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Words & music by paul simon
Slip slidin' away
Slip slidin' away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip slidin' away
I know a man
He came from my home town
He wore his passion for his woman
Like a thorny crown
He said delores
I live in fear
My love for you's so overpowering
I'm afraid that I will disappear
Slip slidin' away
Slip slidin' away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip slidin' away
I know a woman
Became a wife
These are the very words she uses
To describe her life
She said a good day
Ain't got no rain
She said a bad day's when I lie in bed
And think of things that might have been
Slip slidin' away
Slip slidin' away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip slidin' away
And I know a fa-ther
Who had a son
He longed to tell him all the reasons
For the things he'd done
He came a long way
Just to explain
He kissed his boy as he lay sleeping
Then he turned around and headed home again
Slip slidin' away
Slip slidin' away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip slidin' away
God only knows
God makes his plan
The information's unavailable
To the mortal man
We work our jobs
Collect our pay
Believe we're gliding down the highway
When in fact we're slip slidin' away
Slip slidin' away
Slip slidin' away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip slidin' away
Slip slidin' away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip slidin' away
Mmm...
Lyrics submitted by angel2kiss
Track duration: 04:45
"Slip Slidin' Away" as written by Paul Simon
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Who had a son.........."
Had not realised what a great song this is before........ It is sad for sure but hopefully not depressing. I hadn't thought of the people Simon describes as being related but could well be. Basically would agree that it is about living for the present and making the best of what we have.
The "woman" is his depressed wife, whom he left. She speaks of what she considers to be a good day and what might have been of their family had he not left her and their son. Sometime later, the man travels to see his son to tell him of what he had done - but he can't. It's too late. It won't change anything. Too much time has passed. So he kisses him and leaves. The fact that he wanted to tell his son indicates he has regret. The man was self centered, pursuing his own happiness, gliding down the highway of life which in our minds leads to somewhere grand. Along the way he realized the only thing grand in his life was his son.
In reality, we are just here on this earth for a short time, working, eating, sleeping, paying bills, slowly slipping away, day by day. Growing older and eventually dying. Like all of us, the man was human and made choices that effected three other lives. So who's to say if their lives wern't meant to be that way, because God has a hand in all our lives. He only knows, He makes His plan. The bigger picture is that our destination is not here on earth. There is a spirit of happiness we all yurn for and it isn't in material things or status in our jobs - it's in the journey toward a better place.
I know a man
He came to my home town
...apparently someone he knows Im guessing its his own father or maybe himself...
He wore his passion for his woman
Like a thorny crown
...he played the martyr in the relationship...
He said Delores
I live in fear
My for you is so overpowering
...hes afraid of he own emotions...
I'm afraid that I will disappear
...and does what a lot of people do in relationships when theyre priorities are not in teh right place he left her and maybe he knew he was going to leave the whole time theres an irony to this statement...
I know a woman
Became a wife
...he starts this verse similar to the first so we can assume hes talking now about the wife of the man in the first verse...
These are the very words she uses
To describe her life
She said a good day
Ain't got no rain
She said a bad day's when I lie in bed
And think of things that might have been
...yeah simply put her life sucks lol and shes filled with regret about what might have been...
And I know a father
Who had a son
...again he starts the verse in a the same way so we can assume theyre all related it sounds like hes talking about the man in the first verse again and the child they he and the woman had...
He longed to tell him all the reasons for things he'd done
... like leaving him and his mother
He came a long way
Just to explain
... apparently he wasnt in the boys life if he had to come a long way...
He kissed his boy as he lay sleeping
Then he turned around and headed home again
...once again he left without following through and fell short of his intentions and the boy never even knew he had come...
God only knows
...common phrase when someone is puzzled as to why things happen like why a father and husband left...
God makes his plan
The information's unavailable
To the mortal man
...literally reiterating that God only knows and we don’t get to...
We work our jobs
Collect our pay
Believe we're gliding down the highway
When in fact we're slip slidin' away
...Hes taking personal story here and generalizing it showing that we all are miss the mark especially when our priorities arent what they should be...
morale: the road to hell is paved with good intentions
and close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades...
There have been times when I would have described good and bad days exactly like this:
She said a good day
Ain't got no rain
She said a bad day's when I lie in bed
And think of things that might have been
It's inevitable that I'll wake up one day and wonder how I got here--wonder whether this is where I meant to go. But the fact is that you've gotten where you got. You can either appreciate where you are--the people around you--or resent where you are. My guess is that if you resent it, you'd resent it even if it turned out differently.
The woman who became a wife--we don't know what her life is like. It might be awful, but it could be in her head. She might be living or dying. But if she is not grateful for the life around her, she's certainly dying.