I listened to some of the songs on the Greatest Hits Album for Simon and Garfunkel. My favorite song is "I am a Rock," released in 1965. While you might consider this song "old," I still think it is relevant today. It is played on the radio and is a classic song.
"I am a Rock" has been one of my favorites ever since I first heard it. I find it captivating. If I were to walk into a room and hear it playing but didn't listen to the words, I'd think it was a happy-go-lucky song. However, if you listen to the words, it is a very sad, lonely song. This is one great strength the song has to offer, and I find it extremely artistic because of it. The music doesn't seem to "fit" at first, because the music sounds fairly "bouncy" and care free.
"I am a Rock" tells a story in which the message is this: If you are hurt by love, go and be alone and don't try again. Two lines include, "I won't disturb the slumber of feelings that have died/ If I never loved I never would have cried." The idea of "I am a rock/I am an island" is clarified at the end. The final two lines are, "And a rock feels no pain/And an island never cries." This sad song does not leave off on a happy note through its lyrics. One could argue that the music in the background of the lyrics is the source of hope in this song, which I find very interesting. Hope can be conveyed through hearing music, and not simply through the lyrics. The song also conveys some apocalyptic insight, in that its words end in despair.
The song conveys that if you're someone hurt by love, you don't really have a purpose at all. There is no point in trying again once you're hurt. You should wallow away in agony by yourself. Nobody would ever really be loving towards you. You have to fend for yourself, all alone. I think the song conveys that the nature of evil is all around in people's hearts. The ability for people to hurt is evil. The song doesn't explain exactly where that evil came from, but it lies in everyone's hearts. The song ends with no insight of redemption at all. You're just left there lingering alone.
Loneliness is a product of Empire. Empire wants you to get burned out, thinking that you have to do it all by yourself. Or, in the case of advertising, you can get help "if you only buy our product!" I wonder if advertisers for medicine for depressed people would rather someone stay sick and need the pills than to get better. If the latter, this is an example of Empire. Kingdom can be attained by Kingdom-builders helping the lonely and depressed. They can try to show them the Kingdom by befriending them, even if the sad individuals don't believe it will work.
Discussion questions:
1) In what ways can we relate to "I am a Rock?" Do we find ourselves feeling alone, even though we know God has designed us to be community-0riented people?
2) Do you find hope somewhere in the song?
3) What do you think the songwriter wanted listeners to get or learn from this song?
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ReplyDeleteI've always been a fan of Simon and Garfunkel, but to be completely honest I can't say I have ever paused to observe the words attached to "I am a Rock." I guess the easy going, smooth tune distracted me from the underlying message being conveyed. I find the rock and island pictures particularly interesting. The song expresses that the pain of heartbreak is too big to overcome. If one has a broken heart they are given two options. They can either saddle up and make a come back conquering the pain and hurt, or they can become a rock. To become a rock, as the song shows, is to harden one's heart to the world no longer allowing oneself to be vulnerable. And then the island idea of separating oneself from the rest. I think the songwriter has been emotionally hurt and wants the listener to learn that, "Had I been alone, had I bottled my emotions, had I never given my heart away, then I never would have been hurt."
ReplyDeleteI can relate to these lyrics on a personal level. It's easier to become a rock than fight back when relatives have died, when siblings have let me down, or when my heart simply ached. When I've experienced heartbreak I typically freeze up and no longer associate myself with the world. But, this is not a healthy way of dealing with pain-it is not building the Kingdom. I know it's easier to become a rock than to deal with reality when heart broken. But, isolating oneself and hardening one's heart no longer allows one to experience love. To feel love one has to allow oneself to accept it. And by accepting love, one must expose one's heart vulnerably.
Nice choice, Karlie. I especially appreciate your point about medication.
ReplyDeleteI think it is a song about narcissism, as in Narcissistic Personality Disorder. These people give up on love early in adolescence and lose the ability to empathize with others as a consequence.
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