Tonight’s song is a journey. A man is driving through the American South with his young son, after his marriage has ended, to visit Graceland, the house where Elvis Presley lived. He doesn’t really know why he is going. He only knows he has to go.
Learn from Songs · Unit 4: The future · B1–B2
Graceland
Paul Simon’s road song about a father and son driving to Elvis’s home after a broken marriage: the present continuous and going to for journeys and plans (I’m going to Graceland), will for beliefs about the future, similes (sadness is like a heavy coat), and two views of a famous controversy, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
SOPHIA
DEMETRIA
Like a pilgrimage.
SOPHIA
Exactly. And the music is a journey too. Paul Simon recorded it with musicians from South Africa, and that made it one of the most loved, and most argued about, albums of its time.
MARCOS
Argued about? Why?
Before you listen: the song
New York and Johannesburg, 1985–1986
Paul Simon (born 1941) became famous in the 1960s with Art Garfunkel, singing “The Sound of Silence” and “Bridge over Troubled Water”. In the mid-1980s his career and his marriage were both in trouble. A friend gave him a cassette of South African township music, and he fell in love with it.
In 1985 he went to Johannesburg and recorded with South African musicians, including the guitarist Ray Phiri and the choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The album Graceland (1986) sold millions, and the song “Graceland”, with the Everly Brothers singing harmony, won the Grammy for Record of the Year. Two views: at that time the United Nations had asked artists not to work in South Africa, as a protest against apartheid, and some activists said Simon had broken that boycott. Others, including many of the musicians, said the album brought South African music to the whole world and paid them well. People still debate it.
In the song, the singer is driving along the Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee, with his nine-year-old son. He is going to Graceland. He thinks about the woman who left him, and he believes that everyone, even the broken-hearted, will be welcome there.
Every journey can be a pilgrimage, if you go looking for grace.
Listen: the road to Memphis
PHILO
Listen once. Who is travelling? Where are they going? What does he compare a broken heart to?
SOPHIA
Listen to the guitar and the bass: that is the sound of South Africa. Then answer Section A.
🎸 Listen to the song: “Graceland” (Paul Simon, 1986), by Paul Simon.Find the video →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “Graceland”, Paul Simon.Read the lyrics →
Present continuous and going to
MARCOS
I’m going to Graceland. We’re driving through the Delta. I’m going to visit Elvis’s house.
SOPHIA
Present continuous for a journey happening now or a fixed plan: We’re leaving tomorrow. be going to + verb for intentions: I’m going to see it. Careful: I’m going to Graceland is the verb go + to + place.
Will for beliefs and predictions
DEMETRIA
I believe everyone will be welcome there. I’m sure we’ll be received kindly.
SOPHIA
will for beliefs and predictions about the future, especially after I believe, I think, I’m sure: I’m sure you’ll love it. Here it is passive: will be + past participle.
Similes and the language of loss
PHILO
The song compares a broken heart to a window: everyone can see straight in. Sadness is like a heavy coat. He was as quiet as a stone.
SOPHIA
A simile compares two things with like or as. The window image means the pain is visible to everyone. Words of loss: broken-hearted, to be blown apart, to get over someone, to move on.
Sophia’s comparison: the road to Jerusalem and to Delphi
PHILO
“I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord.” Three times a year Jews went up to Jerusalem, singing the psalms of ascent on the road. A journey can heal.
SOPHIA
And Greeks walked for days to Delphi to ask Apollo’s oracle a question about their lives. Often the answer mattered less than the journey there, and the people they met on the road.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| present continuous | a journey now, a fixed plan | We’re driving to Memphis. |
| be going to + verb | an intention | I’m going to visit Graceland. |
| go to + place | movement | I’m going to Graceland. |
| will (be + past participle) | beliefs and predictions | We’ll be welcome there. |
| is like + noun | simile | Sadness is like a heavy coat. |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the song
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. Where is the singer going?
2. Who is travelling with him?
3. What does the song compare a broken heart to?
4. Where did Paul Simon record much of the album?
5. Why was the album controversial?
6. Which prize did the song win?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. We through the Delta right now. (drive)
8. I’m to visit Graceland. (intention)
9. I believe we be welcome there.
10. Sadness is a heavy coat.
11. We’re tomorrow morning. (leave, a fixed plan)
12. I’m sure you love it.
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “I’m going to Graceland tomorrow.”
14. “We go to drive to Memphis tomorrow.”
15. “I think it will rain.”
16. “Sadness is as a heavy coat.”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Plan a journey. In pairs, plan a trip to a place that matters to you. Use the present continuous for the fixed plans, going to for intentions, and will for predictions.
Discuss. 1. Was Paul Simon right or wrong to record in South Africa during the boycott? Give arguments on both sides. 2. Why do people visit the homes of famous people? 3. Can a journey help you get over a sadness?
Write (120–150 words). A pilgrimage. Describe a journey to a special place: who you are travelling with, what you are going to do there, and what you think you will find. Use one simile.
Now play the gamebook: a father, a son, and the road up the Nile to Memphis.Play the gamebook →