American Tune

Many's the time I've been mistaken

 And many times confused

 Yes, and I've often felt forsaken 

And certainly misused 

Oh, but I'm alright, I'm alright

 I'm just weary to my bones

 Still, you don't expect to be bright and bon vivant

 So far away from home, so far away from home

 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 alright, it's alright

 For we lived so well so long

 Still, when I think of the road we're traveling on

 I wonder what's gone wrong

 I can't help it, I wonder what's gone wrong

 And I dreamed I was dying 

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 

We come on the ship they call The Mayflower

 We come on the ship that sailed the moon

 We come in the age's most uncertain hours

 And sing an American tune 

Oh, and it's alright, it's alright, it's alright

 You can't be forever blessed 

Still, tomorrow's going to be another working day

 And I'm trying to get some rest

 That's all I'm trying to get some rest

--Paul Simon

Paul Simon used part of a Bach Chorale for a section of "Bridge Over Troubled Water," and a few years later he used more of it for "American Tune." The melody had also been adapted for both Protestant and Catholic hymns.  These lyrics have been relevant pretty much all the time since he wrote them in the age of assassination and Watergate.  But it seems especially appropriate to remember them now on the first anniversary of the insurrection and attack on the US Capitol, and as the latest and perhaps fiercest Covid challenge begins.  Consider it as well an early Poetry Monday.