In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
I hear the drizzle of the rain
Like a memory it falls
Soft and warm continuing
Tapping on my roof and walls
And from the shelter of my mind
Through the window of my eyes
I gaze beyond the rain-drenched streets
To England where my heart lies
My mind's distracted and diffused
My thoughts are many miles away
They lie with you when you're asleep
And kiss you when you start your day
And a song I was writing is left undone
I don't know why I spend my time
Writing songs I can't believe
With words that tear and strain to rhyme
And so you see I have come to doubt
All that I once held as true
I stand alone without beliefs
The only truth I know is you
And as I watch the drops of rain
Weave their weary paths and die
I know that I am like the rain
There but for the grace of you go I
Like a memory it falls
Soft and warm continuing
Tapping on my roof and walls
And from the shelter of my mind
Through the window of my eyes
I gaze beyond the rain-drenched streets
To England where my heart lies
My mind's distracted and diffused
My thoughts are many miles away
They lie with you when you're asleep
And kiss you when you start your day
And a song I was writing is left undone
I don't know why I spend my time
Writing songs I can't believe
With words that tear and strain to rhyme
And so you see I have come to doubt
All that I once held as true
I stand alone without beliefs
The only truth I know is you
And as I watch the drops of rain
Weave their weary paths and die
I know that I am like the rain
There but for the grace of you go I
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
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Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
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“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
favorite line.. "there but for the grace of you go I" we're all like drops of rain, can you imagine findinig someone who makes your life more than just a weary path to death?
@p_k_rooz you would wonder if Kathy was his mother or his soul mate or someone who gave their life
Whatever partners Kathy had after Paul must have felt pretty inadequate listening to this.
Kathy also appears in the song "America," riding the bus and hitchiking around the country with Simon.
most beautiful paul simon song i have ever heard.
This song thrusts a hand down my throat grabs my heart and pulls it out... I should have known his song for more of my life. i've known Simon & Garfunkel for some forty years but Kathy's Song for only nine months - how is that. It means more every time I listen... I have cried in more places listening to this than I care to mention and I don't care. Quite the most simply beautiful song ever written ad there are a lot of beautiful songs, and songwriting is not a competition.
So here I am again sitting in a quite ordinary hotel lobby with a drink, catching up on some personal admin and convulsing with emotion as the song plays.........
Somehow I'm just hearing this song for the first time today. What a bright spot in what has been a very crazy time in the world. I couldn't help but think of one of my favorite Shakespeare quotes as I read the lyrics:
"I to the world am like a drop of water That in the ocean seeks another drop, Who, falling there to find his fellow forth - Unseen, inquisitive - confounds himself."
I feel like that is such a great comparison to Simon's lines:
"And as I watch the drops of rain Weave their weary paths and die I know that I am like the rain"
That last line: "There but for the grace of you go I" brings that all together so well. This is now my very favorite lyric.
A beautifully melancholy love song that sets the mood perfectly.
Overall about longing deeply for a lover that is separated from you. Sentiments of being distracted by the memories of spending time together. Intense yearning to be with her again.
He has come to the realization that everything else that once seemed so important in his life has lost all significance to him now. Feeling a loss of self or a loss of purpose while being apart. The only real or important thing is his love for Kathy.
One of the greatest love songs ever written. So relatable to so many with is beautiful poetic lyrics.
"And as I watch the drops of rain Weave their weary paths and die I know that I am like the rain" "There but for the grace of you go I”
Paul Simon apparently wrote this about a woman he met while touring England. As love songs go, it is one of the best. More specifically, it is written for someone, just like George Harrison's "Something" and John Denver's "Annie's Song." Whoever Kathy is, she can be proud that Simon regards her as the "only truth" he knows. It is possibly the most profoud lines ever sung, in my opinion.
@Ernest <br /> <br /> And now it's come to Paul and his wife pounding on each other and having to go to court in CT over it. Ahhh, youth!
He wrote this while in England actually he said that himself, and he just wrote in the perspective of a lost love but was actually dating Kathy at the time.
before paul & art really gained any recgnition in the US, they had been touring in europe for a while. while in london, they were both playing outside for kicks on the street during some evenings. a girl they were friendly with, named kathy would stand with them, and would frequently hold out a hat collecting money from passerbys.
This is how Garfunkel described the source of the song at a Simon and Garfunkel concert:<br /> youtube.com/watch<br />