Suzy woke me up to her humming Paul Simon’s classic “Slip Slidin’ Away.” Pretty soon I couldn’t get the song out of my head. The lyrics of the entire song are poignant. Paul Simon gave us this koan in this story about three different people who retreat from their passions when confronted with the vagaries of life. The song shows how we can all watch our dreams pass us by and end up like the absentee father in the third verse, kissing his son as he sleeps and then heading back home. It can seem like we are fated to do so, as “God makes his plan” and “the information’s unavailable to the mortal man.”
It would have been easy to get depressed as the tune plays over and over in my head thanks to Suzy, and I think about the three stories whose dreams go “slip slidin’ away.” But the stories involve choices that are made, the opposite of Simon’s lyrics is the possibility that the man or the woman can make different choices. God’s plans for each of us are not lives of fear, loneliness, or separation from our children. Our dreams don’t necessarily slip away as we get older.
I can’t speak for Paul Simon, but I think God would tell us that life is more than being a wife, a father, or our job. They are important yes, but there is so much more out there as part of God’s plan. Perhaps God and Simon are reminding us to not let life slip slide away. Life is where dreams are realized.
PS: If the tune is driving you crazy right now. Her are they lyrics:
Slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away
I know a man
He came from my home town
He wore his passion for his woman
Like a thorny crown
He said Dolores
I live in fear
My love for you’s so overpowering
I’m afraid that I will disappear
Slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away
I know a woman
Became a wife
These are the very words she uses
To describe her life
She said a good day
Ain’t got no rain
She said a bad day’s when I lie in bed
And think of things that might have been
Slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away
And I know a fa-ther
Who had a son
He longed to tell him all the reasons
For the things he’d done
He came a long way
Just to explain
He kissed his boy as he lay sleeping
Then he turned around and headed home again
Slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away
God only knows
God makes his plan
The information’s unavailable
To the mortal man
We’re working our jobs
Collect our pay
Believe we’re gliding down the highway
When in fact we’re slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away
Mmm…
Leave a Reply +