7 O'Clock News/Silent Night

"7 O'Clock News/Silent Night"
Song by Simon & Garfunkel from the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Recorded	August 22, 1966
Genre	Folk
Length	2:01
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Paul Simon
Producer(s)	Bob Johnston

"7 O'Clock News/Silent Night" is a song by American music duo Simon & Garfunkel from their third studio album, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966). The track is sound collage juxtaposing a rendition of the Christmas carol "Silent Night" with a simulated "7 O'Clock News" bulletin of the actual events of August 3, 1966.

Composition

The track is a sound collage and simply constructed: it consists of the duo singing "Silent Night" two-part harmony over an arpeggiated piano section.^[1] The voice of the newscaster is that of Charlie O'Donnell, then a radio disc jockey. As the track progresses, the song becomes fainter and the news report louder. "The result rather bluntly makes an ironic commentary on various social ills by juxtaposing them with tenderly expressed Christmas sentiments."^[1]

The following events are reported in the order given:^[2]

A dispute in the House of Representatives over "the civil rights bill". It is stated that President Johnson had originally proposed a full ban on discrimination for any type of housing — dismissed as "having no chance" — and that "a compromise was painfully worked out in the House Judiciary Committee."
The death of comedian Lenny Bruce from an overdose of narcotics at the age of 42 [actually 40].
Martin Luther King, Jr. reaffirming plans for an open housing Civil Rights march into Cicero, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. It is stated that Cook County sheriff Richard Ogilvie urged its cancellation, and that Cicero police plan to ask the National Guard to be called in.
The grand jury indictment of Richard Speck for the murder of nine [actually eight] student nurses.
Disruption by protesters at House Un-American Activities Committee hearings into anti-Vietnam War protests
A speech by "former Vice-President Richard Nixon" to the Veterans of Foreign Wars [actually to the American Legion] urging an increase in the war effort in Vietnam, and calling opposition to the war the "greatest single weapon working against the United States".

References

1 2 Bennighof 2007, p. 32.
↑ Collected Works (liner notes). Simon & Garfunkel. US: Columbia. 1990. C3K 45322.

Bibliography

Bennighof, James (2007). The Words and Music of Paul Simon. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-275-99163-0.

Simon & Garfunkel

Paul Simon Art Garfunkel

Studio albums	Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. Sounds of Silence Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme Bookends Bridge over Troubled Water

Live albums	The Concert in Central Park Live from New York City, 1967 Old Friends: Live on Stage Live 1969

Compilation albums	Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits Collected Works The Simon and Garfunkel Collection 20 Greatest Hits The Definitive Simon & Garfunkel Old Friends The Best of Simon and Garfunkel Two Can Dream Alone Tales from New York: The Very Best of Simon & Garfunkel The Columbia Studio Recordings (1964–1970) Tom & Jerry The Collection The Essential Simon & Garfunkel Before the Fame Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel The Collection: Simon & Garfunkel America: The Simon and Garfunkel Collection

Soundtrack albums	The Graduate

Videos	The Concert in Central Park Old Friends: Live on Stage

Discographies	Simon & Garfunkel Art Garfunkel Paul Simon

Other	Songs Paul Simon solo albums Paul Simon songs Art Garfunkel solo albums Bridge over Troubled Water (Paul Desmond album)

Book Category

Simon & Garfunkel singles

Discography • List of songs

Sounds of Silence	"The Sound of Silence" / "We've Got A Groovey Thing Goin'" "I Am a Rock" / "Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall"

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme	"Homeward Bound" / "Leaves That Are Green" "The Dangling Conversation" / "The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine" "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" / "April Come She Will"

Bookends	"A Hazy Shade of Winter" / "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her" "At the Zoo" / "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" "Fakin' It" / "You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies" "Mrs. Robinson" / "Old Friends" / "Bookends"

Bridge over Troubled Water	"The Boxer" / "Baby Driver" "Bridge over Troubled Water" / "Keep the Customer Satisfied" "Cecilia" / "The Only Living Boy in New York" "El Cóndor Pasa (If I Could)" / "Why Don't You Write Me"

Other singles	Hey Schoolgirl Our Song This is my Song Surrender, Please Surrender I'm Lonesome "America" "My Little Town" "Wake Up Little Susie"

Other songs	"Richard Cory" "Patterns" "A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)" "7 O'Clock News/Silent Night" "Save the Life of My Child" "Overs" "Punky's Dilemma" "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright"

Category

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