About the duo: Simon and Garfunkel were responsible for me getting interested in music around 1970. They were active from 1964 until 1970, with occasional reunions since then. Both embarked on solo careers, with Paul Simon's being particularly successful. They are among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 100 million records. My favourite act from the sixties. Simon and Garfunkel currently have five songs in my list of about 200 best pop/rock songs of all time.
About the song: America is a track from the 1968 Bookends album. It was released as a single in 1972. The lyrics vividly describe an imaginary trip through the USA of Paul and his girlfriend Kathy. We get both the personal viewpoints ("laughing on the bus, playing games with the faces", "Kathy, I'm lost, I said, though I knew she was sleeping - I'm empty and aching and I don't know why"), and the more general soul-searching of a nation for which this trip is symbolic ("Counting the cars on the New Jersey turnpike, they've all gone to look for America"). The melody is simple but memorable and the instrumentation, though more heavy than in most of their songs from that vintage period, is quite effective. Run time 3:32.
