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The Obvious Child Lyrics
I'm accustomed to a smooth ride
Or maybe I'm a dog who's lost its bite I don't expect to be treated like a fool no more I don't expect to sleep through the night Some people say a lie's a lie's a lie But I say why Why deny the obvious child? Why deny the obvious child? And in remembering a road sign I am remembering a girl when I was young And we said These songs are true These days are ours These tears are free And hey The cross is in the ballpark The cross is in the ballpark We had a lot of fun We had a lot of money We had a little son and we thought we'd call him Sonny Sonny gets married and moves away Sonny has a baby and bills to pay Sonny gets sunnier Day by day by day by day I've been waking up at sunrise I've been following the light across my room I watch the night receive the room of my day Some people say the sky is just the sky But I say Why deny the obvious child? Why deny the obvious child? Sonny sits by his window and thinks to himself How it's strange that some rooms are like cages Sonny's yearbook from high school Is down from the shelf And he idly thumbs through the pages Some have died Some have fled from themselves Or struggled from here to get there Sonny wanders beyond his interior walls Runs his hand through his thinning brown hair Well I'm accustomed to a smoother ride Maybe I'm a dog that's lost his bite I don't expect to be treated like a fool no more I don't expect to sleep the night Some people say a lie is just a lie But I say the cross is in the ballpark Why deny the obvious child?
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01-29-2006
03-12-2009
As for the obvious child, I take away 2 things from this: first, yes, he's older, he expects some ease and respect, yet the child he once was, is still obviously present. Second, it reminds me of the title The Elephant's Child, a gorgeous poem by Rudyard Kipling, and taking into account his mixing of metaphors (cross to bear is in the ballpark, or achievable), this, to me is also him as well, still full of curiosity, eyes still full of wonder. It's not about Christ, unless it's the Christ in all of us. I see how you can derive the meaning from that, but I highly doubt that was Paul's intention, seeing as he's never written from a religious, or at least Christian, point of view in the past (though, admittedly, almost all of his songs have a certain amount of...holiness to them).
To call this a song about a mid life totally invalidates the gentleness and beauty of it. It is that, but so much more. He sees where he was, who was lost on the way, who was gained, feels the sorrow and the happiness, and lets it pass through him. A mid life, yes, but there is no crisis involved. He is content, with who he was, and whom he is now.
Seeing as this is where I, too, find myself on my own personal journey, I am both comforted and encouraged. And reminded of yet another Rudyard Kipling poem, 'If', the apex of which, hopefully Sonny, and I, have achieved.
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02-01-2006
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03-04-2006
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04-14-2006
I've always wondering, though, what "the cross is in the ballpark" means.
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04-28-2006
and the whole 'why deny the obvious... well i guess its kinda obvious what that means... 'some people say a lie is just a lie'... well thats obviously not true so why deny the obvious...
and in remembering a road sign i am remembering a girl when i was young... i think thats about how you can remember something and it makes you think of something else.. like seeing this roadsign from his childhood reminds him of a girl that he perhaps was with near it or something...
really not sure what the cross is in the ballpark is about..
then the story just moves further through life and becomes about the son, Sonny.. and sonny seems to have some sort of midlife crisis or something...
so... yeah thats what i reckon
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07-09-2006
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07-14-2006
1.) "The obvious child" = Christ
2.) "... in the ballpark" has nothing to do with baseball and could be replaced with "... is pretty close" or "... is a good guess".
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08-23-2006
It seems that "The Obvious Child" chronicles a man who wishes to ponder all the possibilities of the meaning of life. However, from a young age, Christianity is all his parents teach him, and in fact, they discourage exploration into other spiritual thoughts and beliefs. Hence the phrase "Why deny the obvious child?"
The phase continues even into his later life as he finds all those beliefs his parents instilled still control his mental/spiritual exploration. In later life, the phrase "why deny the obvious child?" is more of a pondering as to why any person would deny themself that internal spiritual exploration, something so obviously basic (in the beginning of the song, the question seems to be posed more to the parents).
In the very end of the song, there is the line "Sonny wanders beyond his interior walls, runs his hands through his thinning brown hair". These are my favorite lines (in part because I have thinning brown hair). It could be interpretted that Sonny is having a spiritual breakthrough and allowing himself to wander beyond his interior walls. However, I personally think it's more likely that the intent is just that he allows himself to wander for a little while, something which regularly happens, but he never truly escapes the nagging discomfort of fully open soul searching.
The discussion of the parents, Sonny's child, the bills, etc, all could be viewed as distractors from the interpretation I have given. However, I feel these are powerful parts of the song which show that he is living the normal American life. The cross in the ballpark is a perfect example of what I mean. What could be more American? The reason the normal American life is important is that it seems to show that this is a completely internal struggle for Sonny. He doesn't even let anyone ever know he has this urge to explore.
The dicussion of the parents at the beginning is sort of underplayed. This could be intentional so as to show that they are not ill-intentioned in spiritually raising there son. In fact, they are doing it the only way they know how. It could probably be guessed that Sonny has raised his child the same way.
The cross in the ballpark has a myriad of possible meanings, and in fact, it's likely that even Paul Simon didn't fully know where he was going with that phrase. I have so many possible meanings in my head, and I don't really want to enumerate them. In fact, many of them are compatible, so I like to just believe they are all good. Once, I did read an interview where Paul Simon joked that saying "the cross is in the ballpark" twice in a row was too much.
I would love to read any other interpretations or comments on mine. Half of me wishes I could sit down and pick Paul Simon's brain on this one. The other half of me is worried that the true meaning might mean significantly less to me that mine does.
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08-23-2006
My other interpretation is just that the song chronicles the American dreamer, and the lines I mentioned about are central to that. Sonny maybe fell short of his American dream, or even attained his American dream and it wasn't what he had hoped.
Again, this song to me is distinctly American in all interpretations.
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09-23-2006
This makes the song a lot lighter in content I think.
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11-09-2006
its basically a man looking back into his life and how he perceived it in his youth.
"Accostumed to a smooth ride, maybe just a dog who's lost his bite" is a clear explanation of how he felt before, as a rough and tumble type of person who'd rather have it tough than easy, but time and experiece have changed this, and its not bad, its just experience, its just life.
The title is usually misintrepreted as the obvious child (a child being obvious), but its basically a figure of speech of someone talking down to someone else "its not possible to deny the obvious" being patronizing witha sense of affection (parenthood).
The fact that you cannot be in permanent revolution is evident, the most beatiful verses in the piece are sang as a remembrance: "These songs are true, These days are ours, These tears are free". but its looked at as if even thou it was a reality at the moment its not exactly how it is right now, and its not saddening or angry, its just different.
the calrification of the "cross in the ballpark" is welcome, but is also fits within the theme as a very hopeful comment to tell someone who's looking into the future (the challenge can be taken and achieved it seems). thanks to jolarti for that, I thought i was lost with a dead baseball player analogy...
Sonny wanders beyond his interior walls, the future self of the speaker (his son) looks at his life the same way his father did before him, and realizaes he is quite content with life as it has been and whatever will come.
I love it, it has become a mantra for me, "I dont expect to be treated like a fool no more"
tnx all
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11-21-2006
I do agree that the phrase "the obvious child" implies that there is wisdom in obvious or childish notions. I have always felt that, and it is perhaps my favorite line in the song.
I have more thoughts, but I could go too long. Anyway, great song. It stirs every very positive and negative emotions for me all at once; all in relevance to getting older.
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01-19-2007
"In the Ballpark" being a reference to "pretty close" is fascinating and makes a great deal of sense, especially when coupled with antecedant "Why deny the obvious child?" To me Simon is saying "I don't know if Christianity is the only truth, but most of it makes sense, it's sound, it means well.. it's in the ballpark."
Previsouly, I understood the lines to be another observation in Simon's long history of reflecting on what it is to be American, and particularly to be a part of American pop culture. "The Cross is in the ballpark" in that sense could mean that for Americans, sports and similar pursuits that reward fame and glamour have become our religion. He may be saying "the obvious child is not Christ, but Derek Jeter or better yet, Joe DiMaggio. Remember despite his intellectualism and cerebral nature, Simon frequently expresses understanding and sometimes wonder over the idea of popular acceptance. "Every generation throws a hero up the pop charts."
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03-01-2007
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04-18-2007
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07-29-2007
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10-29-2007
The third verse is again growing showing the in between stages. This phase of life is dealt with so quickly in the song: the line 'We had a little son we thought we'd call him Sonny' (although in my head its always been spelt Sunny!) moves straight to Sonny getting married and moving away. A whole period of his life has been missed out, perhaps showing that people grow up very fast.
As to 'the cross is in the ballpark' I never originally thought that it was referring to Christianity (although I don't have any ideas myself) and everyone else seems rather convincing on that one. I always thought that this phrase just meant that the cross (whatever it might be) is out there for consideration - it is worth looking at. I think I thought of the cross more as a crossroads: looking at different paths to take which way to go etc.
Those are my thoughts on this but it made me wonder for a long time and like someone else mentioned above, I would love to ask Paul Simon what he really meant!
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01-19-2008
Or maybe I'm a dog who's lost its bite
I don't expect to be treated like a fool no more
I don't expect to sleep through the night"
These lines always stuck out to me. I think he's finally figuring certain things out about himself, finally looking at his personal history and realizing why he thinks certain ways and does certain things-
he never took himself too seriously, preferred to kind of silently watch other people be themselves unabashedly but he himself never had the "arrogance" (as he saw it) to impose himself on other people -
it's a catholic guilt thing that he never realized - he's finally working up the courage to be the him that was underneath all those years of unnoticed blockage which caused him to be kind of a doormat
other people looked down on him as boring, unintelligent, simple and he's saying "well so what if i was just accustomed to a smooth ride. that was my reality, that was how my parents raised me, that was how my life played out."
then he second guesses himself as he's accustomed to doing "no, maybe i really am just a coward...
either way this is who i am, this is how my life happened and i don't expect to be treated like an idiot anymore. I'm just as real as anyone else and they're just as real as me."
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04-03-2008
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04-19-2008
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05-04-2008
I watch the night receive the room of my day"
The night recieving the room of his day is an obvious metaphor the aging process, and a great one at that.
"The cross is in the ball park"
The cross is the burden to bear, and saying it's in the ballpark is like saying it's closer than we'd like to believe, as if to say the "Some people say a lie is just a lie (probably to ourselves)" but burden we bear from it is closer than we like to believe...
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06-02-2008
I think that's so cool, what he said about the cross in the ballpark. It's within reach! it's doable... our burden in life, but also faith (the cross) is within reach, which brings me hope as an often dubious Christian.
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06-02-2008
I picture Sonny as a child in a large, Catholic family, and he's the only one outspoken enough to talk about what he wants- very driven, not selfish. The parents say, "well, he's the only one speaking up... why deny the obvious child?"
Then again, I guess someone's mentioned the idea of Sonny being raised Catholic/Christian, looking around at other faiths, looking back at Christ and saying "Well, though that's the most obvious choice, why deny Him?"
I think this is valid as well..
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06-16-2008
Why deny the obvious child. I think people take this phrase too literally; being an obvious child. Add punctuation. Why deny the obvious, child? Speaking from father to son, or elder to younger seems much more realistic to me.
A cross. This might mean the Cross of Christianity. However, this doesn't seem to fit the song. A cross' original symbol is a plus sign+. Or an x. Speaking figuratively, X marks the spot. Sonny nears understanding and meaning of a person's life. This is also backed up by "in the ballpark". The saying "you're in the ballpark" generally refers to nearing a destination, be that death or wisdom. At first, approaching death is the speaker, but as the song goes on, so is Sonny. The cross is in the ballpark is only refrenced in the beginning, where the father is reflecting on his life, the dog who has lost his bite, and at the end, where old Sonny is reflecting on his own life.
I think my idea fits the song consistently and is more constant with Paul Simon. After all, he doesn't really make religion a major factor in his music.
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06-17-2008
But paul Simon did say the "cross in the ballpark" is the burden we bear, and I'd tend to think that the burden in the song is death(""I don't expect to sleep the night"")/ getting older ("I watch the night receive the room of my day
"), the obvious.
But yeah, no question this song doesn't have anything to do with religion, just getting old, death, realization of it.
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