Album: Bookends
Year: 1967
. . .
During the entire year of 1967, when their peers were releasing at least one, sometimes two albums per year — plus accompanying non-album singles — Simon & Garfunkel put out a grand total of two singles. There were a few reasons for this: Paul Simon had become caught up in the seriousization of rock ‘n’ roll, and decided to focus on album writing instead of single writing. At the same time, he ran into a case of writers block, These two things were probably somewhat related, as raising your ambitions means that every outpouring from your muse is that much more suspect.
Also, he’d been roped into contributing to the soundtrack for Mike Nichol’s The Graduate, which — well, let’s talk about that in the next post..
So only two singles in all of 1967, neither of which scaled the heights of even previous year. The first single was the deceptively jaunty “At The Zoo,” which is fine and all, but stalled out at #16, and the second one was “Fakin’ It,” which I think is as beautiful and sophisticated as just about any single that came out that year, including all of those sainted Beatles, Stones & Beach Boys singles.
And in fact, “Fakin’ It” starts with a nod to the Beatles, as it’s bookended with a bit of white noise, handclaps (we’ll talk about them more in a second) and clattering drums, a la “Strawberry Fields Forever,” before settling into the first verse, anchored by a near-funky up-and-down Paul Simon acoustic guitar riff and some fantastic vocals.
When she goes, she’s gone
If she stays, she stays here
The girl does what she wants to do
She knows what she wants to do
I love how Art Garfunkel harmonizes on the first line, then trails back with some “ahhhhhhhhhhhhhs” during the second line, before coming back for the end of the verse and the chorus.
And I know I’m fakin’ it
I’m not really makin’ it
That chorus, man, it’s just ridiculous, as it’s basically slowing down time, and invokes The Handclap Rule (handclaps make good songs great and great songs immortal) as well as any song ever, as after each line, there’s am amazing rhythm part where the drums and handclaps circle around each other — bam bam bam clap! bam is the best I can do to describe — and it. just. kills. me.
I’m such a dubious soul
And a walk in the garden
Wears me down
Tangled in the fallen vines
Picking up the punch linesI’ve just been fakin’ it
Not really makin’ it
As “Fakin’ It” moves forwards, it goes from that original acoustic guitar, bass and drums opening to pile on the instruments: organ, horns, mellotron (or it could be actual strings), so by the middle of the song, it’s this great stew of instruments all bouncing in and out of the mix, always fun and surprising.
As is the breakdown near the end:
Prior to this lifetime, I surely was a tailor
Look at me
And you can actually see the flashback to a scene where a woman enters the tailor’s shop and wishes him good morning (“Mr. Leitch, as Simon could never ignore a chance to needle one of this peers), whereupon they flash forward to the present.
I own the tailor’s face and hands
I am the tailor’s face and hands
And while it breaks the song’s momentum a bit, it was also exactly the kind of thing people did with songs in 1967, so I’ll allow it. Also, it means that the ending, where throw everything together once and for all, is that much more memorable, with the utter melange of time slowing down and handclaps and mellotron and horns and of course those harmonies.
I know I’m fakin’ it, fakin’ it
I’m not really makin’ it
This feeling of fakin’ it–
I still haven’t shaken it, shaken it
I know I’m fakin’ it
I’m not really makin’ it
And as they hold the last long “makinnnnnnnnnn iiiiiiiiitt” the opening white noise and drumclatters fade up and eventually out, the end of an absolutely classic single.
Except that I seem to be the only person who thinks that. Not only did it crap out at #23 in 1967, it’s not even on that 1972 14-million selling Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits album that your parents (and/or your grandparents) had — and in fact, didn’t make any of their compilation albums until 1999! — which means that it’s kind of a lost single. I mean, as lost as any Simon & Garfunkel single might be, especially given that it was also on 1968’s double-platinum Bookends.
“Fakin’ It”
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