Lyrics for Kodachrome as interpreted by kevin

Kodachrome Lyrics
When I think back
On all the crap I learned in high school
It's a wonder
I can think at all
And though my lack of education
Hasn't hurt me none
I can read the writing on the wall

Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don't take my Kodachrome away

If you took all the girls I knew
When I was single
And brought them all together for one night
I know they'd never match
my sweet imagination
Everything looks worse in black and white

Kodachrome, etc.
---
"Kodachrome" as written by Paul Simon
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
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Tyler250
05-01-2002

 Rated  0 
He's saying he likes the different colors of the spectrum. The kodachrome was a camera. Don't take his camera away it gives him reminders.

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catherineks
05-13-2002

 Rated  0 
this song makes me feel all fuzzy inside.

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the grey fool
03-31-2003

 Rated  0 
catherineks is right on the money. it's a light song that brings to mind a warm summer sunset. but paul also gives it substance. the "crap in high school" part is genius (as most of us can likely attest). the second verse takes the cake, in my humble opinion. the reflection on all the girls he's ever known and the idea of bringing them all together...sweet nostalgia. it's also ingenius to incorporate photography terms in the midst of it. "everything looks worse in black and white" classic song, paul simon.

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FireNexus
05-06-2004

 Rated  0 
Kodachrome is a song about memories and how they don't match reality.

Memories are represented by photographs, which are only snippets of what really happened, lacking context, due to time, lack of information or self delusion.

His mind is the camera that colors his memories.

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Sir_Larrikin
06-24-2004

 Rated  0 
Kodachrome is a brand of film that is used to produce slides (through the K-14 process). At one point (a couple decades ago), it was THE medium to use for people wanting the best color and archival capacities. Not necessarily anymore, though, since the E6 process has matured.

Anyway, so many great thoughts in this song... I love this line, "And though my lack of education hasn't hurt me none." How brilliant --- the emphasis on his lack of education is exaggerated by his incorporation of bad grammar.

I agree with firenexus - he's begging his "mother" (who, in herself, is probably symbolic for the nuturing elements of the universe) not to take away the memories that he's exaggerated in his mind. The real events would probably never match the importance and details that his imagination has given them. Like when you think about a great lovemaking experience with a girl from your past. It always seems to have been more magical than it probably was at the time.

One other thing I like about this metaphor -- "bring them together for one night," can almost be seen as the way you view slides in a slide projector. "Bring them together," like you would have a box of slides, with all the pretty pictures neatly stacked, one-after-the-next.

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ondra
09-19-2004

 Rated  0 
This is my favorite Paul Simon song about camera film.

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soapy
11-16-2004

 Rated  +1 
When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school
It's a wonder I can think at all

Best lyrics ever. This song is about how nostalgia doesn't match reality but we still prefer nostalgia and memory.

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oofus
02-23-2005

 Rated  0 
I always took mamma as being his girl. He's telling her not to take his kodachrome, metaphorically his good thoughts of her. As he states in the 2nd verse, he knows once things go sour, he'll never look back at her as fondly as he looks at her now. The first verse seems to me to be saying something more like, "hey i might not be a genius, but i think i can see when things are going to shit". IMO he basically equates kodachrome to love or the though of being in love. When you're in love, it makes you think all the world is a sunny day. He wants to take a picture to try to capture that moment and those good feelings.

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benrice
04-06-2005

 Rated  0 
"Kodachrome" is a metaphor for acid.

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theoddball
04-16-2005

 Rated  0 
Kodachrome is just a metaphor for memory. You can color your past however you want it, in any light, in any shade--but the present is what it is, in black and white.

Funny sidenote--this had a hard time getting radio airplay because of the word "crap." Also, Eastman-Kodak was pissed about their trademark being used. They wanted a (TM) next to it in the liner notes, charts, etc...

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findsomepeace
08-05-2005

 Rated  0 
kodachrome isn't a metaphore. in case you haven't noticed, Paul Simon has an obession with photography.

wow...all the crap i learned in high school, it's a wonder i can think at all- that's pure genious.

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Androgynous
08-31-2005

 Rated  0 
I have to say i always thought that Kodachrome was a euphemism for weed. I see now that it probably isn't but I'm pretty let down by that. Without thinking of it as a euphemism it sounds like a cheesy TV ad.

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attila_carnaki
03-15-2006

 Rated  0 
soapy was correct in saying that this song is about how nostalgia doesnt match reality but we prefer nostalgia and memory. this idea is written through the metaphor of how the Kodachrome company used to make pictures quite alot brighter than they were in reality to make thing look brighter and better hence the line:"Kodachrome, it gives us those nice bright colors
Gives us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day"
it may interest you to know that originally the line 'everything looks worse in black and white' was written as 'everything looks better in black and white' which is a metaphor about how memories often appear in black and white, but at the time the Kodochrome company were promoting bright colours and made him change the line but he still sings the original lyrics at some live performances such as concert in the park.
and no benrice Kodachrome is not a metaphor for acid.

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heavycola
04-11-2006

 Rated  0 
Although Paul Simon does use gorgeous metaphors elsewhere, you don't need to look too hard here! Kodachrome is about his love of photography, of how it preserves memories better than he can, and about how it is a way to connect to the world around us. That's all!

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attila_carnaki
04-12-2006

 Rated  0 
'heavycola' have you not read a single post on this song???
you are an idiot.
please shut up

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Nick72911
06-14-2006

 Rated  0 
second, -.-'

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missworld77
04-29-2007

 Rated  0 
"And though my lack of education hasn't hurt me none, I can read the writing on the wall"

Everyone always focuses on the black and white line (which I also enjoy. To me, color is representative of emotion and context in this song) but I really like this one. It's such a clever use of a double negative.

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aka_mouse
06-22-2007

 Rated  0 
It seems hasn't been brought up at all (im actually kinda surprised)--
I like to think of this song as how photographs (or even memories) tend to capture the only the high points or best moments in life, rather than the worst

e.g. looking though any given person's photo album "Makes you think all the world's a sunny day"
I tend to think of this song as a reflection on the more troubled times in a person's life vs. the good times. You can see this clearly with the lines "everything looks worse in black and white" i.e. "reality"

A romanticized version memory is better than the truth 99% of the time

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gofer
08-12-2007

 Rated  0 
The song has nothing to do with photography or film or even nostalgia. Here are the basics:

Kodachrome film = your imagination
Nikon camera = your mind
"mama" = society
"black & white" = the real world

Simon is bemoaning the fact that it is a whole lot more fun and colorful to let your imagination run wild than to face the mundane world of everyday life.

When Simon says "mama don't take my Kodachrome away", he is trying to resist society's pull away from daydreaming and imagining things and into the real world.

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gofer
08-12-2007

 Rated  0 
After seeing the lyrics posted here, I can't stop singing, "I passed some gas down in Africa." LOL

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gofer
08-12-2007

 Rated  0 
After seeing the lyrics posted here, I can't stop singing, "I passed some gas down in Africa." LOL

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glitteringshoals
11-10-2007

 Rated  0 
On the subject of the black and white line, in the original recording it's, "everything looks worse in black and white," but on the live Concert in the Park CD it's, "everything looks better in black and white." Thoughts?
Simple mistake, or did the passage of time make him change his mind?

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papker
01-17-2008

 Rated  0 
I'm surprised no one has mentioned my take on it yet. I had always assumed it was a song about drug use. The color film presents the world as beautiful and focuses attention on the specific but simple beauties like the "green of summer" and makes you think "all the world is a sunny day." "Don't take my Kodachrome away" isn't so much about addiction as it is not to take away the only thing that makes life beautiful and bearable, hence the desperation in the coda.

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OoOsublimeOoO
10-12-2008

 Rated  0 
You can pretty much read drug-use into any song, if you want. But at least you made it half-interesting, papker :)

Yes, I think the song is about stark reality versus imagination. And trying to balance the two, "please don't take my Kodachrome away."

It doesn't matter if you're a scientist, an engineer, a medical-researcher, a photographer, a painter -- if you want to accomplish something new, you need at least a little creative / semi-original thinking. High school tries to take that away. That's only good if you're a straight-laced accountant, lawyer, or brick-layer and, even then, you might need a little creative thinking sometimes.

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bear_hug20
09-23-2009

 Rated  0 
this song makes me cry..haysss.

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