Art helps us understand and deal with reality — whatever challenges it throws at us. Here’s Paul Simon doing what artists do best:
And I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered I don’t have a friend who feels at ease I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered or driven to its knees But it’s all right, it’s all right We’ve lived so well so long Still, when I think of the road we’re traveling on I wonder what went wrong I can’t help it, I wonder what went wrong
And I dreamed I was dying And I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly And looking back down at me Smiled reassuringly And I dreamed I was flying And high up above my eyes could clearly see The Statue of Liberty Sailing away to sea And I dreamed I was flying
Not a new song, but one that acquires new meanings in this intimate and vulnerable performance that’s both timeless and of the present. (A medieval bard would’ve understood the stringed instrument, but not the technology that allows Mr. Simon to sing to the world from his home.)