Mixtapemotions

"Hazy Shade of Winter" By Simon & Garfunkel, Sunday, January 17, 2021

 

There are a few truths about Simon and Garfunkel we hold to be self-evident. First, Simon and Garfunkel is a duo from the 1960s that remains relevant to any playlist today. Their music holds up on any rock playlist (heavy metal, excluded of course). Second, very few covers of Simon and Garfunkel actually hold up. Last winter around this time I was in a brewery with my sister and this awful country rendition of “The Boxer.” Just like Adele covers, you don’t cover a song unless you’re going to add something to it. This reminds me of two Memphis Mayfire covers I heard yesterday. They covered Stone Temple Pilots’ “Interstate Love Song” using double bass drums. *Skip* Then they did Linkin Park’s “Faint.” It sounded good but didn’t add anything that Chester and Mike did. Nope. I’ll post a worthy cover of this song. My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way recorded this song for Umbrella Academy’s first season. The third truth, Paul Simon NEEDS Art Garfunkel, and Garfunkel certainly needs Simon. Even though Paul Simon has had a successful career, I find him a bit like peanut butter. It needs some milk otherwise your mouth gets stuck shut. Or Jelly. Fun fact. My mom had two turtles named Simon and Garfunkel. Simon died and Garfunkel is still alive. Alternate universe?

AN (UN)HAZY SHADE OF WINTER. I listened to Simon and Garfunkel’s greatest hits today. This song might be more appropriate for later January, I’m posting it today. I went for a walk and the sky was clear. The leaves were brown, but there was no patch of snow on the ground.

This song was particularly meaningful the first year that I started (and failed) this project, 2019. Winter depression set in hard. I was failing to grasp a direction in life. It was my winter vacation and I stayed in Korea for no particular reason other than to save money. And then I discovered and binge watched Umbrella Academy. Time, time time, what had become of me?
IT’S THE SPRINGTIME OF OUR LIVES. I picked myself up from the hazy shade of winter and set goals. I would learn Korean. I would eat healthier. I would exercise. I would save more money. I would refocus on my teaching. Most New Years Resolutions fail, but somehow I was driven make it work. By the end of 2019 I felt I had arrived. Things were getting better and better. I went home to America and spent time with family and friends. I made a plan to visit my family every January to celebrate a late Christmas together…and then the pandemic struck. 
LOOK AROUND, LEAVES ARE BROWN, THERE’S A PATCH OF SNOW ON THE GROUND. Every year when I listen to this song, I think about different seasons of my life. I think about what I’ll be doing the next year or five years from now when I hear this song. What scares me is sitting around with “manuscripts of unpublished rhyme.” How much talent have I lost because I’m not doing? I’ve wanted to be a writer forever, but writer’s block has paralyzed me. I want something I do to be meaningful beyond today. I HAVE TO create something before winter comes…

Read the lyrics on Genius.