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(a-wa) O kodwa you zo-nge li-sa namhlange
(a-wa a-wa) Si-bona kwenze ka kanjani
(a-wa a-wa) Amanto mbazane ayeza
She's a rich girl
She don't try to hide it
Diamonds on the soles of her shoes
He's a poor boy
Empty as a pocket
Empty as a pocket with nothing to lose
Sing Ta na na
Ta na na na
She got diamonds on the soles of her shoes
She got diamonds on the soles of her shoes
Diamonds on the soles of her shoes
Diamonds on the soles of her shoes
People say she's crazy
She got diamonds on the soles of her shoes
Well that's one way to lose these
Walking blues
Diamonds on the soles of her shoes
She was physically forgotten
Then she slipped into my pocket
With my car keys
She said you've taken me for granted
Because I please you
Wearing these diamonds
And I could say Oo oo oo
As if everybody knows
What I'm talking about
As if everybody would know
Exactly what I was talking about
Talking about diamonds on the soles of her shoes
She makes the sign of a teaspoon
He makes the sign of a wave
The poor boy changes clothes
And puts on after-shave
To compensate for his ordinary shoes
And she said honey take me dancing
But they ended up by sleeping
In a doorway
By the bodegas and the lights on
Upper Broadway
Wearing diamonds on the soles of their shoes
And I could say Oo oo oo
As if everybody here would know
What I was talking about
I mean everybody here would know exactly
What I was talking about
Talking about diamonds
People say I'm crazy
I got diamonds on the soles of my shoes
Well that's one way to lose
These walking blues
Diamonds on the soles of our shoes
(a-wa a-wa) Si-bona kwenze ka kanjani
(a-wa a-wa) Amanto mbazane ayeza
She's a rich girl
She don't try to hide it
Diamonds on the soles of her shoes
He's a poor boy
Empty as a pocket
Empty as a pocket with nothing to lose
Sing Ta na na
Ta na na na
She got diamonds on the soles of her shoes
She got diamonds on the soles of her shoes
Diamonds on the soles of her shoes
Diamonds on the soles of her shoes
People say she's crazy
She got diamonds on the soles of her shoes
Well that's one way to lose these
Walking blues
Diamonds on the soles of her shoes
She was physically forgotten
Then she slipped into my pocket
With my car keys
She said you've taken me for granted
Because I please you
Wearing these diamonds
And I could say Oo oo oo
As if everybody knows
What I'm talking about
As if everybody would know
Exactly what I was talking about
Talking about diamonds on the soles of her shoes
She makes the sign of a teaspoon
He makes the sign of a wave
The poor boy changes clothes
And puts on after-shave
To compensate for his ordinary shoes
And she said honey take me dancing
But they ended up by sleeping
In a doorway
By the bodegas and the lights on
Upper Broadway
Wearing diamonds on the soles of their shoes
And I could say Oo oo oo
As if everybody here would know
What I was talking about
I mean everybody here would know exactly
What I was talking about
Talking about diamonds
People say I'm crazy
I got diamonds on the soles of my shoes
Well that's one way to lose
These walking blues
Diamonds on the soles of our shoes
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Of course, Paul Simon says it much more eloquently.
When I fell into a phone call
Believing I had supernatural powers
I slammed into a brick wall
I said hey, is this my problem?
Is this my fault?
If that's the way it's going to be
I'm going to call the whole thing to a halt
If anyone has ever been on the verge of a breakup, this should sound familiar. He thinks he has things in control and ends up hurting himself by ending things.
In a taxi heading downtown
Rearranging my position
On this friend of mine who had
A little bit of a breakdown
I said breakdowns come
And breakdowns go
So what are you going to do about it
That's what I'd like to know
***Simon has just set himself up as a total jerk. His response to a friend's breakdown is selfish (rearranging "my" position) and unsupportive ("what are you gonna do about it?")
You don't feel you could love me
But I feel you could
***He decides that that object of his love doesn't know his/her own self enough to know whether s/he could love Simon, but Simon believes ("feels' being used here tongue-in-cheek) he knows better.****
It was in the early morning hours
When I fell into a phone call
Believing I had supernatural powers
I slammed into a brick wall
I said hey, is this my problem?
Is this my fault?
If that's the way it's going to be
I'm going to call the whole thing to a halt
***This is a little confusing. The gist seems to be that when the Simon character runs into a dead-end that he previously though he'd be able to avoid, his reaction is to push the whole thing off on someone else, denying that anything is ever his own doing. He assumes power by threatening to "call the whole thing to a halt," when it's apparent that what he'll be doing, as he did with the friend's breakdown, is simply avoid having to become involved by deflecting, or running away.***
You don't feel you could love me
But I feel you could
You don't feel you could love me
But I feel you could
I was walking down the street
When I thought I heard this voice say
Say, ain't we walking down the same street together
On the very same day
I said hey Senorita that's astute
***He's a wise-ass, flattering while insulting a most-likely well-meaning woman trying to be friendly.****
I said why don't we get together
And call ourselves an institute
***But he's presumably attracted to her, and isn't beyond a little fooling around to get his own rocks off.****
You don't feel you could love me
But I feel you could
You don't feel you could love me
But I feel you could
****Simon is painting a picture of a very undesirable person, someone who assumes no responsibility, mistreats women, has little compassion for friends, and all along needs to tell the object of his desire that he feels she can love him even though she doesn't. The character is impressed with himself, sees himself as suave, and is unaware of his own shortcomings. Simon brilliantly evokes a man at odds with the world and obvious to it.***
It's all rather tongue-in-cheek.
but i feel you could
kept running through my head as i broke up with my girlfriend.
He references her having a "breakdown" - she was bipolar and certainly had manic and depressive episodes during their time together, not to mention a drug problem. The part about the 'early morning phone call' and him 'slamming into a brick wall' might reference his attempt to help her, thinking he has 'supernatural powers' to fix everything that was wrong - then realizing that he couldn't make these problems go away. The song also references this person repeatedly showing back up into his life ('walking down the very same street on the very same day') and she seems to be in different states of mind each time. When he says "why don't we get together and call ourselves an institute" he might be referencing the institution of marriage.
Isn't this on the Graceland album... because he references their relationship in other songs on that album (Graceland being one) so it wouldn't be a stretch to think he's speaking of her again.
No matter who or what it's about - this is a great song.
lol, fiesta. I read it the exact same way. Except I would add one thing: The way you think and feel about yourself is almost completely based on how others treat you. So when a "senorita" doesn't want to get married to you, then you re-think who you really are. That's the first way I read it.
But the people are left intentionally vague in the song, so there's lots to play with.
(not to be confused with the man with two brains)
were one half of him is down and hes saying to him self get it together it'll all be wounderfull, the other saying it'll be a disaster wounderful being having supernatural powers then the reality slamming into a brickwall.
then in the end they come to some sort of agreement when they say there walking down the same street and talking about loving yourself? (not to be confused with pleasuring yourself)
I love the beat.... it's fantastic! I love this whole album!