Lyrics to
America

This version of America was released by Paul Simon in 1974.

Our About Paul Simon page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for America from 1974 as well as all of the other lyrics from Paul Simon that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Paul Simon or about the 1970s in general.

Let us be lovers, we’ll marry our fortunes together
I’ve got some real estate here in my bag
So we bought a pack of cigarettes, and Mrs. Wagner pies
And we walked off to look for America

Cathy, I said, as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburg
Michigan seems like a dream to me now
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
And I’ve come to look for America

Laughin’ on the bus, playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gaberdine suit was a spy
I said be careful, his bowtie is really a camera

Toss me a cigarette, I think there’s one in my raincoat
We smoked the last one an hour ago
So I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field

Cathy, I’m lost, I said, though I knew she was sleeping
I’m empty and I’m aching and I don’t know why
Countin’ the cars on the New Jersey turnpike
They’ve all come to look for America, all come to look for America

Countin’ the cars on the New Jersey turnpike
They’ve all come to look for America, all come to look for America
All come to look for America

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Paul Simon has released many songs over the years besides America. Paul Simon released songs from 1965 to 2000 spanning across albums like The Paul Simon Songbook, Paul Simon, There Goes Rhymin' Simon, Paul Simon In Concert: Live Rhymin', Still Crazy After All These Years, One-Trick Pony, Hearts And Bones, Graceland, The Rhythm Of The Saints, Songs From The Capeman, and You're The One. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Paul Simon.

If you're a fan of popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1974 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and America by Paul Simon

The lyrics for America are defined as the words making up the song released by Paul Simon in 1974. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to America have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Paul Simon and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to America by Paul Simon if you think through it. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to America" means the words set to the music of America, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Paul Simon. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to America and the lyrics to America are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Paul Simon who came here looking just for the lyrics to America, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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