Album: The Rhythm Of The Saints (1990)

Charted: 15 92

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• Well I'm accustomed to the smooth ride
  Or maybe I'm a dog who's lost its bite
  I don't expect to be treated like a fool no more
  I don't expect to sleep through the night
  Some people say a lie's a lie's a lie
  But I say, "why
  Why deny the obvious child?
  Why deny the obvious child?"
  
  And in remembering a road sign
  I'm remembering a girl when I was young
  And we said, "these songs are true
  These days are ours
  These tears are free"
  And hey
  The cross is in the ballpark
  The cross is in the ballpark
  
  We had a lot of fun
  Had a lot of money
  We had a little son and we thought we'd call him Sonny
  Sonny gets married and moves away
  Sonny has a baby and bills to pay
  Sonny gets sunnier
  Day by day by day by day
  
  Well, I've been waking up at sunrise
  I've been following the light across my room
  I watch the night receive the room of my day
  Some people say the sky is just the sky
  But I say
  "Why deny the obvious child?
  Why deny the obvious child?"
  
  Sonny sits by his window and thinks to himself
  How it's strange that some rooms are like cages
  Sonny's yearbook from high school
  Is down on the shelf
  And he idly thumbs through the pages
  Some have died
  Some have fled from themselves
  Or struggled from here to get there
  Sonny wanders beyond his interior walls
  Runs his hands through his thinning brown hair
  
  Well, I'm accustomed to a smoother ride
  Or maybe I'm a dog who's lost its bite
  I don't expect to be treated like a fool no more
  I don't expect to sleep the night
  Some people say a lie is just a lie
  But I say
  "The cross is in the ballpark
  Why deny the obvious child?" Writer/s: Paul Simon
  Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 7

• Brian from La Mesa, CaThe style of drumming is called samba reggae. It is music influenced by Jamaican reggae, but played on samba drums. It evolved from bloco afro rhythms of Ile Aiye in the 1970s, but reached its final development under the late Neguinho de Samba, the director of Olodum, in the early '80s. Michael Jackson also used Olodum's drums for "They Don't Care About Us". The opening high drum in "Obvious Child" is a repique - possibly played by Neguinho de Samba himself - and the pattern is typical of Olodum call-ins, likewise with the break. This is a batucada exercise. In the Central Park concert, Olodum plays with Paul live, but the drumming is half a measure off. I don't know if the American musicians came in wrong (the Olodum intro begins on the 3rd beat) or if they decided to play it this way. In that gig, Neguinho de Samba plays the timbales. I have my own history with Olodum. As the leader of a samba reggae group in San Diego, I had some opportunities to take lessons from Olodum, hang out with them, and even perform with them once. One of their lead singers sang vocals with my band in some gigs.
• Karen from Silver Spring, MdThe drums are by the Bahia Brazil band Olodum.
• Mikeymouse from New York, NyAre you sure about the autobiographical part? He writes a lot of fiction, mixed with poetry about himself... that part of the song about Sunny's hair seems to be about getting older, taking stock of where your life has been spurred by thinking about where the lives of your contemporaries have been... the hair seems like imagery that goes to make that point.
• Rodimusben from Harrisonburg, VaThis song is one of Paul Simon's best. From the collaborations to the wildly varied and experimental sounds, The Rhythm of the Saints stands toe-to-toe with Graceland as one of his all-time best efforts. I dare you listen to the drums in The Obvious Child and not be stirred.
• Kevin from Reading , PaI didn't think Artie was wearing hair, I just thought he puffed it up and still has enough to sort of fill-in the middle. Not so sure that my English friend is right on this one.
• Sara Mackenzie from Middle Of Nowhere, Flinteresting song. you might be right though: this song is autobiographical.
• John from Guildford, EnglandThis song is at least party autobiogaphical, especially the lines 'Sunny wanders beyond his interior room, runs his hands through his thinning brown hair'. Paul's hair had been thinning since the 70s, and after trying a comb-over and a hair-piece, he finally took to wearing a baseball cap before doing what the rest of us do and just face the world with it, as he did on the Simon and Garfunkel tour.
  Ironically, no-one seems to have spotted that Garfunkel was wearing a hair-piece (those natural curls are long gone!).

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