It dawned on me one day that "the cross is in the ballpark" may simply be a statement about geometry. Which, in turn, suggests something about the nature of American life and institutions. See: http://www.flickr.com/photos/contextural/4296621439/

Why deny the obvious?

Many thanks go out to all of you for sharing your views on this songs meaning. I have learned volumes as I've read your comments. My thoughts were quite narrow, and I've enjoyed the lessons expressed here.

I thought the lyrics were: "crosses in the ballpark". For some reason I associated this with South Africa & the sport of cricket. Dumbass American short-sightedness I guess in retrospect. "But alas, I digress".

Thanks and kudos to all of you have taken the time to share your thoughts and enlighten another!

-J

I just love this song! I agree - I almost don't want to know Paul Simon's interpretation as it can be more special and meaningful to just have your own. With that said - I think its fun to throw ideas around and offer up suggestions that we may not have thought of on our own. Its creative and life giving -- let the ideas inspire you!

Here's my two cents on the first line -- one of my favorites:

"I'm accustomed to a smooth ride, or maybe I'm a dog who's lost his bite"

When I first heard this song -- I'm not talking about just on the radio, but when I first really heard it and said to myself - "yeah, that resonates." It hit me very personally and I'm not sure that I could put that emotion into words. But simply: we have it really good -- we are accustomed to a smooth ride/ having it easy. I have gotten a bit and seen different ways of life. Not better or worse -- just different. And yes, I think we often take our lives for granted. If you want water -- you just turn on the faucet. Most people in the Western world do not have to go to a well or climb up to spring for fresh water. We have it easy.

"or maybe I'm a dog who's lost his bite" --- this in true Paul Simon form makes you question the first line. Maybe you don't have it so easy -- maybe you've been fighting your whole life and now are just worn out. Maybe life has beaten itsel out of you and you've lost your bit because its easy just to go-along with the flow than keep fighting.

Or maybe -- the bite is the dog is us -- we were born wild and ready to take on the world, but gradually we all grow up and become tame..... losing our bite and losing our desire to change the world.

Just some thoughts -- what do you all think?

Lots of illuminating interpretations. I'll just add a small observation. The word "sunnier" might be worth more discussion. Instead of meaning happier, it might mean to be more like the sun, and therefore it would relate to the sky imagery (with possible God overtones - becoming divine.)

Or it might have to do with the concept of the sun in an Earth day. (Many of the nearby lyrics concern the day.) Perhaps, just as (in one interpretation) the difference between the speaker and Sonny and the grandchild are fading, so too does the concept of each day as distinct from one another, until all the days of a man's life can be measured by the sun's light traveling across his room.

here's how i read it.

The first part is the dad looking back on his life. He's accepted a "normal" modern day life, part of the cogs of human existence and civilization. Has been living a pragmatic life really.
"Im accustomed to a smooth ride
Or maybe Im a dog whos lost its bite"

He accepts his place in society and is not professing the crazy tomfoolery of idealistic youth anymore - when you set out to conquer all bad things and change the world. He's accepted that there's a lot of crap and things aren't so simple to fix as the young often think in their grandiose way. Life's not gonna be easy he realizes.
"I dont expect to be treated like a fool no more
I dont expect to sleep through the night"

Then he takes this new way of thinking to its logical conclusion. Idealism (and perhaps anything that does take into account the ugliness of the world) is flawed and debunked.
"Some people say a lies a lies a lie"

But then he takes a step back and says - hey, just because ideals in practice seem hopelessly flawed, just because goodness is marred by the evil, can you really throw it all away and succumb to nihilistic attitudes. Does all this really mean God's dead and the verve and idealism of youth is but the foolishness of youth?

And here he suddenly has an active awakening of the soul and he's like - no way Man!
"But I say why
Why deny the obvious child?
Why deny the obvious child? "

So he's clinging to his idealistic views of goodness. I do think the obvious child could be a metaphor of Christ, just because it's simple and seems absolutely silly as a concept, that a God would become a man made of dirt, doesn't mean it isn't true.

So the song keeps picking up and this guy starts becoming more alive. He has grabbed onto his past ideals, after a lifetime of "normalcy", playing it cool.

He flashes back to times with his wife when they were young and idealistic, and living life to the fullest, and any grandiose ideas were doable (cross or duties of chivalric goodness and in the ballpark / doable).

Remembers Sonny, his son, and how he grew up and moved away as part of life.

Now this dad is sitting there and reflecting and reconnecting with himself and his life. He's slowing down and reflecting, paying attention to the smallest things and how he fits in with the cosmos, feeling alive.
"Ive been waking up at sunrise
Ive been following the light across my room
I watch the night receive the room of my day"

So now he is not seeing everything in the same way. No longer is the sky ignored, but it is a miracle of God's creation that reconnects him to God himself. Again, other people may have abandoned ideals, God, ideas of greater things and succumbed to bliss is ignorance and the pragmatics of daily life.

But this guy says ->
"Some people say the sky is just the sky"...
But I say
Why deny the obvious child?
Why deny the obvious child?

Now the song shifts... Good old sonny, his son who has been running through the rat race, suddenly takes a step back and says holy crap, wait a minute, there's more to life than the pragmatics, wait a minute... he reflects back on his life and realizes how much time has gone by. how he slept through life. now sonny starts rubbing his head.

and great, now sonny wakes up too and comes to life!
"Well Im accustomed to a smoother ride
Maybe Im a dog thats lost his bite
I dont expect to be treated like a fool no more
I dont 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?"

That's my stab at it anyway. How did I do Paul?

I believe "the cross" has multiple meanings.

One of them obviously refers to the road sign that is mentioned in the same verse.
The guy took his date to a ballpark where among the mass he decided to settle down his life
with this girl. Cross is like a warning (stop) sign. Cross was telling the guy to live an ordinary
life with the loved one and not to hope for a crazy dream to part with the populate.

Another meaning could be religious belief, or spilituality. Paul found it in the reality(ballpark),
not at churchs or sinagogues. In his early 70's song "Me and Julio down by the schoolyard", ballpark (schoolyard) was used to simbolize the moral freedom and spiritual growth during the youth. If you feel you don't belong to a church or school, schooyard is where you develop your faith with friends of "other kind".

In my opinion, PS probably had been looking for a chance to use the phrase "The cross is in the ballpark" for long since he had it in mind. He might have used it in another song if it fit the lyrics. "The obvious child" just happened to be the one that could adopt it without a syllabic flaw.

You might have a better understanding of my idea after we've exchanged comments, so please do not
hesitate to respond me with your arguments.

"Why deny the obvious child"? I highly value all the opinions written of here (glad for them too, as this is one of my favorite songs and I often puzzle over the lyrics!) One interpretation that I haven't read mentioned is that of the child within us all - the one who has needs that aren't met before adulthood that we end up trying to pacify, deny, or care for when we are adults (I know, I know, that sounds so child psych) - but think about it.

We go from being kids (ballpark) to having kids - all of a sudden Sonny's away having his own kid and bills to pay - yet we get the feeling by omission (and oh "we thought we'd call him Sonny") that his inner child wasn't treated. The inner child - the obvious child. All of a sudden, Sonny is facing middle age as well - feeling the inertia and trapped edgings that come with age, responsibility, and routine. It's a cycle - it's not someone caring for you - it's a denial of being free, which you're supposed to be when you're a child. Why deny the obvious child? Why not be free?

Just a thought.

I think your pretty right on this Pat, but the speaker is on his death bed "I don't expect to sleep the night" is a pretty stong statement to support this.

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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I think that the obvious child being Christ isn't right I think that Paul Simon liked being vague about this song, leaving it to interpretation.

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.

1 Reply

And I accept, too, the obvious, literal storyline about Sonny and the growing up, getting older thing.

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..

There's something totally sublime behind the lyrics that just carries them to this creepy, deep resonance with me.

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.

"I've been following the light across my room
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...

I heard Paul say in an interview that "The cross is in the ball park" was a line he come up with while the Pope was doing Mass at Yankee Stadium on TV.

I only have one thing to add, which is that this song is part of a Brazilian-inspired album, and it has in common with a lot of Brazilian songs, that the lyrics aren't so much about literal meaning as metaphors and wordplay. I think the total jist is that, when trying to come to terms with middle age, at some point you just have to say, "Yeah, OK, it is what it is," and get back on your bike and go on living.

"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"

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."

I always thought that this song is about ageing. 'Why deny the obvious' is saying you can't deny the inevitable - everyone ages. I think this is supported by 'thinning brown hair' - Sonny is looking back on his life in the same way as his father is doing with this song and reflecting on the people he used to know. The memory of 'these songs are true, these days are ours' is I think a wistful remembrance of lost times. 'I don't expect to sleep through the night' is sharing the predicament of many older people not only because of their ageing bodies but also perhaps haunted by old memories.
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!

I think this a song about a man, who's son came back to tell him that he no longer belives in god. The dad being old, tries to convice his son that Christianity may not be perfect, but it is close (it is in the ballpark). Bob Dylan wrote, "how many times can a man look up, before he sees the sky". some people interpret that is an athiest statement. Paul answered with "some people say the sky is just sky, but i say, why deny the obvious? the cross is in the ballpark".

It seems like the intended meaning of "why deny the obvious child" changes throughout the song, as the character's life changes. What's obvious to the man (and sonny, who I interpretted as actually being his son and repeating the cycle of aging and midlife crisis-ing) changes, as does his "cross," the burden he has to carry through life. I think this is true of a lot of Paul Simon's songs - he seems to use a lot of visually descriptive lyrics, and repeats choruses that seem to mean different things along the way but somehow tie together in a way that listeners can feel what he means, yet none of us can really pin it down. Probably what makes his songs so enjoyable - at least for me, personally.

Yeah I reckon twollamalove has a pretty good interpretation and mjd70 talks some good sense about the ballpark thang.. I just wish it was crosses in the cricket ground cause then it could be the silhouette of an umpire putting his arms out, making a cross to signal a 'wide' (like a baseball 'ball'), and then it could be about sonny struggling through injury and prejudice as an aging fast bowler struggling to keep his place in the side. I enjoyed reading your meanings, thanks

This song resonates with me because through it's musical appeal, I believe I became blind to it's meaning (in much the same way the song's protagonist may have become immune to change because of the repitition and confinements of his life.)

"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."

Wow, gs_topcow, you have got a great upbeat look on this. It does give me some perspective, but I still can't think it's all positive. The flipping through the yearbook, the smoother ride line, he's a dog who's lost his bite, these are all indications that life is getting harder, not easier. The thinning hair line suggests that he is not content with life (perhaps he is letting go of his dreams a little to become more content, but this is a progression through the song if anything).

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.

It's a retrospective, and its a look into the future, a true achievement in language.

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

On the internet I found the following quote "...When asked of its meaning, Simon answered, "The cross, the burden that we carry, is in the ballpark, it's doable."...".
This makes the song a lot lighter in content I think.

I almost forgot to mention the lines "I'm accustomed to a smooth ride, or maybe I'm a dog who's lost his bite". I love those lines, but I really cannot place them into my interpretation above. In fact, I have a whole other interpretation which is pretty much mutally exclusive with the previous interpretation I posed.

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.

I will throw my interpretation in the ring.

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.