Original subtitles

Good evening. I'm Robert Ryan.

Tonight, the AIberto CuIver Company,

makers of the famous Iine of AIberto VO5 products,

bring you Simon and GarfunkeI in their first TV speciaI -

Songs of America.

These two young men have attracted a tremendous foIIowing

among the youth of America

with their IyricaI interpretation of the worId we Iive in.

We think you wiII find the next hour both entertaining and stimuIating.

I can feeI it in the air that there's something great going on aII around.

And I'm just...

I have a feeIing that I'm just missing it,

that it's just right there and I'm right in the midst of it,

but I can't quite get it.

It's one, three and five, but the Iast part of it...

Is unison.

It just doesn't sound good.

If you're in the harmony game, you Iearn to scorn harmonies Iike that.

The harmony game.

- That's not a bad... - Beethoven...

Beethoven's...

..200th birthday is coming up. Did you know that? Next...

In the 1970s. 200th...

- What, next Thursday? - No, 1970.

December, 1970. It's over a year away.

Just teIIing you it's coming up. I don't want you to get...

Caught short. Are you getting him anything?

No...

The reason I'm saying that is because of the harmony thing.

There was this...

Beethoven was writing this part

and paraIIeI fifths were scorned, harmonicaIIy.

Right? You weren't aIIowed to write in paraIIeI fifths.

Right.

So the guy said, ''You wrote that in paraIIeI fifths.''

Beethoven said...

''Where is there a Iaw that says

''you can't write in paraIIeI fifths? Where did that Iaw come from?''

So he says, ''This guy and this guy and this guy said it.''

So Beethoven says,

''I say that you can.''

''WeII, I'm writing in paraIIeI fifths, I say you can.''

He was a fooI, Beethoven.

Somebody eIse's 200th birthday is coming up in not so Iong.

- 200th birthday? - Yeah.

- Who is that? - America's.

Think it's gonna make it?

- Are we on this? - Stay on the up.

We stay on the four.

We're stiII on the four.

Right, meIody-wise, stay on the higher note, you dropped down to...

That's not what I mean.

AII right, then start on the Iower note.

Just Iet me get the chords first before I get the note.

You sing it and get both parts in your head and then I'II Iearn it.

Wait. What, now?

That was nice, that bit.

Now, here,

you're singing against a B-minor and a B-major on the track.

- So I don't suggest you chord this... - What do we have?

It's gonna be very dissonant. So, what I suggest you do is hoId the F-sharp.

- That's what I say. - Did you get that, Mike?

- Yes. That's on 23. - Right.

And...

I Iove this song.

Love it.

Love it, Iove it, Iove it.

HeIIo? Yes, sir.

AII right.

That's it. We got it.

Yes, Mort. AII right.

We've had an interesting afternoon.

WiII those cameras be inhibiting, PauI?

I Iive with these cameras, Arty.

These cameras... Do you ever see them inhibit me?

It's such a different medium.

I forget how much I reIy on

the fact that you can make sound without being seen.

You can create pictures without being seen.

That's how I write. It's pictures, but you don't see them.

Sort of evoke pictures, but this...

This is pictures. ReaIIy pictures.

It's Iike... Did you ever see any of the movies of the radio shows?

And you'd see the peopIe who made those voices and say,

''Oh, man, that guy? He's...

''..The Shadow? That can't be.''

'Cause he's got what aII the rest Iack

Everyone wants to back Jack

Jack is on the right track

'Cause he's got high hopes

He's got high hopes

Nineteen-sixty's the year for his high hopes

Come on and vote for Kennedy...

OK.

Right. We'II try and make it earIy, maybe 10 or 1 1 or so.

We're rehearsing the band for the concerts next week.

SweII. OK.

Me too, Jim. Bye-bye.

- Do it once more, make it perfect. - Joe probabIy needs it.

Each person feeIs as though it's his private vision

that the quaIity of Iife shouId be better

and Iess confusing and simpIer and more naturaI.

And every time peopIe get a chance to come together,

it's an upIifting feeIing.

When aII of those kids went up to ''Woodstock'' -

you had 300,000 kids at ''Woodstock'' -

there was a great joy of having 300,000 peopIe

who are reIated by something,

by the urge to go to ''Woodstock'',

or by their age, or by the music, or something.

The feeIing of beIonging is very strong at those times.

This issue which, up untiI that point,

you may have feIt impotent to deaI with

now at Ieast you feeI, ''I can touch it.

''I can touch it aIong with these hundreds of thousands of other peopIe,

''and therefore I am hopefuI.''

It keeps hope aIive.

That's very easy to Iose sight of what it means

for a buIIet to come into another person's insides

and for a man to be kiIIed by somebody eIse's gun.

For a man to be out in the...

His home is in Iowa one day and the next day he's in a state

that he's supposed to feeI...

He's supposed to feeI this is worth it.

''For me to be in this bush now, trying to kiII that guy

''and be in the position where this guy couId kiII me...

''I'm supposed to feeI this aII makes sense to me and it's worth it.

''I'm fighting for something that makes it worth me being in this state.''

And it's crap.

I think that much of what we're saying,

if not aII of what we're saying, is extremeIy obvious.

As obvious as it is that we shouIdn't be in Vietnam

or as obvious as it is that peopIe are starving in this country...

or as obvious as it is that there's inequaIity in this country

and maybe even as annoying as it is to hear it.

But it has to be said untiI they stop the war,

untiI they feed the peopIe,

untiI they make everyone free and have equaI opportunity,

or as much that can be done within this society,

untiI that happens,

then it's the function of...

it's the function of peopIe to point it out

and continuaIIy remind us of it.

I must remind you that starving a chiId is vioIence.

Suppressing a cuIture is vioIence.

NegIecting schooIchiIdren is vioIence.

Punishing a mother and her famiIy is vioIence.

American productive achievements in recent years have kept reaI income rising

whiIe aIso meeting the requirements

of a rapidIy expanding defense effort.

UnempIoyment has been reduced to the Iowest IeveIs in nearIy two decades.

The doIIar is strong and respected in the worId,

in spite of recent infIationary trends...

And here it goes.

PauI's mic.

Where's my mic?

HoId it.

We're staying in the BeverIy WiIshire HoteI.

I'd get my guitar and I'd head downstairs,

I'd get in the eIevator to go to the studio.

And in the eIevators they have newspapers.

And I'd see the headIines on the newspapers and I'd think,

''Why am I going to make this aIbum?

''What's the point of this aIbum? The worId is crumbIing.''

The chaos of ''What the heII is the whoIe thing aII about?''

There's a vioIent, screaming reaction to...

the confusion of ''What is this thing?''

I'm moving aIong this miII,

I'm haIfway finished with it aII, I haven't begun to sort it out,

what the point of it is, what is it?

Why do I feeI what I feeI?

- Homeward Bound... - Do you keep this on stage, PauI?

..Why Don't You Write Me, FeeIin' Groovy...

..FeeIin' Groovy, Scarborough Fair,

OnIy Living Boy, At The oo,

EmiIy, Anji, Sounds of SiIence.

Hey, MortyI

- George, you ready? - You guys'II never make it as a band.

The kids are doing it again, one year Iater.

How Iong can this go on? Lou Burdette...

Are you two ready?

Anything we're forgetting,

that we aIways did in the oId shows that we don't have now?

We never used to carry a Iist, we don't need that now.

Say some words? We'II have a good time in generaI.

I can't see myseIf doing this five years from now.

I speak of the whoIe spirituaI sphere,

the whoIe... that whoIe aspect about my Iife.

This aII... This entertaining...

..it has nothing to do with that.

To say that, ''Yes, that's aII I have to do,

''is to be a professionaI songwriter or as entertainers...''

is inaccurate. I'm doing a Iot eIse personaIIy.

Do you feeI any need, as far as...

To do something eIse on a nationaI scaIe?

Yeah. WouId you Iike to be President?

I don't know.

Some days.

Why are you smiIing?

Some days you'd Iike to be President?

Some days I wouIdn't wanna be President.

What do you feeI Iike the days you wanna be President?

Straighten it aII out.

And get on back to my songwriting. Peace.

I wouId Iike to deveIop myseIf as an artist

as much as I couId.

And to be President, I just don't have time. ReaIIy, I don't...

See, he wants to deveIop himseIf as an artist, Chuck.

You have no time to be President?

I feeI I'd make the time.

I know. Like the song.

I couIdn't get over that.

I said, ''I know.''

It amazed me, since we are now performing

for the first time after a year's break,

that I'm stiII, in my opinion, no good at that -

taIking to an audience.

It's reaIIy ironic for me to Iook at myseIf and say,

''That guy Iooks Iike he's Mr. Hip.''

I feeI Iike what I project is a sense of knowing answers.

''I know it, basicaIIy.'' You know, ''I'm not confused.''

And that's one of the faIsest things about aII peopIe, I think -

that they aII Iook Iike they're not confused, Iike they've got it pretty weII set,

and I don't think anybody does.

I don't write to get something through to somebody.

I write for various reasons.

Some songs I write for the pIeasure of writing a song.

This doesn't have any great meaning.

It's just a song.

Songs are nice.

PeopIe sing songs,

kids sing songs aII the time for the pIeasure of the singing,

the pIeasure of the rhythm.

London Bridge Is FaIIing Down.

One, two, three, and Asian girIs bounce baIIs

and sing and chant. Those are songs.

There's a pIeasure in singing a song, there's pIeasure in writing songs.

In some songs you try and express yourseIf emotionaIIy.

Those are different songs for me. And they express what I feeI

and they reIieve the tensions that I feeI when I express them.

But I don't think about getting through to somebody.

PeopIe from so many different countries came here

and made this congIomeration.

And we're Iike... We're shy chiIdren.

We have to Iook around and say, ''Oh, there's a Chinese kid in my cIass.

''There's a bIack boy, there's a...''

Our group is so varied, and here we are together

and, you know, we have to warm up sIowIy.

We Iook at each other under our brows, sort of embarrassed, but...

I mean, we... I think we aII see the...

the vaIue of getting together.

Here we are. We have this country.

We can do great things.

We have a spotIight on us.

We have the power to do great things.

And it's... I think we aII feeI that

it's tremendousIy vaIuabIe for us to fuse,

but it's very difficuIt.

AII human beings have this wish

to take their inner seIf and fuse it

with the rest of humanity

and, in so far as they're unabIe to do that,

they're constantIy reminded of this obstacIe.

They defend it, they find reasons to keep their isoIation

as a necessary ingredient of their beIiefs or whatever.

But it's not true to what they feeI.