Opposing Paul Simon's Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes
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In a world where everyone is headphoned into their iPods, while car speakers blare out conformity, what makes people stop and listen? Ingenuity. Ingenuity is the only thing that can cut through the static. Music junkies are constantly scrounging for something new and different, and this desperation for new content is the metaphoric pedestal that raised the great musicians of this generation into stardom. Paul Simon connects with people through his distinctive songwriting. Simon has even been hailed as, “among the most erudite and daring songsmiths in popular music” (Paul Simon Biography 2). Paul Simon tactfully mixes cultural influences, politics, and narratives to create his own unique genre of music that is caught in limbo somewhere between…show more content… Opposing Paul Simon’s diverse musical influences, the stories in Simon’s lyrics are often American in nature. Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes tells the somewhat superficial story of a “rich girl” in New York City who wears diamonds on her shoes and her relationship with a “poor boy”. Many music bloggers warn against reading too far into the lyrics, suggesting that they are nothing more than filler words written to fit the beat (Diamonds 6). While it’s true that the song contains a lot Oo oo oo’s and Ta na na’s, there is more to be examined. In fact, the superficiality falls away from the song when you look closely at the relationship described in it. On one level Simon addresses class inequality, and on another he tells the story of a young couple falling, somewhat accidentally, in love. On top of this, Simon also puzzles listeners with the use of off-putting and modern terminology like “Boedga”. Simon addresses his peculiar word choice in an interview with Rollingstone magazine, “I use it [because people hate it]. The word doesn’t belong in a song. It comes out and there is.” (Landau 3) Simon blends together social elements and unique word choice to create an utterly American narrative in an otherwise African