The Dangling Conversation

"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 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.^[1]

Commercial performance

The song only climbed to 25 on the US charts and never made it onto the UK charts. Simon viewed "The Dangling Conversation" as an "absolutely amazing" disappointment to him at the time, as the previous three Simon & Garfunkel singles were reasonable "hits". He felt as though the song may have been "too heavy" for a mainstream audience.^[2]

Cover versions

Joan Baez included a cover of the song on her 1967 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.

Charts

Chart (1966)	Peak position
Canada 100 (RPM)^[3]	27
scope="row"	US Billboard Hot 100^[4]	25

References

↑ "Show 36 - The Rubberization of Soul: The great pop music renaissance. [Part 2]". UNT Digital Library. University of North Texas. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
↑ Jon Landau (July 20, 1972). "Paul Simon: The Rolling Stone Interview". Rolling Stone (113). Retrieved May 27, 2016.
↑ "RPM Top 30 Rock Report". RPM. Ottawa: Library and Archives Canada. 6 (4). September 19, 1966. OCLC 352936026. Retrieved March 27, 2016.
↑ "Simon & Garfunkel – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for Simon & Garfunkel. Retrieved March 27, 2016.

Simon & Garfunkel

Paul Simon Art Garfunkel

Studio albums	Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. Sounds of Silence Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme Bookends Bridge over Troubled Water

Live albums	The Concert in Central Park Live from New York City, 1967 Old Friends: Live on Stage Live 1969

Compilation albums	Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits Collected Works The Simon and Garfunkel Collection 20 Greatest Hits The Definitive Simon & Garfunkel Old Friends The Best of Simon and Garfunkel Two Can Dream Alone Tales from New York: The Very Best of Simon & Garfunkel The Columbia Studio Recordings (1964–1970) Tom & Jerry The Collection The Essential Simon & Garfunkel Before the Fame Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel The Collection: Simon & Garfunkel America: The Simon and Garfunkel Collection

Soundtrack albums	The Graduate

Videos	The Concert in Central Park Old Friends: Live on Stage

Discographies	Simon & Garfunkel Art Garfunkel Paul Simon

Other	Songs Paul Simon solo albums Paul Simon songs Art Garfunkel solo albums Bridge over Troubled Water (Paul Desmond album)

Book Category

Simon & Garfunkel singles

Discography • List of songs

Sounds of Silence	"The Sound of Silence" / "We've Got A Groovey Thing Goin'" "I Am a Rock" / "Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall"

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme	"Homeward Bound" / "Leaves That Are Green" "The Dangling Conversation" / "The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine" "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" / "April Come She Will"

Bookends	"A Hazy Shade of Winter" / "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her" "At the Zoo" / "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" "Fakin' It" / "You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies" "Mrs. Robinson" / "Old Friends" / "Bookends"

Bridge over Troubled Water	"The Boxer" / "Baby Driver" "Bridge over Troubled Water" / "Keep the Customer Satisfied" "Cecilia" / "The Only Living Boy in New York" "El Cóndor Pasa (If I Could)" / "Why Don't You Write Me"

Other singles	Hey Schoolgirl Our Song This is my Song Surrender, Please Surrender I'm Lonesome "America" "My Little Town" "Wake Up Little Susie"

Other songs	"Richard Cory" "Patterns" "A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)" "7 O'Clock News/Silent Night" "Save the Life of My Child" "Overs" "Punky's Dilemma" "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright"

Category

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