This one strikes me as symbolic of the mixed feelings about what has become of 911, and the way it has been used to justify war and atrocity by the Bush Administration – and even today is used in political advertisement.
This 1965 song was written after the JFK assassination. It is widely interpreted as a peon of the willingness of people to buy into false leaders, and false causes – and the failure to listen and communicate because it is easier to follow a leader than think.
I think the “false prophets” in this version are the Giuliani and Bushes who used the event so cynically for political purposes, in the case of Bush to lead us into another war, or the case of Carl Rove as another “wedge issue” to divide America.
This is the Ground Zero version -
This is the original Simon and Garfunkel version before an electronic background was added for the Album -
My favorite Paul Simon song?
Filed under: Great American Rip-Off, Music, From Way Back When to Now | Tagged: 9/11, 911 memorial, Ground Zero, Music, paul simon, performance, song, sounds of silence | Leave a Comment »
