The musicians playing on the album really are top class...amazing.
I live in Scotland and I am still listening to this wonderful music that lifts my spirits.❤
"...every generation throws a hero up the pop charts..."
Brilliant!
and every generation throws up a virus from which we need to self-isolate
@@dj_grim lol
one of paul simons best
Brilliant vid of a brilliant song off of one of the most important albums of the 1980s.
O
Graceland is in my top five albums of all time. I listen to it regularly😊
This song is still relevant in 2016! A great artist!
This is jim blashfield's greatest work. Jim you are a genius. You gave me 37 years of happiness with this masterpiece paul simon the boy in the bubble. For that im ever indebted to you.
I was introduced to this video by a drama teacher after that I went looking for everything Paul Simon ever did and have been addicted to his music ever since. 30 years well spent listening to great music.
This song is one of the great songs. It is a historical maker.
Everything about this track is amazing the lyrics and how the instruments just blend in together it is absolutely fabulous and is the perfect beginning to one of the greatest albums of all time and is definitely far ahead for its time which impresses me alot
Rings so true today. Such a powerful song.
What do you admire most about Paul
Only 1.8 million views??!!!IMO this is his best song,sounds like nothing else you've ever heard & it's bloody fantastic!!!Paul Simon is most definitely a genius & a national treasure
This is my favorite song on the album.
I have always loved fretless bass in this song
The whole Graceland album is great, really. The lyrics for this piece could stand alone as poetry; Simon's use of alliteration especially in the last stanza is nothing short of genius.
“I believe these are the days of lasers in the jungle, lasers in the jungle somewhere - staccato signals of constant information, a loose affiliation of millionaires and billionaires”.
This song is more prophetic than we realize. How bad is he describing the 2010s, way back in 1987?
I think sort of like the Beatles Paul Simon understood how crappy the world can be sometimes but taken as a whole Simon's work captures a joy and optimism about humanity. Because after that he reaffirms 'these are the days of miracle and wonders' and I don't think that claim is meant to be completely ironic.
The song actually isn't affirming a positive future, I think the singer is pointing out that it's ridiculous to have violence and destruction in an age where there are miracles and wonders. How can the same civilization that is battling disease, and preserving life with baboon hearts and bubble children, be the same one that is so bent on annihilating humanity.
Way ahead of it's time, describes the last 20 years but it was made 34 years ago.
@@fleurelise997 The duality of mankind is a bitch.
@@zachhardy6469 I also don't think it's an affirmation. I think it's sarcastic, "these are the days of miracle and wonders... don't cry, baby, don't cry." He's repeating what modern life is marketed as, and consoling someone, maybe the average listener, who doesn't identify with that image at all, who finds modern life to be rife with hardships, moral dilemmas, and all manners of abuse.
Such an happy song and a cute music video
One of the greatest albums ever in my opinion!
We have to play this music to our children, have it in the background while we do everyday stuff, I listened to the radio when I was a kid and fell in love with Presley, nat king cole, paul Simon is just as influential, he affected me in ways I’m still processing, will always love this
Graceland was one of the most important albums of the 1980s, both artistically and politically. Though some said that he was making money off the plight of black S Africa, others knew that it bred more awareness to the suffering than anything else in the music world.
this song is so up-to-date, amazing
My parents had this album and once I found it in their record collection I listened to it over and over again on the headphones in their sitting room and learnt all the words. It was one of the first albums that got me into music. Beautiful track and beautiful album. :-)
I woke up this morning and I HAD to listen to this great American troubadour. He is, in his own way, the GOAT, an astounding lyricist as well as a fine composer. Now don't get me wrong; Paul isn't Jerry and the Dead GOAT. But the man has left his mark. This is a great album; you get joy, you get sorrow, you get shock and you get awe. If not Simon himself, this album belongs on the list of GOAT records.
I know this is not Christmas songs but to me it is. my mother would put this when we did the Christmas tree because my brother and I wanted to listen to music while doing it but she didn't have any Christmas songs. so we would listen to this instead. now she is gone but I still listen to this when I put up my Christmas decorations in memory of her and the good times we spent listening to those songs
very emotional...
Great 'Mom' memories, too. She and I saw him a few times, but the Wiltern show was our favorite because he had the full percussion set with him, like we hear on 'You Can Call Me Al'. She was crazy about 'Graceland', and we always played it to get a great start on a camping trip.
so beautiful . i totally understand . this reminds me of my dad. i can still see him playing air guitar or drums
This song always seemed like a Christmas song to me
I grew up with the album, My mom spent many years in Africa and carried her love of the the cultures with her. I'd long forgotten about this album and picked it up by chance a few months ago when the remaster came out and the moment I put it on it brought back so many fond memories.
Song is absolutely brilliant
so cool excellent song greatest singer 🤠🥸😎🤩😍🥰🪕🎻🎵
Medicine and magical
Magic is art
This album came out when in was in H.S.. and I still love this entire record. I listen to this particular song when I become hopeless about how much technology was about to explode and change our world as we knew it and I wonder if we are the better for it? Or Not? It's over whelming. Paul did make on helluva record, though. Peace.
Hello I really do appreciate you for being a big fan thank you for your wonderful comments on my post it really means a lot to me.I sincerely hope you never stop listening to my music…..❤️❤️❤️
My favorite song from the Graceland album. I saw Paul in June and he started off the concert with this song.
Goosebumps.
This song was played on my funeral . Wow memories :)
+Dexter Your funeral? Wait.. then how did you post this? Lol
He's a ghost, of course. How else can he post this? He's come back from the dead to listen to his funeral song.
Dexter ... he got better
Hmmmmm... Yeah.....
And I was there too.
Absolutely love this... Bright light shattering of shop windows... Perfect description of what's wrong with the world... Absolute gem of a track,, 10/10