Song of the Day 4/22: Simon & Garfunkel, “April Come She Will”
Paul Simon learned a lot on his trips to England in 1965. He learned how to fingerpick, for one thing. He learned that British folk audiences, unlike those in Greenwich Village, appreciated his music. And he learned the nursery rhyme about the cuckoo that he turned into this song, which appeared on both Simon’s UK-only debut album and Simon & Garfunkel’s “Sounds of Silence” LP.
Americans only hear cuckoos if their Granma had a clock, but in England they’re the migratory harbingers of spring. They appear in mid- to late April, depending on latitude, but by tradition they’re never heard before St. Tiburtius’ Day – April 14 to you heathens – nor after mid-June, once breeding season is over.
Before the song became a showcase for Garfunkel’s tenor, Simon sang it himself, as on this BBC radio show from 1965.
It reached its greatest audience when it was used to great effect in Mike Nichols’ 1967 film “The Graduate.”
Saint Peter Gonzales is April 14. A “Tiburtius” was buried on April 14th in the catacombs, but the feast day of St Tiburtius is August 11.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Tiburtius
All that said – pretty song. One of my favorites from that album, often played by my mother, St Patricia of Cleveland, when i was but a wee lad.
Yeah, I saw that, too. All I can think is that the Church of England switched saint days around.
https://projectbritain.com/calendar/April/cuckoo.html
According to The Vatican News, April 14 celebrates
“ST. TIBURTIUS, VALERIANUS, AND MAXIMUS, MARTYRS ON THE VIA APPIA.” Other saints show up in other publications for that day.
Too many saints, to few days? Maybe the bar was lower in those days.