Mumbo

Fat Charlie the Archangel
Sloped into the room
He said I have no opinion about this
And I have no opinion about that
Sad as a lonely little wrinkled balloon
He said well I don't claim to be happy about this, boys
And I don't seem to be happy about that
–“Crazy Love, Vol. II,” Paul Simon

God, I love that song. Dual electric-guitar figures dancing around a bouncy African rhythm. Then enters Paul Simon, singing oh so delicately about the hollowness that follows an emotional devastation. Lebanese-American author Kahlil Gibran once wrote that joy and sorrow are drawn from the same well. You can hear that truth in “Crazy Love, Vol. II.” Magnifico.

It’ll be 20 years ago this summer that Paul Simon released “Graceland,” the single-greatest achievement of his storied career. And one of the best pop albums ever. The New York Mets won the World Series that year. They haven’t won it since. All the smart money is on them to repeat in 2006. Like most lifelong Mets fans, I’ll believe it when I see it. Yeah yeah yeah, I know all about Delgado, Reyes, Wright, Beltran and Floyd. I know they’ve shored up their bullpen. I know all about Pedro and the depth in their starting rotation. We’re talkin’ the New York Mets here. What makes this money so smart?

And what’s with the Dems? We’ve got Ted Kennedy stuck in the cobwebs of ‘60s east coast liberalism. Nancy Pelosi playing to the west coast leftist fringe. And Hillary Clinton trying to appeal to middle America as a Left-Lite populist and fooling no one in the process. Once again, we have the Democratic Party shaping up to be the political alternative that’s long on blather and short on appeal. Where oh where is my party?

It’s not in Brooklyn, that’s for sure. And neither will I be once my lease is up. In fact, I’m leaving the Big Town, all five boroughs of it. Where am I going? Well, I haven’t signed the lease yet, and I don’t want to jinx myself. I’ll go public Saturday. In the meantime, let’s just say I’m heading north. Far from the madding crowd.