'Graceland'- Graceland Flashcards
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Title Song of ‘Graceland’- 7th Paul Simon album.
Memphis home of Elvis- influence and inspiration.
Road trip from Louisiana to Graceland along Route 66.
Lyrics- travelling thoughts on a physical journey.
No running theme, just that Graceland is the end of journey.
Double meaning- Graceland is great but kind of unimpressive.
What’s it about?
Facing up to reality after failed marriage w/ Carrie Fisher- it was public but also private; reference to his song Harper.
Grace in the Bible is freely given, human relationship is conditional and grace is unconditional.
Some important instruments
Pedal Steel Guitar (African music).
Fretless Bass- no frets, more rugged feel, modern African music.
National Guitar- cultural reference.
Acoustic guitar- Western folk/pop.
Drum Kit- Vusi Khumalo, travelling rhythm, repetitive, steady quavers.
Paul lol- tenor, narrative style, quavers/short notes.
Cultural References
National Guitar
‘Civil War’- war between states, route 66 passes between border of 2 political sides of America.
‘poor boys’- needy people/sandwiches lol.
Travelling companions are ‘ghosts’- from past?
‘empty sockets’ and ‘empties’- beer bottles.
‘no obligations’- end of marriage.
2nd verse- small details of marriage- divorce public and private.
Controversy of Graceland
Simon heard mbaqanga from South Africa (early township jazz- elements of folk and Latin) and wanted to explore it, people thought it was a publicity thing.
“Graceland” was a collab w/ black African musicians. Some accused him using wealth and fame to steal music from poorer African people. However, some thought he wanted to end apartheid.
Isicathamiya
Dancing and singing, made famous by Ladysmith Black Mombaza. Rich unaccompanied harmonies.
Zydeco
from South Louisiana’s Black Creoles from early 1900s. Uses accordion, washboard, fiddle.
Mixed traditional Creole, blues, jazz, gospel, African-American styles.
Mbube
Unaccompanied male singers, occasionally with a female singer. E.g. “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”.
Melody
Repetitive nature- journey, takes hours to travel.
Opening vocal line is typical of a lot of the song.
Intervals- descending contour (ends on tonic, major 6th), Graceland motif = major 3rd, 8ve in chorus (“But I’ve reason to believe…”), descends an octave (expresses doubt about Graceland).
E-E is full vocal range.
Syllabic- tells a story.
Fast Tempo FEEL- narrative moving forward.
Melisma- ‘losing love’.
Mixture of conjunct and disjunct.
Riffs (Melody)
Short bass riff in intro.
Pedal Steel Guitar riff- country style.
Glissando used.
Harmony
Tonic chord= E.
Flattened 7th (D)- pedal steel guitar riff in chorus- mixolydian riff.
Generally consonant.
Minor chords- uncommon in South African music, appropriate because of sad things e.g., his divorce.
V-IV = common in South African; V-I = common in Western music.
Harmonic rhythm, is quite slow
Texture
Single melody accompanied by band and backing vocals.
Mixture of melody w/ accompaniment and homophonic.
Intro: guitar accompanied by band.
Solo vocal, accompanied by band, sometimes backing vocals.
Elements of call + response w/ guitar riff and vocals.
