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This was the duo fourth studio album. Billboard Hot 100OversVoices of Old PeopleOld FriendsBookendsSide TwoFakin' It#23 U.S. Billboard 200 Albums Chart and went Double Platinum. Bookends is 29 minutes and 13 seconds and released April 3, 1968. Billboard Hot 100At the Zoo#16 U.S. I can only give Bookends a B+.Side OneBookends Theme (Instrumental)Save the Life of My ChildAmerica#97 U.S.
One side the music is soft and you need to turn the volume louder then usual while the other side the music is little loud and the volume can be adjusted to normal.
Five of the songs charted and is interesting to note not one of the song reached the Easy Listening charts since they are a folk group.
Robinson#1 U.S.
Bookends reached #1 on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100Punky's Dilemma Mrs.
I am no die hard Simon & Garfunkel fan; so I can be more liberal in my opinion.
I did not care for the album.
Billboard Hot 100A Hazy Shade of Winter#13 U.S.
Billboard Hot 100
It hits me so emotionally when I hear Simon's lyric "You can take a crosstown bus when it's raining or it's cold". November 2, 2008Simon and Garfunkel's Bookends was a perfect album, no cherry picking necessary. Among perfect albums (every selection a strong keeper)I consider Sergeant Pepper, Sweet Baby James, Tapestry, Rumours,Turnstiles, and Johnny Mathis Greatest Hits. At the zoo is a portrayal of Manhattan's Central Park Zoo, a cherished hideout for me many years ago when I lived on New York's Upper West Side. If you are young, it is possible you are not familiar with Simon and Garfunkel. Truthfully, you might be better served purchasing a Bookends CD than one of these modern day hits loaded with three songs to be proud of.
flaming red, and hitting such memorable towns as Biloxi, Nogales, El Paso and finally a commune in Mill Valley, California. These songs written by Paul Simon are comparable to nothing crafted before he wrote them and I do not think will be possible to match at anytime in the future. America is a startling remembrance of when I went cross country with my friends in an American Motors Rebel. Old Friends is so intensely metaphorical and descriptive that when I was a young man as Bookends was issued, I kept moving fast forward to a time in my life when I too would be sitting on that park bench like my father before me. "How terribly strange to be seventy", I'll never forget that Paul Simon line. This song characterized my voyage as an inquiring youth with such uncanny precision as it weaved an enchanting and evolving tale.
Take my advice and start with Bookends, you decide where you will go from there.Jay Adler, Music Critic
This is one remarkable recording done in 1968. The songs flow like a moving river. I recommend this for anybody that wants to get a good earful of Simon and Garfunkel.
But this bittersweet song has a deeper message. I identified with that frightened boy standing on the ledge, while a crowd below urged him to jump. Tonight, Christmas night, I've been thinking about Christmas of 1968-- I was 14 then. The fears and sadness of 1968 are long past, but a final memory remains: As I lay in bed early that Christmas Eve, the colored glow of tree lights seeped into my room.
The Vietnam War, the assassinations of public figures, and seeing part of my city burn the previous summer during riots-- it was a lot to handle.The song "Save The Life Of My Child" from BOOKENDS was in my head all throughout 1968. As has been stated repeatedly here, BOOKENDS (released in 1968) is the greatest of all Simon & Garfunkel albums, and one of the best records made in the 1960s. These old men were survivors-- if they were supposed to be elderly in 1968, then they made it through the Depression, and two world wars, and if they were the youth of 1968 projected into the future, well they too made it through trials by fire.And so have I made it through. Even fewer connect deeply with listeners in ways they may not realize until decades into the future. His final thought as "he flew away" was ".I got no hiding place." That was exactly how I felt in those days.What a powerful and unforgettable way to begin an album.
I'm in my 50s now and headed for that park bench one day. Simon & Garfunkel's BOOKENDS is one of those rare examples. That was an awful year to live through for anyone, especially a kid. Off in the distance were disembodied television voices of Apollo astronauts circling the moon-- they read passages from the book of Genesis, and wished well the "people of the good Earth." It was a peaceful and hopeful ending to a terrible year. The moods of BOOKENDS reflect so well the troubled times of the late '60s, with its anti-war sentiments (Punky's Dilemma), and its tales of love and love lost (America, Overs).
The original first side of the record ends with the sad longing and fears of Old Friends, who sit on a park bench and reminisce together. Very few albums truly encapsulate a moment in time. It is paradoxically timeless and a reflection of its time.
I got this album around the time it came out. At different times, certain songs on this cd appeal to me. I agree with Mr. While Bridge had some good songs, I grew tired of it. Zebras are reactionary, Antelopes are missionaries. I also got Bridge when it came out. Just this morning, I listened to this cd and really got into it as I was commuting.
I think PS's song comments on a lot of things. Flaherty that this is a better album than Bridge. This morning it was At the Zoo. I don't own Bridge any more but now have this one on cd. Not so with Bookends. One, in particular is how we anthropomorphize animals with all sorts of human inventions: "Monkeys stand for honesty, Giraffes are insincere. Hamsters turn on frequently." Yes, it's a gas.
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