Today’s Simon & Garfunkel track, April Come She Will, is a lucid and breezy piece, carrying a touch of Celtic colouring similar to their sombre and melancholic Scarborough Fair, which happened to be paired with April as its A-side single. The song appears on The Graduate soundtrack and features in the pool scene, where it was even used as a rhythmic guide during the film’s editing. The film was a staple in our household so it’s most likely where I first heard this track. You can almost feel the seasons shifting in this one, with the feminine spirit of nature evoked through Art Garfunkel’s whisper-soft, reverent delivery.
According to Wikipedia – Paul Simon wrote this in 1964 when he was in England. Its lyrics use the changing nature of the seasons as a metaphor for a girl’s changing moods. The inspiration for the song was a girl that Simon met and the nursery rhyme she used to recite, “Cuckoo“. April Come She Will is a very brief song, barely hitting 1:51, yet that brevity adds to the charm and enhances the impact of both the lyric and the melody. Listen for an echo of this song in For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her from S&G’s subsequent album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme.
[Verse 1]
April, come she will
When streams are ripe and swelled with rain
May, she will stay
Resting in my arms again
[Verse 2]
June, she’ll change her tune
In restless walks, she’ll prowl the night
July, she will fly
And give no warning to her flight
[Verse 3]
August, die she must
The autumn winds blow chilly and cold
September, I’ll remember
A love once new has now grown old
References:
1. April Come She Will – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
I saw this…and this is one of my top Simon and Garfunkel songs. It’s the one that really stuck with me from the film The Graduate. I went out and bought the album as soon as I heard it.
When I searched for images for the article (just a Google image search), lo and behold — your article on ‘April Come She Will’ popped up. You get around, my friend, lol.
Lol….that was one of the first Simon and Garfunkel songs I blogged I believe
While “April Come She Will” may not be as well known as “Mrs. Robinson,” it’s a beautiful song I’ve always liked. The vocals are great, as is Paul Simon’s finger-picking on the acoustic guitar.
Good one – pointing out the finger picking effort by Paul here.
I checked out their live version only after writing the article (silly me), and it enchanted me more than the studio cut. Art delivers it hypnotically and my golly his voice! I’ll send it below:
Thanks for sharing. While that specific clip is blocked from viewing in the U.S., I found another one of the same song from Simon & Garfunkel’s Concert in Central Park.
I recall watching a taped TV broadcast of the show back in Germany in the ’80s – great concert! I also ended up borrowing the related live album they released in Feb 1982 and taped it on music cassette.
I love this. I grew up with Simon & Garfunkel. They were ALWAYS on the radio & we had all their albums. I still love their music.
Yeah, they were before my time, but liked that college intellectual sensibility in both their image and their sound. I can see how ‘England’ influenced Simon’s writing in their early phases.
I remember listening to “Scarborough Fair” in school & analyzing the lyrics. With the anti-war sentiment ~ the descant lyric in the background. I think I was in 4th grade or something ~ it was a student teacher who did this. I grew up during Vietnam, remember & the anti-war movement was really STRONG.
It’s interesting that the original “Scarborough Fair” — another traditional English song — also inspired Dylan’s “Girl From the North Country”, with its echo of “Remember me to one who lives there, she once was a true love of mine.” I haven’t dug into the lyrics as deeply as you have, since I haven’t covered it here yet, but it’s great to read your reflections on it.
nice post Matt,the movie is classic…