worst song from the paul simon poll results

#07 - CECILIA

Feelin Groovy

it's subtitled FEELIN' GROOVY for fuck's sake

50 ways to leave your lover
(ducks)

lagoon you're dead to me

I voted Call Me Al.

I hate it and love it in equal measure, and could easily make an argument either way. Today, hate.

50 ways to leave your ducks, lol

damn ur worse than los lobos imho

scarb fair obv

The song itself is fine, but if we need to sacrifice a song, this video may help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULjCSK0oOlI

what! that video is so so classic

yeah, watched that so many times when it came out

OK, OK, OK

Feelin' Groovy

lol chevy placing the water glass onto the instrument stand as if its a side table

#20

or #30

parsley sage rosemary and thyme

i know it's like the oldest song ever so it's extra-good but i don't get it

scarb fair obv

― Lamp, Friday, March 23, 2012 5:35 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

something something museum

ol museum voice garfunkel

hahah

the smithsonian-voiced garfunkel

Eazy how can u hate the "you can call me al" video? is this a thing? like when everybody turned out to hate "50 ways to leave your lover"? you guys hate fun.

love museums

it's not a bad song at all but why did "hazy shade of winter" make this poll? what happened? i am confused.

People heard the Bangles' outstanding version?

It's a mirror poll of the same songs from the Paul Simon poll. Not saying that all of them are the worst, but your worst song from the poll.

poll poll poll

today I'm feeling the hate for "Al" because of the too-much-horn-section, the stupid rhymy-wymy chorus and if I think too hard about it the whole thing just makes no sense

and stupid short Paul Simon walking around with that smug look on his face like he's twice as tall as he really is. that 'who me?' face annoys me today.

ask me in a week and I'll tell you why I love it.

has anyone ever come across what the titular Al (and Betty) are a reference to? this always befuddled me as a kid.

it's what Simon and Chase called each other in private.

it implies forced intimacy borne of desperation is the way i break it down to an extent

zzz

:)

No idea, always assumed he was just going for names that had that kind of familiar-nickname feel, like a long-lost pal would call you. Reminds me both of George Costanza wanting to be called "T-bone," and the Cheers theme song.

I don't think either "Al" or "Betty" is quite the perfect name for "Lemme introduce you to this guy! This guy, I've known him my whole life, we grew up together" etc., but they fit the meter well, and Al rhymes with "pal."

I skip "Al" whenever I play Graceland because when I saw Simon in early '91 he played it twice back to back, therefore obviating any need to hear it again.

it just feels like a big advertising jingle when I'm in the mood to hate it

how dare u VG frankly, i think betty&al sound like an old married couple which is interesting like longing for that intimacy but willing setting for best friend

yeah i always thought it sounded like betty and al were a little older, a little more settled in their identities than the speaker of the song. or that that was what the names meant to him

sort of playing at that is what im feeling like nbd just a lark except not really, laughing at oneself

for the longest time I thought it was some kind of movie reference (ie two friends pretending to be a famous couple) but I could never figure out who it was... in retrospect it's probably more akin to Woody and Tony Roberts calling each other "Max" in Annie Hall

Some guys on some forum said this, which amused me:

"It was a private joke between PS and his then wife [Peggy]. Apparently, a celebrity guest/hanger-on was taking his leave from one of their parties and called them "Betty & Al". They were so amused by this that they kept the names for a while. (Hazy recollection from a TV interview)"

"the celebrity guest was Pierre Boulez, conductor and composer."

The names in the song came from an incident at a party that Simon went to with his then-wife Peggy Harper. French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, who was attending the same party, mistakenly referred to Paul as "Al" and to Peggy as "Betty", inspiring Simon to write a song.[3]

Wikipedia provides the answer.

Oh the japes

ugh writers' real lives are so annoying. i prefer jho's interp.

*smug grin*

Peggy and Simon divorced in '75 = he sat on that song for 10 years?

btw i want the coat paul simes is wearing in the poll picture/on the cover of paul simon

I think you also kind of want to be balding and short if we're being real, horseshoe :)

i am halfway there tbh

Yeah, "Groovy." I don't hate it, but it's only slightly better than "Red Rubber Ball."

Almost voted for "Duncan" just because I'm so puzzled that it's #4, but if it had been in the bottom 20 I wouldn't have a problem with it.

Best song missing entirely from the Top 60: "The Coast." Shoulda voted.

"red rubber ball", otoh, is wonderful. one of the dumbest omission from my ballot.

"Hey lamppost, whatcha knowin"

However, I voted for Sound of Silence because it's drecky, self-serious college litmag poetry.

Not gonna vote for a worst here, but "Graceland" is a baffling (to me) winner of the og poll.

Feelin groovy is horseshit

― Thu'um gang (jjjusten), Sunday, March 25, 2012 11:30 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lagoon I am mad at u regarding Cecilia. You crazy.

is he breaking your heart

I fall on the floor and I'm laughing

who was it that said Cecilia could've been a Faust song? m coleman?

I've known the words to "59th St" since i was about 7, so eff the rest of u

and with "Al," "What if I die here?" is something I tthink in nearly every place I don't want to be, every day.

(preview of middle age, gratis)

its an interesting question

obv "I don't find this stuff amusing anymore" is something I think 50x a day too

ha

<3 dr, morbz

dr.

59th st was also a camp song for me. Fast triplet da's are awkward for a chorus of 11-year-olds to sing.

I came here to vote for "Loves Me Like a Rock", but didn't find it so I went for "The Obvious Child" instead.

just listening to hazy shade of winter and its p funny, look around leaves are brown theres a patch of snow on the ground DONT U SEE

and yet you voted Cecilia

all of you people saying "Scarborough Fair" are disgusting Philistines who don't deserve music

ty

but "Scarborough Fair" is from an earlier century when ppl and their art was lol ridiculous

sorry ;_;

DJP OTM

ive been listening to the songs from the poll that i wasnt intimately familiar with and lets just say that my fondness for s&g hasnt really bloomed during this period of exploration

re "hazy shade of winter": i find the naivete sort of endearing. a young man in an act of self-important "wisdom" trying to say something serious abt what it must like to be old. young people do this a lot, especially the poetic ones, but they seldom attach their instructive musings to such glorious music.

its a cool song dont get me wrong, the silliness works

its a p exciting song tbh

the 12-string guitar riff is like a perfect Rubber Soul/Revolver knockoff

in fairness, I was in a concert yesterday where we sang this (note: that is one of my old college groups, not the group I sing with now) so basically anybody doing anything polyrhythmic with counterpoint and stacking vocal harmonies is basically going to get a vigorous defending from me unless of course the ppl doing it are terrible

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

ILX not feelin' groovy

#03 - ME AND JULIO DOWN BY THE SCHOOLYARD 1

troll?

I feel okay that Al tied for 3rd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBQxG0Z72qM

feel like this vid shouldve dispelled any and all bad will towards 'feelin' groovy' which is just too slight and goofy 2 really h8 imo

<3 Paul looks like he's going to bust up laughing at any moment

jus a lil song abt gettin mad lifted everyone be cool

the true answer is prob one of the ones w/zero votes

who doesnt love feelin groovy i ask you that

jho which s&g songs if any did u like?

I discovered that Smothers Brothers clip a few months ago--love it so much, especially the madman look on Tommy's face.

out of the s&g songs on the list i wasnt familiar w/which actually is not that many so long frank lloyd wright spoke to me

FEELIN' GROOVY I can understand but I think you suck if you think the worst song is SCARBOROUGH FAIR/CANTICLE or 50 WAYS TO LEAVE YOUR LOVER

not that I voted in this or the real poll but #1 Graceland is pretty boring for me

we all could of guessed that.

I think you suck if you think the worst song is SCARBOROUGH FAIR

.. except if you had to song this damn song OVER AND OVER AGAIN as part of Folk Group at school. Which was pre-this album.

But, I'm over it, so do not hate this now.

I don't really think any of you suck.

I never really bothered to differentiate all the lyrics to Scarborough Fair so if lyrics are the reason why people dislike that song than so be it. I don't think the lyrics are strong enough to illicit a negative response though

or weak enough for that matter

#29 - HOMEWARD BOUND 0
It's nice to know you're all sane.

(xpp then* elicit*)