Decoding Simon and Garfunkel

Had dinner with my friend Fr. Robbert Barron recently, and he proposed an intriguing reading of Simon and Garfunkel’s famous song “Cecilia,” lyrics below. Most people think it’s a song of a cheating girlfriend. Fr. Barron, though, proposed that it is the lament of a songwriter seeking the muse that gives inspiration, in this case playing on the name of St. Cecilia as patron saint of music. When the muse leaves, the songwriter is miserable, when she returns he is jubilant. “Making love with Cecilia” is actually writing a song, and when she leaves him and inspires someone else she is “cheating.” But she always comes back. Could two Jewish kids from New York really be writing about St. Cecilia? Their album “Wednesday Morning 3 AM” contained a setting of the entire Benedictus from the Mass, in Latin no less. Any thoughts?

Cecilia, you’re breaking my heart
You’re shaking my confidence daily
Oh, Cecilia, I’m down on my knees
I’m begging you please, to come home

Cecilia, you’re breaking my heart
You’re shaking my confidence daily
Oh, Cecilia, I’m down on my knees
I’m begging you please, to come home
Come on home

Making love in the afternoon
With Cecilia up in my bedroom
I got up to wash my face
When I come back to bed
Someone’s taken my place

Cecilia, you’re breaking my heart
You’re shaking my confidence daily
Whoa, Cecilia, I’m down on my knees
I’m begging you please, to come home
Come on home

Jubilation, she loves me again
I fall on the floor and I’m laughing
Jubilation, she loves me again
I fall on the floor and I’m laughing