Why deny the obvious child

I also went to see the movie with my parents. In the car ride home, it was my dad who pointed out that making Donna a Jewish character also made it relevant that Max Jake Lacy was Christian. Becca, 24, wants to be friends with Donna. He really grew on me—at first I was like, who is this vanilla businessman bro, but he totally won me over. The movie is intentionally and consciously, I think, not about settling down for life and choosing a potential life partner and whether that person should be Jewish or not.

Having Donna and Max represent such different religious perspectives gets to the heart of the Christian family values anti-choice policies sweeping the country, without actually lifting a political finger. I almost feel badly for judging him so much. But Max proved to be much deeper than this particular Jew expected, and so I think ultimately the movie challenged the stereotypical Jewish versus Christian positioning with regard to abortion.

The writer and director Gillian Robespierre and her shining star Jenny Slate are both Jewish themselves. Jenny Slate is actually from Massachusetts! She grew up in Milton and went to Columbia College, just like me, and we were on campus together for the school year.

But back to the movie for one more minute. This post has been contributed by a third party. The opinions, facts and any media content are presented solely by the author, and JewishBoston assumes no responsibility for them. Want to add your voice to the conversation?

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Mimi Arbeit. Mimi Arbeit has a Ph. Her research takes a skills-based approach to promoting adolescent sexuality development and sexual health, with specific attention to questions of gender justice and the experiences of queer and trans youth.

She applies this work to sex education and sexual violence prevention in contexts such as public schools, college campuses and youth development programs. Each of your essays are a work of art themselves! Do you think there can be symbolism in Sonny's name as the Son of God as well? Sonny's bright attitude leading up to his mid-life crisis, as he continues to take up his crosses with ease, could reflect the fact that he knows what a true cross feels like.

The one that's not in the ballpark,that is. The one only the Son of God lifted. Emily-- Thanks for the compliments! I am looking forward to writing my Stranger posts, myself! And I admit I had not thought of the interpretation of Sonny as Jesus.

Perhaps it's because Sonny's parents "had a lot of fun" and "money," and Mary had not much of either. But I do think they may have named Sonny FOR Jesus, in that sense, hoping that would help him overcome adversity with grace.

It might be helpful to keep in mind that Paul Simon is Jewish, so unlikely to use a Christian metaphor - though I get the temptation! Jeffe-- I am aware of Simon's religion, but if you know his material, it is rife with Christian imagery. Simon based his song "Blessed" on the Sermon on the Mount, for instance. That said, he uses Jewish imagery, too.

But you didn't ask about that. I enjoyed your insightful analysis and further thoughtful responses. I chanced upon your blog when the song was reminded to me as I read the news of yet another pathological lie emanating from the highest office of the land. These lies ane not just lies; they are malicious murder weapons. I say, why deny the obvious children? To quote JS Bach, "sleepers awake!

Sack, Thanks for your comment and compliments. I try to keep this blog free of politics, just to keep the focus on the material. Dead interesting, thanks for the write up. I always interpreted the line "Why deny the obvious, Child" but the meaning to be different to the one you put forward and dismiss. I thought the line meant why deny the obvious just because it is a lie. Combined with the religious imagery I thought the song was saying that even if religion is a lie it is in the right ball park and captures something so obvious that it isn't just another lie.

It's worth accepting. Anon-- Thanks for the compliment. You are discussing the difference between what is factual and what is true. A very good explanation is made by Stephen Colbert in his video about "truthiness. Like they say, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.

I've always read "the cross is in the ballpark" to be saying that morality is a ballpark figure. It follows the line "Some people say a lie is a lie is a lie, but I say why, why deny the obvious child. Life becomes bounded in the ballpark, the room is a cage, etc.

At the same time, you realize as you age that the things you once thought clear, correct, right or moral become more complicated as you see the world and the actions of people with more clarity and compassion. I would like to read through the lyrics again with the idea that it is about aging; it's a valuable construct to consider! I interpret it slightly different. Their conclusions, though, are both the same. A lie is just a lie, the sky is just the sky, a house is just a house: these are examples of simplistic thought.

It can lead to a child is just a child. Why deny the obvious child? The father reflects on the light and how it changes the room when day comes. Perhaps a cross in the ballpark with his father would have made a difference. Yes, it is, um, "obvious" that the father and son have had different lives, and different interpretations of, and reactions to, those lives.

I don't know that it is implied that a child is just a child, though. Another Paul, this song has puzzled me more than any other of Paul's songs, but I have an idea which pulls the song together at the separate layers of meaning, including societal.

In your analysis of Kodoachrome, you mention "Obvious lies" in literature and when I searched "Obvious lies" on Google, I discovered by coincidence? Paul been to South Africa in just the previous years coincidence? Obvious lies takes on a signification meaning beyond the isolated two words, more like an idiom.

Now, what if the song is about obvious lies, but Paul adapts obvious lies to "Obvious child" to tie the personal biographical level of meaning to the societal? So a "child is just a child" means society is also our child, we have responsibility for creating it.

Why do we create an unsatisfactory world despite "the cross is in the ballpark", making a better world is doable? David-- Thanks for putting me in the ranks of Biko and Simon himself! While I am not sure I follow your logic, I cannot argue with your conclusion and I think both Simon and Biko would as well -- if we can make a better world, why don't we? Regarding Paul Simon saying himself that the line "the cross is in the ballpark" is meant to indicate that "the crosses that we bear, they're in the ballpark, they're doable", do you have a source reference, please?

I don't like that fusion of idioms. I don't think they're effective. To me, "in the ballpark" means that a characteristic usually a financial some of money is not too far away from a specific one. To then marry it with a "cross" to be borne , and expect it to mean that such burdens are "doable", is not strong.

Also, a cross to bear is usually for some greater good, or maybe as the result of some sin, and these conotations don't really fit as far as I can see. Also, he says "the cross", singular, not "our crosses are in the ballpark". Which particular burden would he be referring to? Ron: Well, you can like it or not, but that's what the man said. I didn't have the quote exactly right, but I was close. I don't think, in the quote, he meant this or that burden, just whichever ones you have.

I think this song is about Paul Simon's son Harper. The reason that I say this is because in the song he says we had a lot of money or something to that effect and I remember reading an interview or comment by Peggy Harper where she said that when Paul Simon. I also thought that it could actually be any child that you were concerned with in the end of this video the little boy runs out the, then Paul Simon runs out.

Paul Simon could be the obvious child to Paul's parents or the father of that child. It could be any child that you're concerned with, In this case, I would think it would be the first child, not sure when this was done but I think it was before he had his children with his third wife. You can glean a lot of information from the women that Paul Simon loved as much as from him.

And in remembering a road sign,- a particular moment in his life he recalls setting him on a different path or way of thinking indefinitely- I am remembering a girl when I was young- literally And she said these songs are true, these days are ours, these tears are free thusly reinforcing the simplicity and power of childhood. The Cross is in the ballpark,- the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

So it is in a place like a ball park where children are. Relative to them. Then the focus moves directly off of sunny, and back on.. He's been waking up at sunrise He's been following the light across his room He watches the night receive the room of his day He has entered a point in his life when the sunrise and sunsets are some of the most precious things he has as he marvels at creation in a way that is so central to childhood's essence.

In his older age his is re-discovering the type of wisdom that is found in this idea. HE watches participates in as the night gets everything from his day's thoughts and lies there thinking, watching the night sky and getting lost in a well developed peace. Sonny's yearbook from high school Is down from the shelf And he idly thumbs through the pages Some have died Some have fled from themselves Or struggled from here to get there -Sunny is now contemplating the road to adulthood and how many stumble and fall and get into trouble along the way again re-enforcing the fact that adulthood is not all it's cracked up to be, and is not necessarily the main objective.

Sonny wanders beyond his interior walls Runs his hand through his thinning brown hair Well I'm accustomed to a smoother ride Maybe I'm a dog that's lost his bite I don't expect to be treated like a fool no more I don't expect to sleep the night Some people say a lie is just a lie But I say the cross is in the ballpark Why deny the obvious child?

This part is rather interesting as sunny "wanders beyond his interior walls" that is thinks beyond himself in a philosophical fashion and runs his hands though his now aging hair he stumbles upon the exact same conclusion as his father before him, so it is sunny now saying the last stanza and comes to all the same conclusion about childhood and growing up, and there is only ONE last Why deny the obvious Child at the end for the listener to interpret which of the two it means That line only had one meaning.

So it is then implied that this is endless cycle of understanding and going from childhood to adulthood and then seemingly back to childhood and pro-creating to create children from adults is in its harmonic and beautiful unending conclusion with all the drums and the rockin out ending.

I did hear that he was watching the papal visit of the USA on TV and the pope was giving mass at Yankees Stadium and thats where the lyric comes from but you know what the best thing about music and lyrics and even poetry is? Its all subjective. Nobodys wrong If it evokes an emotion that differs from someone elses or even that of the composers. General Comment I almost forgot to mention the lines "I'm accustomed to a smooth ride, or maybe I'm a dog who's lost his bite". I love those lines, but I really cannot place them into my interpretation above.

In fact, I have a whole other interpretation which is pretty much mutally exclusive with the previous interpretation I posed. My other interpretation is just that the song chronicles the American dreamer, and the lines I mentioned about are central to that.

Sonny maybe fell short of his American dream, or even attained his American dream and it wasn't what he had hoped. Again, this song to me is distinctly American in all interpretations. General Comment On the internet I found the following quote " When asked of its meaning, Simon answered, "The cross, the burden that we carry, is in the ballpark, it's doable.

This makes the song a lot lighter in content I think. General Comment It seems like the intended meaning of "why deny the obvious child" changes throughout the song, as the character's life changes.

What's obvious to the man and sonny, who I interpretted as actually being his son and repeating the cycle of aging and midlife crisis-ing changes, as does his "cross," the burden he has to carry through life. I think this is true of a lot of Paul Simon's songs - he seems to use a lot of visually descriptive lyrics, and repeats choruses that seem to mean different things along the way but somehow tie together in a way that listeners can feel what he means, yet none of us can really pin it down.

Probably what makes his songs so enjoyable - at least for me, personally. Artists - P. The Obvious Child is found on the album Concert in the Park. Rate These Lyrics. We do not have any tags for The Obvious Child lyrics. Why not add your own? Log in to add a tag. More Paul Simon Lyrics. SongMeanings is a place for discussion and discovery. User does not exist.