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It was a slow day
And the sun was beating
On the soldiers by the side of the road
There was a bright light
A shattering of shop windows
The bomb in the baby carriage
Was wired to the radio
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry
It was a dry wind
And it swept across the desert
And it curled into the circle of birth
And the dead sand
Falling on the children
The mothers and the fathers
And the automatic earth
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry
It's a turn-around jump shot
It's everybody jump start
It's every generation throws a hero up the pop charts
Medicine is magical and magical is art
The Boy in the Bubble
And the baby with the baboon heart
And I believe
These are the days of lasers in the jungle
Lasers in the jungle somewhere
Staccato signals of constant information
A loose affiliation of millionaires
And billionaires and baby
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry
And the sun was beating
On the soldiers by the side of the road
There was a bright light
A shattering of shop windows
The bomb in the baby carriage
Was wired to the radio
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry
It was a dry wind
And it swept across the desert
And it curled into the circle of birth
And the dead sand
Falling on the children
The mothers and the fathers
And the automatic earth
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry
It's a turn-around jump shot
It's everybody jump start
It's every generation throws a hero up the pop charts
Medicine is magical and magical is art
The Boy in the Bubble
And the baby with the baboon heart
And I believe
These are the days of lasers in the jungle
Lasers in the jungle somewhere
Staccato signals of constant information
A loose affiliation of millionaires
And billionaires and baby
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry
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"The way we look to a distant constellation that's dying in the corner of the sky." -- ever wished upon a star? or looked at the heavens and prayed, or wondered if there's a god out there, if suffering has meaning, or the reason for your pain in the world? I think that's what's meant, but we're out praying on a star that long ago died out, even though we don't know it yet...
"the way the camera follows us in slo-mo, the way we look to us all" -- for some reason this reminds me of those save the children ads, showing children with bloated bellies running, turning slowly. i think it means there's a certain humanity to be recognized if we really look at any other person.
There's definitely a juxtaposition in this song between the developed, civilized world and those that still have to deal with rampant poverty, wars, /drought/disease, and so forth.... perhaps while many of us still sit in relative comfort and luxury, only giving the passing thought to the problems of the world, a passing prayer, but not realizing how our lives and lifestyles are intertwined with their suffering... I feel I see those that are horribly affected by these tragedies are out there praying as well, but perhaps in the song it mostly focuses on the passing thoughts of privileged western peoples... I can't help seeing it from the POV of those who experienced these things though.
Sorry if this is piecemeal, but to me this song is still vignettes. This is what I see so far in this song.
the song is about the ambiguity of technological advancements (as b-rad and thesmellyones noted), technology's alienating, brutal and often disastrous consequences, but also technology's inevitability and the fascination with it... the magic of this song is its prophetic nature, in the sense that many images paul uses seem to describe later developments and situations so well
the 1st verse seems indeed to be about the IRA and terrorism (as theckeekyone mentioned), and it seems surprisingly positive or at least not clearly condemning, in the way how it moves to the chorus of "miracles and wonder", but this stresses the ambiguity, or as b-rad said, almost cynicism...later suicide bombings or roadside IEDs come to mind...
i think the 2nd verse is about some sort of nuclear disaster scenario, maybe nuclear testing, war, maybe chernobyl, as lillywhitelilly noted, but would apply surprisingly well to later events, such as the iraq wars (as associated by dschultz)
the first half of the 3rd short verse is in my opinion about the general acceleration and cultural change triggered by technology (It's a turn-around jump shot,It's everybody jump start) and the repetitive nature of culture and how it might feel less valuable if you notice several "cycles" of it..."every generation throws a hero up the pop charts" - paul's alienation with 80s culture as a child of the 50,60s and early 70s maybe?
the second half about the boy in the bubble and the baboon half was perfectly explained by oball, it is ambiguous medical advancements that while trying to safe life, have dehumanising consequences and ultimately fail...
while the "lasers in the jungle" picture itself might have been inspired by "return of the jedi", for me it is about asymmetrical warfare, superpowers fighting wars in the developing world, for example through laser-guided weapons that were already common at that time... and the irony of how the application of high technology in these wars never led to victory... see vietnam or soviets in afghanistan... it also fits very well for today's time, limits of modern warfare in afghanistan, drone attacks etc... lasers in the jungles turned into flying robots in the mountains
the final verse for me is the most intriguing. paul seems to be almost predicting the future here, our globalised, digitally connected world of today and its fast-paced information exchange ("Staccato signals of constant information" - agree with lapiedra - sounds like twitter, thousand ways of real time communication, news tickers and constant updates) as well as the self-focused presentation of ourselves on facebook, youtube, reality tv ("The way the camera follows us in slo-mo, The way we look to us all").
I am obviously not claiming that this is what this song is about, but Paul seemed to have noticed traces and developments in the 80s mass media that showed the future direction, and he was sensitive and smart enough to formulate it in his song and these trends developed further to define our lives!
overall, it is a dry, almost cynical, extremely dense description of the impact of technology on humanity - one of the best songs i can think of
If you keep this song in mind and look at the world, how it is today .. it's almost impossible to not de-realize/personalize.
I take the lyrics pretty straightforwardly within the context of the recording of the album. Simon was recording with artists in apartheid era South Africa.
The opening verse is highly reminiscent of the political violence that was pervasive in 1980s South Africa. The South African (ie, white) military machine couldn't be confronted directly by the liberation fighters but the ANC set about to make the country ungovernable, and embarked on a campaign of sabotage and bombings - hence "the soldiers on the side of the road" and "the bomb in the baby carriage."
I also think "the lasers in the jungle" and the "loose affiliation of millionaires and billionaires" must be viewed through the lens of the struggle against apartheid. The conflict in SA spilled over to Namibia and Angola and involved fierce and brutal violence throughout Southern Africa - not to mention the civil wars in Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
South Africa was, and is, a nation defined by resource extraction. Gold, diamonds, platinum. There were millionaires and billionaires there fueling untold misery for the sake of holding onto their economic privilege on the continent.
Paul Simon had his reasons for being oblique with his political commentary regarding apartheid South Africa on this record - but I think it'd be a mistake to think it was absent from a song like this one.
"The way the camera follows us in slo-mo/The way we look to us all" Big Brother, which being a long time before Endemol even existed, was most associated as being the Orwell concept of people always being watched (by everyone else) and being under constant surveillance.
"The way we look to a distant constellation/That's dying in a corner of the sky" I think is dwelling on those things in the past which should be left in the past. Looking at a distant constellation is actually what it was like a very long time ago due to the vast distances its light travels to reach Earth - it is very likely now DEAD. My pastor at church often says "forget the former things" (from Isaiah 43:18).
"These are the days of lasers in the jungle/Lasers in the jungle somewhere" - I think this might have been inspired by the movie Return of the Jedi and some artistic license might have been used here. Several of the film's battles scenes used laser weapons on a forest-covered moon hence "in the jungle". It may also be a subtle reference to Carrie Fisher whom Paul Simon was involved with during much of the initial popularity of the first three Star Wars films (which she starred in).
"A loose affiliation of millionaires/And billionaires" - has to be the yuppie culture in the western world of the time.
For me, the key is that the call is long distance. Although a long distance call represents a moment of progress and connection, it also implies absence and disconnection. I think the first two verses refer to terrorism and nuclear fallout/cold war nightmares specifically -- unintended consequences of the development of technology. We're thinking about representations of ourselves (camera following us in slow mo) rather than living. I think he is comparing the way we regard eachother with "the way we look to a distant constellation that's dying in the corner of the sky" - that is, we are becoming more and more disconnected.
For me the most amazing, prescient lyric is the "staccato signals of constant information." Sounds like twitter or texting to me! A buzz of useless information filling our heads!
Maybe due to the nuclear tests in Nevada or even due to the core melt in Chernobyl (April 1986; Graceland album was released in August 1986; recorded till June).
It was a dry wind
And it swept across the desert
it curled into the circle of birth: damage of DNA caused by nuclear radiation
And the DEAD SAND FALLING on the children the mothers and the fathers: nuclear fallout
And the automatic earth: the damage of electronic devices caused by the Electromagnetic Pulse of a nuclear explosion
"And the automatic earth" sounds so much like auto-makers :)
now if he only had a mystic reference to the internet and its potential ... for porn