Simon & Garfunkel - I Am A Rock Meaning

Song Released: 1966

I Am A Rock Lyrics

A winter’s day
In a deep and dark December;
I am alone,
Gazing from my window to the streets below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
I am a rock,
I am an island.
I’ve built walls,
A fortress deep and mighty,
That none may...

1. anonymous

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   Jul 14th 2008 !⃝

   Obviously he's been hurt, but this song comes across to me as pure denial. He goes on and on about how secure and strong he is, but it's presented in such a sad and somber tone. He declares his strength, but it's pure facade.
2. anonymous

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   Sep 25th 2007 !⃝

   This song is about Catcher in the Rye.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
3. anonymous

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   Aug 25th 2007 !⃝

   I think it's about a man who's love has just left him.
   
   He doesn't show his feelings.
   (A rock or an island is always looking the same, if you are not very close to it)
   
   He has no good feelings ("A winter’s day") and his mood is bad ("deep and dark december")
   He thinks he has noone ("I am alone")
   He finds nothing to do, he's lamed "Gazing from my window",
   (maybe literally)
   It's not long ago ("freshly fallen")
   and he has not seen it comming ("silent shroud of snow")
   
   He don't want to be her fiend, because friendship only "causes pain" to him.
   
   He can not laugh and he can not love ("laughter and it’s loving I disdain.")
   
   I am a rock,
   I am an island.
   
   He doesn't want to talk about that love he had.
   Because he has swamp out the feelings
   
   He tries to occupy himself by reading
   books or reading/writing poetry
   
   He doesn't want to go out ("Hiding in my room")
   And he hides his feelings from others
   "I touch no one and no one touches me."
4. anonymous

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   May 23rd 2007 !⃝

   I feel this song is about a guy who was dumped, and he's trying to prove that he actually feels really bad although he might appear to be fine.
   
   Rock=the outer appearance and rocks are very common; thus this is what most people see
   Island=inner self; islands are hidden and you have to swim or take a boat or wait until the right season to get to it
   
   I think a lot of the song is sarcastic:
   ex. "It's laughter and it's loving I disdain"
   
   I love this song =D
5. anonymous

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   Mar 9th 2006 !⃝

   Also--a rock feels no pain and an island never cries...solitude shields us from pain but it is not living.
6. MrPizzazz702

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   Nov 27th 2005 !⃝

   To me this song seems to be about someone that just feels like an outsider. Or at least someone that wants themself to think that way. If one is all alone there is no need for emotion, or so thinks this person. And a rock feels no pain. An island never cries.