WSO + Garfunkel = You Can Call Me Al

Last night I was watching TV. There was an ad for Art Garfunkel coming to Waco to appear with the Waco Symphony Orchestra (WSO) on January 11, 2008. Of course, in my mind the first thing I thought of was Paul Simon. After all, there was a time when the two were synonomous. Albeit, a long, long time ago. Then all of a sudden the words, "You can call me Al!" came forth from my mouth.

This song was released in 1986 as the first single from the Paul Simon album Graceland. Paul Simon and Chevy Chase recorded a video of the song when Simon appeared on an episode of Saturday Night Live.

Naturally I had to look up the video. This is what I found.

Doing some research I found that the title "You Can Call Me Al" is a reference to a Depression era song, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" by Yip Harburg and Jay Gorney:

Say, don't you remember, they called me Al,
It was Al, all the time,
Say, don't you remember, I'm your pal!
Brother, can you spare a dime?

And what is it with these lines?

I can call you Betty,
And Betty, when you call me,
You can call me Al!

According to an entry I found on Wikipedia, Paul Simon allegedly wrote the song after attending a party with his then wife Carrie Fisher. A man at the party kept calling Paul "Al", and Carrie "Betty", inspiring Simon to write a song. Who knows? At least it sounds good.

Another interesting fact is that Al Gore used the song during the 1992 presidential campaign as he stumped alongside Bill Clinton. I also found this on Wikipedia.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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