Okay, so in order to continue this series I’ve had to broaden my definition for what qualifies as a song about writing to include songs about literature and other related topics. The current top 40 generation will surely be shocked that anyone ever sang about a writer in their songs. Can anyone imagine Justin Bieber referencing Kafka or Kesha doing an ode to Hemmingway? No, me either.

Tonight’s song goes back to 1966. A great tune by Simon & Garfunkel that includes mentions of Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost, and is all around a wonderfully written song. Cheers. (I just finished Frost’s Mountain Interval – If you haven’t picked it up yet, add it to the list.)

It’s a still life water color,
Of a now late afternoon,
As the sun shines through the curtained lace
And shadows wash the room.
And we sit and drink our coffee
Couched in our indifference,
Like shells upon the shore
You can hear the ocean roar
In the dangling conversation
And the superficial sighs,
The borders of our lives.

And you read your Emily Dickinson,
And I my Robert Frost,
And we note our place with bookmarkers
That measure what we’ve lost.
Like a poem poorly written
We are verses out of rhythm,
Couplets out of rhyme,
In syncopated time
Lost in the dangling conversation
And the superficial sighs,
Are the borders of our lives.

Yes, we speak of things that matter,
With words that must be said,
“Can analysis be worthwhile?”
“Is the theater really dead?”
And how the room is softly faded
And I only kiss your shadow,
I cannot feel your hand,
You’re a stranger now unto me
Lost in the dangling conversation.
And the superficial sighs,
In the borders of our lives.