Bookends - The Songs

The Songs

The album begins softly with the song "Bookends Theme", but takes a heavier turn with the second track, "Save the Life of My Child", which uses the sounds of a distorted synthesizer and is a noted departure from the softer sound that was the signature of the duo. "Save the Life of My Child" also features a sample from their single "The Sounds of Silence", and includes a bass synthesizer sound personally set up by Bob Moog himself. The album also features the single "Mrs. Robinson", which was famous for its inclusion in the film The Graduate.

"Overs", "Punky's Dilemma", and "A Hazy Shade of Winter" were also written by Simon for The Graduate soundtrack, but the film's producers rejected them. They spent over 50 studio hours recording "Punky's Dilemma."

Side One of the Bookends album follows a life journey, beginning with soft instrumentals ("Bookends Theme") giving rise to a mother's cries to save her own child's innocence ("Save the Life of My Child"). The search for a place to find acceptance is captured in "America", leading to the struggle with possible estrangement in "Overs". "Voices of Old People" is a haunting realization of aging, giving rise to "Old Friends", with the bookends tunes serving as literal bookends to the life cycle.

A 2001 CD reissue of the album includes two bonus tracks: "You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies" (originally issued as a B-side to the "Fakin' It" single) and a demo version of "Old Friends."

The "Bookends Theme" was featured during the opening scene of the film Girl, Interrupted, and "Bookends" in the denouement of the film 500 Days of Summer. The song was also included on the Stacey Kent album The Boy Next Door (2003).