Simon & Garfunkel: Cecelia Meaning

Song Released: 1970

Cecelia Lyrics

Celia, you’re breaking my heart
You’re shaking my confidence daily
Oh, cecilia, I’m down on my knees
I’m begging you please to come home

Celia, you’re breaking my heart
You’re shaking my confidence daily
Oh, cecilia, I’m down on my...

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   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Mar 8th 2008 report

   I found an interpretation on another website that gets the meaning of this song perfectly. I want him to get credit for his clever insight so have pasted his comments below:
   
   This is just a theory, but it's a lot more poetic than the "cheating girlfriend" story. How many of Simon and Garfunkel's song's lyrics are so explicitly on the nose? Not many. St. Cecilia is the patron saint of musicians, so Simon is singing about having writer's block. Everything is going great (he's making love) and when he takes a short break (getting up to wash his face) he finds that his inspiration has left him. But it comes back.
   - Keith Dennis, Portland, OR
2. anonymous

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   Feb 14th 2020 report

   Cecilia was a character in the 1963
   italian movie released in U.S.
   as "The Empty Canvas".
3. anonymous

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   Dec 8th 2015 report

   Saint Cecilia, the Patron Saint of music, has forsaken the writer. He has temporarily lost his muse, but she returns.
4. anonymous

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   Dec 8th 2015 report

   Saint Cecilia, the Patron Saint of music, has forsaken the writer. He has temporarily lost his muse.
5. anonymous

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   Sep 22nd 2014 report

   Does anyone else feel he was going down on her, hence why he had to go wash his face?
6. lovesMusic

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   Nov 18th 2012 report

   It's about St. Celelia. No one would put up with the other interpretation.
7. anonymous

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   Sep 30th 2012 report

   I think the song is about a girlfriend whom he once loved and she cheated on him without him far away maybe it was a guy in the same town. When she releases her mistake he had moved on
8. anonymous

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   Jul 13th 2010 report

   I've heard it interpreted that there is a dog involved... "I get up to wash my face, when I come back to bed someone's taken my place." Then directly after that line is a whistle...which sounds just like how you'd whistle for a dog. So...maybe he's makin' love, and he gets up, and it's just innocently the dog that hops into the bed and "takes his place," just like a dog might do.
9. anonymous

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   Feb 14th 2010 report

   The song is about his wifes breakdown, as is sounds of silence. The reference to begging her to come home is for her to get better and return to being the woman he loves instead of the stranger who no longer knows him.
10. cristina

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    Jul 2nd 2008 report

    I heard this song numerous times and I like to believe that he is actually with a prostitute and has fallen for her. It may seem far fetched but I like my interpretation better than just a man and his cheating girlfriend.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
11. anonymous

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    Nov 21st 2007 report

    I believe that Cecelia is his dog and he can't make out with his girl while the dog is in the room. He gets up to wash his face and the dog jumps in bed to get comfortable. Cause he is a dog he runs away sometimes and that is why he begs him to come home.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
12. anonymous

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    May 23rd 2007 report

    I feel that this song is about Cecilia leaving a guy, and later got back together with him...however, I think he's laughing on the floor because he's happy.
    
    Celia, you’re breaking my heart
    You’re shaking my confidence daily
    Oh, cecilia, I’m down on my knees
    I’m begging you please to come home
    Come on home
    means that he wants her to come back to him
    
    Making love in the afternoon with cecilia
    Up in my bedroom (making love)
    I got up to wash my face
    When I come back to bed
    Someone’s taken my place
    
    I feel that this is metaphorically stating how it seems that in just a few seconds(washing his face), he could be left for someone else...and she could be making love with someone else in the afternoon.
    that's it:)

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
13. JonahFalcon

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    May 19th 2006 report

    Very obvious song -- it's about a guy who's come home to find his girlfriend fooling around on him -- yet again! Her assurance that she loves only him is painfully funny to him - he knows she's just going to fool around on him anyway.