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Tom, get your plane right on time.
I know your part'll go fine.
Fly down to Mexico.
Da-n-da-da-n-da-n-da-da and here I am,
The only living boy in New York.
I get the news I need on the weather report.
I can gather all the news I need on the weather report.
Hey, I've got nothing to do today but smile.
Da-n-da-da-n-da-da-n-da-da here I am
The only living boy in New York
Half of the time we're gone but we don't know where,
And we don't know here.
Tom, get your plane right on time.
I know you've been eager to fly now.
Hey let your honesty shine, shine, shine
Da-n-da-da-n-da-da-n-da-da
Like it shines on me
The only living boy in New York,
The only living boy in New York.
I know your part'll go fine.
Fly down to Mexico.
Da-n-da-da-n-da-n-da-da and here I am,
The only living boy in New York.
I get the news I need on the weather report.
I can gather all the news I need on the weather report.
Hey, I've got nothing to do today but smile.
Da-n-da-da-n-da-da-n-da-da here I am
The only living boy in New York
Half of the time we're gone but we don't know where,
And we don't know here.
Tom, get your plane right on time.
I know you've been eager to fly now.
Hey let your honesty shine, shine, shine
Da-n-da-da-n-da-da-n-da-da
Like it shines on me
The only living boy in New York,
The only living boy in New York.
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The duo did indeed split up after the album was released. Regarding the lyrcis, "Tom get your plane right on time. I know that your eager to fly now," before the Folk duo became famous, they were known as Tom and Jerry. Tom was Art's stage name, so this line symbolizes their increasing need for musical and personal freedom.
In a 1990 interview with SongTalk magazine, Simon said: "I liked the 'aaahhhs,' the voices singing 'aaah.' That was the best I think that we ever did it. It was quite a lot of voices we put on, maybe twelve or fifteen voices. We sang it in the echo-chamber." Simon & Garfunkel split up after this album was released. Paul recorded as a solo artist, and Art pursued an acting career.
This was used in the 2004 movie Garden State. Zach Braff, who wrote and directed the movie, thought the song worked perfectly to convey the loneliness of a character. Simon & Garfunkel rarely license the song, but they let Braff use it for a greatly reduced fee after seeing the scene. (thanks, Denise - Santa Clarita, CA). The session musician Joe Osborn played an 8-string bass on this track, which the album's producer Roy Halee said was the featured musical element of the song. Years later, when Osborn tried to relearn his part to demonstrate it, he realized it was very difficult to reproduce live, as Halee spliced together various takes for the recording.
Half of the time we're gone, and we don't know where, and we don't know where. I know you've been eager to fly.
I think Paul was very ambivalent at the time: *he* was the one who wanted Simon & Garfunkel to keep on doing what they were good at: creating great songs as a duo (BOTW is simply perfect). But Art left for Mexico for reasons pertaining to a solo (acting) career. So Paul must have felt abandoned by a friend, about whom he hoped would sound from afar that he's still attached to their friendship. 'Aaaaaaaaah, Here I am'.
In the end, it took way too long for Paul. The filming of Catch-22 was delayed, and delayed. Art making promises to Paul that he would 'return soon'. But then listen to 'Frank Lloyd Wright', a song inspired by Art's love of this architect, and written by Paul in Art's absence. At 2:57 you can hear Paul sing in a similar echoed manner, almost buried in the mix: "So long, already, Artie!', expressing how the waiting is taking its toll.
Also "getting the plane on time" is a topic in both the film and the song. And the forth-time repetition of "shine" in the song seems to me like building up a conscious contrast to the end scenes of 'Breakfast at Tiffanny's' which take place in a heavy downpour.
Of course, my interpretation is kinda incomplete and I hardly believe that Paul Simon thought of the film while writing the song. I mean the story about him writing to Art Garfunkel being left alone in NY kinda makes sense... but anyway I thought these pecularities were worth sharing. :)
The line could also refer to their drug use, I suppose, but considering the song is about remaining in New York--and being content about that--I think "Half of the time..." refers to touring. (Could also refer to dissociating from the Here and Now, I don't know.)
I think Paul, in this song, is content to remain in New York. There's a wistful quality to this song, but I don't think it's "sad." I don't think one would use "Doit 'n de doit..." in a sad song.
After touring, and writing, and recording, with Art gone, he's "...got nothing to do today but smile." (Not that Paul wouldn't still write during this time alone, but you get my point.) And yes, Paul could also be smiling at memories he's shared with Art, etc., but mostly I think he's just perfectly content to be "in the moment"; to have a break, in New York, a city he loves.
He's grateful.
And I don't mean to intimate that Art was a burden for Paul. But I think Paul is expressing how he's at peace with the state of things between them. And if that also refers to the impending breakup, then so be it. "I know you've been eager to fly now..." surely has a double meaning.
"...let your honesty shine" probably has a double meaning; partly referring to Art bringing honesty to his acting role in Catch-22, and partly referring to their honesty with each other about their desires for their respective musical futures.
Paul's a New Yorker. And in youthful arrogance, maybe he and Art used to wax about how they're the only two people in NYC truly alive, I don't know.
With Art gone to Mexico (and perhaps gone from the duo forever), that would leave Paul as the only living boy in New York.
Whatever the case, Paul feels alive in this song. Not bouncing off the walls, ecstatic, but at peace, content--and alive.
"Here I am."
At peace with the state of things--from their geographical separation, to their emotional separation, and everything between.
I think Paul is saying, "It's all good. I'm gonna be just fine--so very fine..."
Just brilliant. I adore how the delicate melancholy in the verses gives weigh to the more intense bridge of "half the time we're gone..." and then returns to the somber mood again. Truly reflects a troubled state. And now knowing that the end was near for S&G as a duo, it is all the more poignant.