According to biographer Peter Ames Carlin, they both considered it their favorite song on the album at the time of its release.

[1] Marc Eliot, who wrote Paul Simon: A Life, disputes this, arguing that Garfunkel always disliked the song and felt it was pretentious.

[2] When the single did not perform as well as they had hoped, Simon told Record Mirror's Norman Jopling that the song was "above the kids."

"[1] Cash Box said that it is a "gentle pop-folk ode which underscores some of life’s everyday hypocrisies" and expected it to "become a smash.

[6] The song features in Frederick Wiseman's 1968 documentary film High School in which a young teacher plays it, and enthusiastically advocates for its artistic qualities, while her class listens and looks rather bored.