Hazy Shade of Winter

Listen. Everybody says "Hazy Shade of Winter" is the best Bangles song, and everybody knows it's a damn sight better than the original, but why does nobody make the leap to the next logical link in the chain?

The Bangles should re-do the entire catalog of Simon and Garfunkel hits. I mean, what kind of name is Garfunkel, anyway? Hold it, that's got nothing to do with what I'm saying. Here's what I'm saying: Simon and Garfunkel, their stuff is due for a reevaluation. And it's not going to get the hearing it deserves if we have to listen to their versions. If you listen to their versions, you're not going to remember what you were listening to by the time you wake up again, well-rested.

Let's face it, those old Simon/Garfunkel tracks have a deserved reputation of being shall we say BO-RINNNNNG!!! We never would have thought otherwise, if the Bangles hadn't come along. So why not roll the dice, why not see if they can work that same spangley Bangles magic on the rest of the S&G 500? Or however many songs those dudes wrote. Lord knows, it was tons. Just two dudes and a couple guitars, cranking it out 'til you can't stand it in the nineteen-seventies.

The Bangles are due for a reevaluation, too. They proved what they were capable of, on "Hazy Shade." But they're not going to get their next chance based on whatever crap they & Elvis Costello can come up with - as their last comeback amply showed. They need to dip back into that deep well over troubled waters. The Bangles need Simon & Garfunkel. And Simon & Garfunkel need the Bangles - because while their prolific gifts are indisputable as songwriters, it took the Bangles to make us see that, to open our eyes. Look around.

Look around.

There's a patch of snow on the ground.