Lyrics for Graceland as interpreted by dank

Graceland Lyrics
The Mississippi Delta was shining
Like a national guitar
I am following the river
Down the highway
Through the cradle of the civil war
I'm going to Graceland, Graceland
In Memphis, Tennessee
I'm going to Graceland
Poor boys and pilgrims with families
And we are going to graceland
My travelling companion is nine years old
He is the child of my first marriage
But I've reason to believe
We both will be received
In Graceland

She comes back to tell me she's gone
As if I didn't know that
As if I didn't know my own bed
As if I'd never noticed
The way she brushed her hair from her forehead
And she said losing love
Is like a window in your heart
Everybody sees you're blown apart
Everybody sees the wind blow

I'm going to Graceland
Memphis, Tennessee
I'm going to Graceland
Poor boys and pilgrims with families
And we are going to Graceland
And my travelling companions
Are ghosts and empty sockets
I'm looking at ghosts and empties
But I've reason to believe
We all will be received
In Graceland

There is a girl in New York City
Who calls herself the human trampoline
And sometimes when I'm falling, flying
Or tumbling in turmoil I say
Oh so this is what she means
She means we're bouncing into Graceland
And I see losing love
Is like a window in your heart
Everybody sees you're blown apart
Everybody feels the wind blow
In Graceland, in Graceland
I'm going to Graceland
For reasons I cannot explain
There's some part of me wants to see Graceland
And I may be obliged to defend
Every love, every ending
Or maybe there's no obligations now
Maybe I've got a reason to believe
We all will be received
In Graceland

Interaction
Mail to a friend Send Lyrics to a Friend
Share on Facebook

Stumble It
Add to Del.icio.us Add to Del.icio.us




  • 44 Comments
  • Printer Friendly Lyrics
oldest first     Expand All
chillidoor
05-08-2002

Rated 0 
this song has real meaning. he sees Graceland as heavan as sort of a tribute to Elvis

Log in to reply
adupont
05-26-2002

Rated 0 
Actually, Simon has said the song really has nothing to do with Elvis, which is why he was hesitant about naming the album (and even the song) Graceland.

It's a pilgrimage of sorts...his wife has just left him, and he's taking a bus/train to Graceland with his son. And the journey has something to do with redemption, at least he hopes. The people travelling with him ("ghosts and empty sockets") also look like they need to be redeemed.

So it's about turmoil, and how it leads us to flee and seek something to make it better. That's what it is to me.

Log in to reply
chunkymonkey102
04-14-2004

Rated 0 
i agree with adupont that is a great interpitation of the song and i fell the same

Log in to reply
suckmykiss
05-05-2004

Rated 0 
I have a question then: why'd he talk about Memphis, Tennessee (which makes the reference to Elvis obvious), if he didn't want to focus on Elvis?

I always thought Graceland was a reference to South Africa, where he worked and gathered inspiration for the album. (until I heard this song)

Log in to reply
sgdp
05-30-2004

Rated 0 
I am a completely devoted fan of Paul Simon, and within several of his biographies, "Graceland" is noted as a "fill word." He was looking for a name for all this that he illustrates, and that which contained the correct number of syllables to suit his melodic and rhythmic needs happened to be when he saw "Graceland" in a newspaper or something.

Log in to reply
sgdp
05-30-2004

Rated 0 
Oh, and he meant to replace "Graceland" with another word with the correct syllables but I don't think he ever got around to it.

Log in to reply
Sir_Larrikin
06-15-2004

Rated 0 
I love the four lines starting with, "Losing love is like a window in your heart..." That describes perfectly the feeling of being on the dumped end of a marriage. Everyone sees your pain, even if you don't want them to. The window in your soul is one that can't be closed, and your pain is so obvious, and you just want people to move on, and not to pity you, but they can't help it - everybody sees you're torn apart - just like everyone can see the wind blow.

Log in to reply
Sir_Larrikin
06-24-2004

Rated 0 
To add to my last comment, people see the effects of the wind blowing -- they don't actually see the wind itself. Likewise, people see the devastation that is brought on by an emotional separation - not necessarily the actual break or events leading to the break.

Log in to reply
luckye225
09-27-2004

Rated 0 
as if i never noticed the way she brushed her hair from her forehead

Log in to reply
TFFMO
10-25-2004

Rated 0 
This song is so good to listen to on the train

Log in to reply
padmewan
11-24-2004

Rated 0 
From the New York Times's Stephen J. Dubner ( http://www.stephenjdubner.com/journalism/110997.html )

''I don't think I would have worked with anybody but Paul Simon,'' Walcott says. ''Before I met him, I always thought he was a very fine poet. I mean, the first line of 'Graceland' is a great line of verse: 'The Mississippi Delta was shining like a National guitar/ I am following the river down a highway through the cradle of the Civil War.' That's Whitmanesque, or even Hart Crane. What I also like very much is how Jewish his writing is: it's ethnically very provincial, deliberate. In other words, here's someone who has never lost his identity totally. He can go to South Africa, or to the Caribbean, and he remains a Jewish singer.''

Log in to reply
padmewan
11-24-2004

Rated 0 
An echo of "As if I never noticed / the way she brushed her hair from her forehead" in wife Edie Brickell's Lost in the Moment, another song about loss: "She wanted him to see this / She wanted him there / She wanted to kiss him / and brush back his hair."

Log in to reply
padmewan
11-24-2004

Rated 0 
An echo of "As if I never noticed / the way she brushed her hair from her forehead" in wife Edie Brickell's Lost in the Moment, another song about loss: "She wanted him to see this / She wanted him there / She wanted to kiss him / and brush back his hair."

Log in to reply
padmewan
11-24-2004

Rated 0 
Even if the word "Graceland" is a "fill word" (I was surprised to learn from the article I cited above that Simon wrote the melody and lyrics of "Graceland" and "Rhythm of the Saints" after all the other song elements were in place), I think the word choice is both deliberate and apt. "Graceland" is a marvelous synonym for "Heaven," the place of reunion with God's grace. The use of the word "pilgrims" reinforces the idea of a spiritual journey to rededemption.

Indeed, the entire album Graceland is concerned primarily with the climb to redemption from a middle-aged crisis of faith. ("I'm looking at ghosts and empties." "I want a shot at redepmtion." "Somebody could walk into this room and say your life is on fire"). Yet the narrator here expresses a (surprisingly Christian) faith in the possibility of redemption, that God will forgive his sins and heal the wounds that the world inflicts.

Log in to reply
musical_snob
12-26-2004

Rated +1 
Okay, let's clear up the whole Graceland issue...

Maybe it was just a word he read in a newspaper, or an offhand decision of that nature. I'd like to believe that it wasn't, because that really cheapens the whole thing doesn't it?

Elvis Presley is the embodiment of rock/popular music, so the persona's pilgrimage to Graceland mirrors Simon's musical journey to South Africa. Plus the whole idea of Graceland was a fantasy destination - a place that represented the flashy artifice of American culture in a particular period of history.

Log in to reply
Laura75
05-04-2005

Rated 0 
All I know is that on my roadtrip to Graceland I stopped at a Best Buy to get this album (as my copies keep getting stolen) specifically to be played on my way to Memphis. It was a moral imperative. Something I've wanted to do ever since I started road-tripping. It was awesome. Highly recommended.

Log in to reply
LisaCharly
05-19-2005

Rated 0 
For the record, the line "...noticed the way she brushed her hair from her forehead" is taken directly from the 1890's French play 'Cyrano de Bergerac' by Edmond Rostand (from the final scene, as Cyrano lays dying near Roxane).

I always thought this was a beautiful song, describing the pilgrimage towards something new and somewhat unknown after trauma. The line about the window is one of the most exquisite I've heard.

Log in to reply
mcthingy2
05-26-2005

Rated 0 
I've always thought that line "Through the cradle of the civil war" was a lovely play on words. He seems to be talking about both geography and the civil war he's in with his marriage ending.

Log in to reply
starangel
06-18-2005

Rated 0 
I adore the bit about the girl in New York City. It's so obscure but lovely. Admittedly a brilliant song.

Log in to reply
bobtaurus
07-08-2005

Rated 0 
The line about the girl who calls herself the human trampoline always makes me think of a bit of Terry Gilliam's animation in an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. It shows a smiling woman in a bikini with a stomach like a beach ball lying on her back as tiny, little men jump on her belly and use her as a . . . You guessed it!

She said losing love is like being Napolean.
Everybody sees you're Bonaparte.

Log in to reply
findsomepeace
08-05-2005

Rated 0 
i'm probably totally off, but i always thought that Graceland was New Orleans. "mississippi delta" made me think of New Orleans, either that or my geography is even worse than i thought. lol

Log in to reply
velocityJE
08-12-2005

Rated 0 
findsomepeace....new orleans is in louisiana, and last i checked, the mississippi delta is closer to...mississippi. lol

bobtaurus, that's hilarious.

i love this song.

Log in to reply
findsomepeace
08-20-2005

Rated 0 
the mississippi delta is a huge area that borders both Louisiana and mississippi.

Log in to reply
velocityJE
08-22-2005

Rated 0 
"To the natives of the state of Mississippi the Mississippi Delta is the distinct northwest section of the state, generally between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Delta

in any case, graceland is in tennessee.

Log in to reply
1 Reply
findsomepeace
08-24-2005

Rated 0 
wow, i'm glad someone knows geography, cause i don't (well, i'm okay with CA and a little bit of Oregon).

Log in to reply




  • Add Your Comments
What does this song mean to you?

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.





Popular
Top:   Lyrics, Artists, Albums
Random:   Lyric, Artist, Album

Your Ad Here