Simon & Garfunkel: Old Friends/Bookends Meaning

Old Friends/Bookends Lyrics

OLD FRIENDS

Old friends
Old friends
Sat on their park bench
Like bookends
A newspaper blown through the grass
Falls on the round toes
On the high shoes
Of the old friends

Old friends
Winter companions
The old men
Lost in their...

1. anonymous

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   Dec 24th report

   Not doubting anyone else's interpretation, but I've always assumed the "old friends " are the chords f7 and c7 ,which conveniently sit together on the guitar fretboard,,,,and are the basis of the song
2. anonymous

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   Feb 9th 2020 report

   2 old friends sitting quietly (as many elders do). Suddenly, the tempo changes, many sharps and disjointed notes...one has a medical emergency and passes. The music calms and quiets, sadness. "Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you." (For your friend is gone.)
3. anonymous

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   Dec 1st 2011 report

   Simply about long-lasting friendship and friends growing old together.
   
   The narrator is watching them on a park bench in a park in the middle of winter just sitting together, quietly, as there's nothing left to talk about. The fear they share is the looming idea that death is inevitable and just around the corner. It won't be very many more years until one or both will pass away, ending the long relationship.
   
   Interestingly enough, Paul Simon turned seventy this year. How terribly strange indeed.

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