Inspiring Music: Paul Simon’s Love Song for Kathy

Nothing inspires me to write like great music. Here’s an artist or tune that’s been tickling my ears lately and serving as one of my writing prompts.

It’s Valentine’s Day, so I had to go a little sappy with this month’s blog on music that inspires me. If you hate sap or are in no mood to be serenaded, just make plans to come back next month. I’ll choose something colder then.

But if you are in the mood for a love song with profound depth and real meaning—a song written more from sadness and less from a contractual obligation with a record company—then look no further than “Kathy’s Song” by one of the greatest song writers of all time…Paul Simon.

Kathy is a real woman—Kathleen Chitty—and at 18 she was the love of Paul’s life. They met in 1963 in Brentwood, Essex. After recording his first album with Art Garfunkel, Paul had left the U.S. to play in pubs, folk clubs and coffee houses across England. And it was at the Railway Inn Folk Club where the pair first met.

In one of those love-at-first-sight experiences, Paul and Kathy became nearly inseparable thereafter. They traveled to the U.S. later that year, taking their love affair across the country on Paul’s tour. Eventually, Kathy returned to England, and Paul joined her a few weeks later. There, he recorded The Paul Simon Songbook, which included “Kathy’s Song” and showcased the couple on the  cover art.

After his song “The Sound of Silence” began to gain fame back in the States, Paul decided to return to the U.S. a few months later, but Kathy elected to remain in England. She was never a fan of all the attention and chose to remain out of the spotlight. The couple split not long after.

Kathy’s now a grandmother, keeping mostly to herself in a Welsh-speaking village. Paul’s been married three times and continued his musical career. And from this “what could have been” love story, we’ve all been blessed with such beautifully composed lyrics as:

I hear the drizzle of the rain
Like a memory it falls
Soft and warm continuing
Tapping on my roof and walls.

And from the shelter of my mind
Through the window of my eyes
I gaze beyond the rain-drenched streets
To England where my heart lies.

My mind’s distracted and diffused
My thoughts are many miles away
They lie with you when you’re asleep
And kiss you when you start your day.

And as a song I was writing is left undone
I don’t know why I spend my time
Writing songs I can’t believe
With words that tear and strain to rhyme.

And so you see I have come to doubt
All that I once held as true
I stand alone without beliefs
The only truth I know is you.

And as I watch the drops of rain
Weave their weary paths and die
I know that I am like the rain
There but for the grace of you go I.