Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘America‘ was that track playing over one of the episodes of The Great end credits this week — The Great, Season 3, Episode 2, “Choose Your Weapon“.
The song was released in 1968 as the fifth single from the iconic duo’s fourth studio album, Bookends and has gone on to be thought of as one of the pair’s best and most important songs.
Simon & Garfunkel‘s ‘America‘ was written about a man and a woman traveling across the United States looking for the real ‘America’.
Paul Simon wrote the song after he took a similar trip with his girlfriend several years before.
But the track isn’t just about looking for a mythical country but also looking for oneself and the endless opportunities you were promised but never received.
The song itself gives the listener a sense of hope quickly followed by a sense of a paradise that does not and never did exist.
And, because of that, the emptiness left behind in the place of it:
Kathy, I’m lost,” I said, though I knew she was sleeping
I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They’ve all come to look for America
All come to look for America
Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘America‘ has been covered by many similarly iconic musicians over the last 50-plus years.
Most notably Sting, David Bowie, First Aid Kit and U2 — none of whom are actually American, you might notice.
But it is still the original version of the track I love the best, as it hits emotions I found most of the others were lacking.
Listen to Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘America‘ as heard over The Great end credits this week in the video, and via the Spotify player.