Comments: 13

• Sarah from Oregon“I’m lookin’ at ghosts and MPs.”
• Paul Mitchison from HamiltonWhen I visited the Rock and Roll museum in Cleveland, the neatly hand written lyrics of Graceland were (maybe still are) framed on a wall. Paul has a single edit … natural is crossed out and changed to National. How close were we to humming The Mississippi Delta was shining like a natural guitar? It works, but I’m glad for the edit.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyHere's some obscure trivia:
  On April 22, 1957, Custom-built 'music gates' were installed at the entrance of Elvis Presley's Graceland in Memphis, they were designed by Abe Saucer and custom built by John Dillars Jr, of the Memphis Doors inc.
  And twenty-nine years later on August 25th, 1986 Warner Bros. Records releases Paul Simon's eighth studio album, 'Graceland'...
  On March 29th, 1987 'Graceland' peaked at #3* {for 1 week} on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart and it spent 97 weeks on the Top 200 chart...
  The album reached #1 in Australia, Canada, Holland, France, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and Switzerland...
  * The week that 'Graceland' was at #3, the album at #2 was 'Slippery When Wet' by Bon Jovi and the #1 album was 'Licensed To Ill' by the Beastie Boys.
• Steve from London, United KingdomI think "traveling to Graceland" is a metaphor for life and the struggle for happiness. I don't know if Simon intended Graceland to be paradise in the Christian sense, but for me it is more based on an every day personal experience. It's that place we all strive our whole lives to be in - the place of perfect peace where we are finally accepted, and all our mistakes and weaknesses are utterly forgiven. The closest we can ever come to this place in life is to be loved by someone. And despite striving every day of our lives to get closer to this place, we can only really get there by dying, when the progress of time makes the significance of our faults and fears and wounds and regrets ultimately diminish and dissappear. In that sense we are all "bouncing into Graceland".
• John Dowling from Exeter, NhThe opening line "Mississippi delta was shining like a National guitar" refers to a brand of wood and metal resonator type guitar.
• Jackie from Virginia Beach, VaIn Living Colour's "Elvis is Dead", the song quotes: "I've reason to believe we all won't be received in Graceland."
• Manuel from Puerto Rico, United StatesI love the line "She comes back to tell me shes gone, as if i didnt know already, as if i didnt know my own bed". I think this line refers to the divorce from his second wife. Though short i consider that a very deep piece of lyric.
• Lalah from Wasilla, AkThe song is about Paul and his son's trip to Memphis to visit Graceland. He obviously needed to get regrounded after his divorce. Doesn't every rock-n-roller want to make that pilgrimage to Graceland?
• Dusty from Columbia , MoThe Everly Brothers sing background on this song.
• John from Guildford, EnglandYes, he did consider it his best song ever, but he still didn't like all of it! He didn't like the line 'ghosts and empty sockets' - and for what it's worth, I don't like the line immediately after 'ghosts and empties'! To a Brit, 'empties' are empty beer or milk bottles!
• Mike from Atlanta, GaThe name of the group performing with Paul on this is "Ladysmith Black Mambazo".
• Bettsi from Citrus Heights, CaThere are a lot of technical facts on this page regarding the song. I'm interested in knowing what Paul's thoughts were about the meaning of the song. To me, it is about our need to receive Grace as we get older. The more mistakes we make, the more aware we are of our need for Grace. I think these last lines really illustrate it well:
  "And I may be obliged to defend
  Every love, every ending
  Or maybe there's no obligations now
  Maybe I've a reason to believe
  We all will be received
  In Graceland"
  I love the way Paul uses the metaphor of Graceland.
• Shelli from Madison, WiSimon considers this song his best work.

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