The Dangling Conversation

"The Dangling Conversation"
Single by Simon and Garfunkel
from the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Released	September 1966
Format	7" single
Recorded	December 1965 - August 1966
Genre	Folk rock
Length	2:37
Label	Columbia Records
Producer	Bob Johnston
Simon and Garfunkel singles chronology
"I Am a Rock" (1966) "The Dangling Conversation" (1966) "A Hazy Shade of Winter" (1966)

"The Dangling Conversation" is a song written by Paul Simon, first released in September 1966 as a Simon and Garfunkel single "The Dangling Conversation"/"The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine". The song only climbed to 25 on the US charts and never made it onto the UK charts. Paul Simon was amazed it was not a big hit. He put it down to the song's heaviness.^[1] It was released a month later as a recording on the Simon and Garfunkel album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.

The theme is failed communication between lovers. The song starts in a room washed by shadows from the sun slanting through the lace curtains and ends with the room "softly faded." They are as different as the poets they read: Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost.

Simon has compared this song to "The Sound of Silence", but says "The Dangling Conversation" is more personal.^[2]

Cover versions

Joan Baez recorded a version of the song which is one of her greatest hits, originally released in 1967 on the Joan album. She changed one of the lines to "Is the church really dead?" and Simon insisted that a line be inserted on the album's back cover that read: "Paul Simon asks Joan to note that the original line is, 'Is the theater really dead?'"

Les Fradkin has a dramatic version on his 2006 album, Jangleholic.

Chart performance

Chart (1966)	Peak position
Australian Kent Music Report	85
US Billboard Hot 100	25

External links

• 'The Dangling Conversation – Simon And Garfunkel' Review on ICELIA

References

1. ^ Jackson, L: Paul Simon: Definitive Biography, Citadel Press, 2004
2. ^ Show 36 - The Rubberization of Soul: The great pop music renaissance. [Part 2] : UNT Digital Library