Talk:America (Simon & Garfunkel song)

Jimmy Carter

I May be wrong, but didn't Paul Simon perform "American Tune" for Carter, not "America"? Cheers, Vera, Chuck & Dave 21:48, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

I can't find anything (apart from sites starting to mirror this article) confirming "America" was the song performed. Please cite the sourse or I will remove it. A citation request was made on 13 Oct. and questioned it's inclusion on the 3rd. Vera, Chuck & Dave 14:29, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

There is nothing I can find to confirm this song was performed for Jimmy Carter, I am removing it. If anyone can find a sourse, (other than a mirror) please put it in Vera, Chuck & Dave 18:14, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Basis for humorous short story

Although I can't find it, the song was the basis for a short story published in (I think) a "best of the year" mystery short story anthology. In the story, a young man named Paul is being questioned by an anonymous official, and as the dialog progresses it becomes apparent that the reason Paul is being questioned is that he and his girlfriend seem to have breached the cover of a spy whom they encountered on a Greyhound bus ... 76.126.4.90 (talk) 22:59, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

Paul Simon's 'America' lyrics appearing on abandoned structures in Saginaw, Michigan ( 2010 )

Lyrics on the wall

Saginaw, Michigan rarely warrants musical muse status — at least on a national level — but on “America,” a song written by Paul Simon, released in 1968 and performed with Art Garfunkel, Saginaw garners its mention alongside the likes of the New Jersey Turnpike, Pittsburgh, Pa. and Mrs. Wagner pies.

At least two lyrics from the song have appeared in spray-paint form on abandoned structures throughout the city, including the lyric, “All gone to look for America,” on a boarded up building at the corner of South Washington and East Genesee in Downtown Saginaw; and, “so we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies,” painted in red on the outside of Mama Lillie’s, a long-abandoned soul food restaurant at the end of Potter Street in Saginaw.

How did Saginaw make it into a Paul Simon Lyric?

Bob Dyer, a former Saginaw disc jockey and organizer of Y-A-Go-Go, a concert series hosted by the Saginaw YMCA, 1915 Fordney, booked Simon and Garfunkel to play three months before “Sounds of Silence” became a No. 1 national hit in 1966, according to Saginaw News records.

“I asked Paul Simon if they were still charging the $1,250 we paid them to play and he said they were getting about four times that much then,” Dyer told The Saginaw News in 2004. “Then I asked him why he hadn't pulled out, and he said he had to see what a city named Saginaw looked like.

“Apparently, he liked it; he wrote ‘America' while he was here, including that line about taking four days to hitchhike from Saginaw.”

http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2010/12/paul_simons_america_lyrics_ran.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.250.155.34 (talk) 20:17, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Anonymous artist explains motive for America lyrics appearing on abandoned buildings in Saginaw Michigan

The poignant lyrics to Paul Simon’s song “America” began curiously sprouting up on decrepit landmarks throughout Saginaw about three months ago.

“Michigan seems like a dream to me now. It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw. I've gone to look for America,” Simon wrote in the 1968-released tune.

A Saginaw artist has taken those wanderlust-filled lyrics and painted them as graffiti at various locations in Saginaw, including a soccer goal post at Wickes Park, railroad tracks, abandoned buildings and bridge supports.

They appear disconnected at first glance, but there is a system to the work. With the help of friends, the artist strategically painted one line from the song on each of 28 structures throughout the city.

The artist, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid legal trouble, said the lyrics spoke to him years ago, as he pondered his dying hometown from college far away.

The song was written at a time when Saginaw’s population nearly doubled the US Census-estimate of 55,000 residents in 2009.

“For me and several people I know who are from Saginaw, it is our homesick song,” the painter said. “When I was in school and really missing Saginaw, I would keep playing that song over and over again, and would be thinking about how I left Saginaw to find my dreams, too, and wondered if that was really the right decision.”

He eventually returned home and began working with Saginaw’s artist community. Today, he hopes to positively impact his hometown.

“I don’t think Saginaw is done shrinking, and I never think it will return to the state it was, but that doesn’t mean that something great won’t take place here,” he said.

Saginaw, like other towns along Interstate 75’s automotive corridor, Flint and Detroit, has experienced abandonment by industry and residents, “so we decided to put the song up on the buildings to make them think about it a little more,” the artist said.

Bob Dyer, a former Saginaw disc jockey, explained in a 2004 interview with The Saginaw News how Saginaw garnered a mention in the song performed by Simon and Garfunkel.

Also an organizer of Y-A-Go-Go, a concert series hosted by the Saginaw YMCA during the 1960s, Dyer booked Simon and Garfunkel to play a concert three months before “Sounds of Silence” became the duo’s first No. 1 hit in 1966, according to Saginaw News records.

“I asked Paul Simon if they were still charging the $1,250 we paid them to play and he said they were getting about four times that much then,” Dyer said. “Then I asked him why he hadn't pulled out, and he said he had to see what a city named Saginaw looked like.

“Apparently, he liked it; he wrote ‘America' while he was here, including that line about taking four days to hitchhike from Saginaw.”

The artist who pioneered the public art display said he hopes people will reflect on his work that some might only see as vandalism.

“Saginaw gets such a bad reputation nationally — for crime, pollution, there are a million things — but it’s still our town, and to me it’s the best place to live in, because it’s my city,” he said.

http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2010/12/anonymous_artist_explains_moti.html