Why Must They Be Like This? - Tumblr Posts

Of bridges and old musicians

I've always been a Simon and Garfunkel fan.

When I say always, I mean for the last 20 years and counting. 

I first heard S&G in my parents' car (remind you of anything?), the Concert in Central Park was playing and I was blown away. Head over feet. I couldn't believe the sheer beauty of their voices, those harmonies, the melodies, the overall feel of the songs... I fell under their spell, completely, utterly in love, though I barely understood a word they were singing.

Those days you had to buy CDs to listen to music, and in my little town in Italy their music wasn't exactly popular in 2000. But I managed to get their albums, one after another. Each "new" song was a trip, a discovery. I learnt all, and I mean all the lyrics by heart. I sang both parts in my head, when not out loud. 

I was too young to fully understand the more complex meanings of their songs, but their voices accompanied me through all my young and adult life. Delightful memories of special moments with their songs in the background, awful afternoons alone with no one but them to keep me company - you know, the whole spectrum of emotions music gets you through.

Now, I was always a hardcore fan of everything they did together, yet the one album I couldn't fully enjoy was Bridge. Yes, you got that right. The golden child of the pair, and I had trouble (pun intended) with it. Of course I immediately recognised its magnificence, yet its overall vibe made me uneasy. I love its songs, don't get me wrong! But something in that felt a bit out of tune to me.

I had to get older to understand why, and though these days I listen to it more often than ever, my uneasiness remains.

Bridge is a sad album, to me.

I can feel all the layers of sadness through its songs, not only in the lyrics, but in Paul and Artie's voices. Well, if you know their story it comes as no surprise - but the level of pain they convey (willy-nilly) still strikes me and manages to break my heart to this day.

To me, their works up to BOTW, even the gloomiest ones, convey a sense of hope, of trust, of love. And while love is obviously still very much there in that last album, none can deny it, that love is now tinged with melancholy, sadness, disenchantment. Trust? Lost. Hope? Maybe a bit, but unconvincing.

Bridge Over Troubled Water, with all its beauty and splendor that makes it so easy for the listener to love it, is a sad, sad album. Even more so because in retrospect I know that they never crossed that bridge over troubled water to ease their minds and find harmony again, once and for all. And that, my friends, is sad. Many things come to an end, but to see such a strong bond so badly shattered hurts.

Thinking about how, when Cas was working with Crowley, only Dean believed in him. And he was so sure that Cas was innocent, and his only reasoning was, "It's Cas, man." He believed him with every fiber in his being, even when all the evidence was stacked against him. He didn't believe it until Cas admitted it to his face. He believed in Cas' innocence over Bobby and Sam, his surrogate father and brother, you know, the one person he loves most in the world. He wanted Cas to be innocent. He didn't want to have to face the prospect that the man he believed to be an angel, both literally and figuratively, wasn't 100% on their side. He wanted to believe that Cas had changed, and he did, but not all the way. One moment in particular sticks out to me, and it's when Dean confronts Cas, even before all this, and says, "What happened to you, Cas? You used to be human, or at least like one." And I think it's such a stab to the heart. He wanted Cas to be human, to feel things, and experience things that he hadn't before. He just wanted to believe in him.