[5] "Simultaneously an evocative mood piece and a joyous tribute to the doo wop groups of the '50s",[6] the song depicts the Magrittes as secret admirers of the Penguins, the Moonglows, the Orioles, and the Five Satins.
The song also portrays the Magrittes "strolling down Christopher Street", stopping in a men's store, and seeing "all of the mannequins dressed in the style that brought tears to their immigrant eyes just like" the aforementioned doo wop groups.
"[6] Rolling Stone lauded this song saying that it "ranks among the best Simon has written" and added:There they are, a Belgian surrealist painter, his old lady and their pooch, dancing naked in a hotel room, window-shopping on Christopher Street and getting dolled up to dine with "the power elite."
[...] It's a hilarious and magical juxtaposition of images that's also touching, because Paul Simon obviously identifies with the figure of the grown-up, respectable artist irrevocably smitten with those doo-wop groups, "the deep forbidden music" that originally made him fall in love with rock & roll.
[9]Sam Sutherland described this tune as "a polished gem, both a musical analogue to the artist's dead-pan surrealism and a unique love song.