Happy Birthday to Paul Simon, one of the great songwriters of the pop era and one of the great wig wearers too.
Despite knowing and liking many individual songs I had never deliberately listened to one of his records until this week. After watching the doc about Bridge over troubled water I gave the album a go.
I could happily never hear the title song ever again but what an incredible run of songs:
Cecilia
Keep the customer satisfied
So long, Frank Lloyd Wright
The Boxer
Baby Driver
The only living boy in New York
An amazing run of form.
Why do so many American albums of that era sound like they were recorded down a well?
Your recommendations for further listening please?
Bingo Little says
There are others on this blog far more knowledgeable than I re: Paul Simon’s back catalogue, but I will add a shout here for 1990’s The Rhythm of the Saints.
It’s darker and less commercial than its immediate forebear, Graceland, but RotS will always be my favourite of Simon’s albums. Beautifully of a piece, with those wonderful Brazilian drums and some truly gorgeous guitar work, it hangs together gloriously and is the perfect showcase for Simon’s voice.
I don’t think it’s had the same cultural impact as some of his earlier work, but it’s the one I always go back to. I spent hours listening to it as a child, usually on a long car journey to somewhere or other, wondering who could possibly inspire a song like She Moves On (I later discovered exactly who – imagine having that written about you), or how The Coast could sound so comforting and warm, and yet be so sorrowful.
Most of all, I thought about the lyric from The Obvious Child. A lyric which I could never seem to penetrate, but which always unnerved me when I thought about it. The hope, the joy, the sadness, the wistfulness. The grand sweep of life, which at that tender age I could only really imagine in theory.
This passage, in particular, always unsettled me:
Sonny sits by his window and thinks to himself
How it’s strange that some rooms are like cages
Sonny’s yearbook from high school
Is down from the shelf
And he idly thumbs through the pages
Some have died
Some have fled from themselves
Or struggled from here to get there
Sonny wanders beyond his interior walls
Runs his hand through his thinning brown hair
Most of the music I was listening to told me that life was either happening around you, or was imminently about to happen. This was one of the first songs I ever took to heart that positioned life as a race that might already be partly, if not entirely, run, and the idea scared and thrilled me enough that I rolled it round my head interminably.
Now, years later, I’m probably about the same age as Sonny in that lyric (albeit my hair remains lustrous), and it all makes total sense. It isn’t scary or alien, it’s just true and maybe a little sad to think of those in my life who have “fled from themselves”. On the upside, when that lyric falls away into the glorious drum solo which follows I still get exactly the same goosebumps I got when I was 12, slumped on the back seat, gazing out the window and trying to process my youth, my prospective middle age and the seeming chasm that lay between the two.
It was the start of a long, long period of wandering outside my own interior walls, and – perhaps consequently – it will be my favourite Paul Simon song, from my favourite Paul Simon album, forever.
Hope that the above recommendation is of some help.
Arthur Cowslip says
It’s the specificness of that lyric that makes it…. ‘thinning brown hair’. Haunting and thoughtful, and a whole generation of middle aged men nod sadly and feel the tops of their heads!
Bingo Little says
Having thought about it some more, the bit that really blows me away is:
Some have died
Some have fled from themselves
Or struggled from here to get there
So utterly melancholy. I vividly remember thinking about my mates at the time and wondering which ones would end up falling into which of the above buckets; which bucket I myself would fall into.
“Some have fled from themselves” is such an utterly brilliant characterisation of what’s happened to some people by this stage in life. Five words and he nails it, right through the heart. The thing I’ve always been most scared of.
It reminds me of another of the key cultural touchstones in my life: Joan Didion’s utterly brilliant 1961 Vogue article on self respect, which ends thusly: “Without it, one eventually discovers the final turn of the screw: one runs away to find oneself, and finds no one at home.”
That line got me as a teenager. It still gets me every time, even now. Brrrr.
https://www.vogue.com/article/joan-didion-self-respect-essay-1961
Edgar Davids says
Lovely thoughtful reply there Bingo, thanks for that. There is something magical about discovering music at that age which makes you realise there’s a bigger picture you are not yet aware of. Or maybe that’s part of the magic at all ages?
dai says
Graceland, The Paul Simon songbook, Bookends
Boneshaker says
How terribly strange to be…..80.
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme has always been my favourite.
Vulpes Vulpes says
One Trick Pony – as a soundtrack of sorts, it’s outside the main run of solo albums, and an absolute pleasure to listen to.
Bingo’s tribute to the Rhythm album is also well judged. Coincidentally, the two vinyl Paul Simon albums I have that both came from my dad’s collection, are that one and the OneTrick Pony LP.
Baron Harkonnen says
All of the recommendations are worth acting upon @Edgar Davids.
Bingo’s piece on ‘The Rhythm Of The Saints’ is spot on and I’m another who gets shivers down my spine when I listen to ‘The Obvious Chid’ and I did once again watching and listening to that video.
Bob Dylan has only one equal in the writing of 20th century songs and that is Paul Simon.
dai says
Not really. Few Canadians, Mitchell, Young, Cohen, then there’s Springsteen, Ray Davies Lennon etc. But it’s all about individual taste
Baron Harkonnen says
Yes it’s all about taste @dai.
Just to set the record straight I’m a big fan of all the artists you’ve named. Have all the albums but may be 1 or 2 short in Joni’s case.
I’ll agree with Cohen being close to Dylan and Simon. Lennon doesn’t have as large a collection of great songs as those 3 I’ve just named. Neil, Ray and Bruce? Lots of classics but don’t come close to Lennon.
Those are my opinions and I doubt anyone else will agree.
Of all those named in the last 6 months I’ve listened to the music of Neil, John and Bruce the most!
dai says
Simon is definitely up there, I would also add Jeff Tweedy, but most wouldn’t I am sure. Poor Lennon only really had about 18 years to come up with classics and there was a 5 year break in there. Simon has a 60 odd year career, albeit not a particularly prolific one.
Hawkfall says
My votes for America’s greatest living popular musicians go to Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon.
retropath2 says
This might appeal to some:
https://www.covermesongs.com/2021/10/the-50-best-paul-simon-covers-ever.html
Edgar Davids says
Nice one retro. Never heard that Bowie cover of America before.
Some great Aretha footage there too
TrypF says
Paul Simon does a great lyrical trick on many of his songs, which is to take the narrative from a smaller, contained story and ramp up the emotional heft at the end and giving it a wider scope. He does it in You Can Call Me Al, Wristband, The Boxer, Mrs Robinson’s last chorus and, gorgeously, in America:
Cathy, I’m lost, I said, though I knew she was sleeping
I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why
One of the very greatest of songwriters.
Arthur Cowslip says
Yes, you’ve summed that up well, I know exactly what you mean.
Moose the Mooche says
I’ll post this as nobody else will and it’s as good an example of his genius as anything else.
Surprise should have been garlanded with five-star reviews and been his biggest hit since Chevy Chase donned that dodgy white jacket.
Instead a lot of reactionary boomers whinged about one of “their” artists having electronica on his record. Harrrrrumph.
PS. I don’t think this gets said often enough: what fuck-off beautiful voice.
dai says
I would say a limited vocalist, but a good one.
Still annoyed that I had a ticket to see S & G in 2009 and it never happened. Got to see him solo 2 years later, was excellent
Baron Harkonnen says
Great stuff Moose, I love that album.
Max the Dog says
Me too, Baron / Moose. That one went under the radar somewhat – a fine album.
Everygoodboydeservesfruita says
I think both Surprise is one of the greatest late career albums. It gives hope that artists don’t have a shelf life of 5-10 years but might grow and explore. I think the late career work of an artist is more interesting than the the breakthrough – how did they keep going, how did they deal with audience expectations, what happened when the audience disappeared? Simon has spoken about this quite a lot in interview. The focus on the first bit of the career is repetitive and irritating.
How Can You Live in the Northeast is a great piece of work and the arrangement is fascinating – a really great collaboration between different but similarly determined artists.
Garfunkel is a good singer but not as an interesting a singer as Simon. Little wonder that Simon didn’t want his voice ( let alone his opinion) on the great Hearts and Bones.
yorkio says
I can’t believe that no one has mentioned There Goes Rhymin’ Simon!
I’m with Edgar Davids though – although I’d cheerfully consign BoTW to Room 101, I’m not sure that anyone else had ever such a run of great songs as Paul Simon.
Max the Dog says
I have to say that BOTW might suffer from over-exposure, but that vocal performance by Artie is always mighty impressive. I never tire of it.
dai says
Live version of “For Emily …” on Greatest Hits surpasses it for me
Moose the Mooche says
Overs: “Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime is tapping on your shoulder”…
….spine duly tingled.
Arthur Cowslip says
There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, yes. Unbeatable in my opinion.
Max the Dog says
Let’s face it, @Edgar_Davids, all Paul Simon albums are worth checking out – even the much maligned ‘Songs From The Capeman’
But there are two that haven’t been mentioned yet that are my favourites:
‘So Beautiful Or So What’ – A relatively recent album from 2011 with some of his best late-career music. Dazzling Blue…
And then there’s Hearts and Bones. A friend of mine bought it for me for my 21st birthday when it was released in 1983. I was of course aware of Paul Simon and familiar with the S&G hits, but I was into louder bands at that stage and kept PS at arm’s length. Until I heard this album. Some of his best songs – Rene and Georgette…, Train In The Distance, Think Too Much (b) and the amazing title track…
Everygoodboydeservesfruita says
As above – its a drop dead great album and undiluted by time.
duco01 says
Re: Hearts and Bones
Yes, an outstanding album – and one of the worst-selling records of his career.
Hawkfall says
The first Paul Simon album I bought was Greatest Hits etc, which covers his mid 70s albums. It is one the great Sunday afternoon albums. Don’t believe me? Put it on this Sunday accompanied by a cup of coffee and biscuits of your choice. The rest of the world will go away for 40 minutes.
Blue Boy says
He is to Bob Dylan what Jane Austen is to Charles Dickens – both brilliant, but very different. One is , prolific, often slapdash and more concerned with the the overall impact than every detail – but utterly memorable, vivid, extraordinary. The other has a smaller body of work but one which has the precision of a rapier and an astonishing consistency.
Don’t think anyone has mentioned Still Crazy yet – an absolutely beautiful album and a brilliant set of songs.
Moose the Mooche says
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of boysenberry jam.
Junior Wells says
Been a huge fan for well, decades now But ! But I can never get over learning that he wrote So Long Frank Lloyd Wright as a statement of ending the relationship with Art and had Art perform on it unknowingly. (Garfunkel studied architecture)
I mean that is really really really nasty.
TrypF says
On the other hand, on the same album he wrote The Only Living Boy in New York, which starts with a supportive message to Garfunkel ‘I know your part’ll go fine’ – who was going to the Mediterranean to film Catch 22, leaving Simon alone (hence the title) to work on the album. I think that’s pretty decent of him.
dai says
Great songwriter, not a great person
Hamlet says
I’ll self-referentially nod back to my ‘celebrities who actually come across well’ thread. I read a biography of Paul Simon and rather disliked him by the end of it.
A wonderful talent, though. At his very best, I think he was one of the very best. I’m sure most people won’t agree, but I prefer him to Dylan.
SteveT says
I have all of Paul Simons albums and all of his Simon and Garfunkel albums.
I like all of them except Somgs from the Capeman which is largely his indulgence in doo wop an idiom I am not fond of.
I regard him as the best songwriter in modern history – better than Dylan or Cohen although both are brillant. There was mention sbove of Neil Young – a fabulous artist with a great back catalogue but his songwriting is no match for Simon, Dylan or Cohen – in fact nowhere near.
My favourite songs of his would be Ametican Tune, Still Crazy after all these years, The Boy in the bubble, Duncan, The Sounds of Silence – the list could go on and on. An amazing artist.
Junior Wells says
Simon wordsmiths and buffs a song to perfection. For Dylan near enough is good enough so long as he thinks the feel is right. I’d put laughing Len in the former and Shakey in the latter…. Sorry @Blue-Boy didn’t see your similar comment above.
MC Escher says
I agree Hamlet but I’m not sure why the Dylan comparison keeps coming up, apart from them both starting out at roughly the same time. He is obvioulsy better at writing tunes and for my money he is a far better lyricist.
Hamlet says
That’s a fair question, MC. I’d say it’s because Dylan always gets banded about as the ‘official’ greatest songwriter ever; such matters are, obviously, subjective. It’s an odd one with Dylan – I like him but don’t love him, and I’ve often found his lyrics a bit irritating. I’d define them as faux-poetic: a series of flowery words that are devoid of meaning, but seem to invite worshippers to drool over them. Cohen and Simon are, for me, far better lyricists, and in Simon’s case, a better melodist.
As ever, it’s important to point out that it’s just my opinion, and it might be because I’ve come to both Simon and Dylan retrospectively.
SteveT says
@Hamlet I agree with your opinion – as a melodist Simon is possibly in a league of his own.
dai says
McCartney is the greatest post war melodist for me, Brian Wilson would like to be considered too
Blue Boy says
‘faux-poetic: a series of flowery words that are devoid of meaning’ – I would counter that at his best Dylan uses images and language – as well as melody and performance – to create an overall impression which, for me anyway, is packed full of meaning. Take, say, Visions of Johanna. Those famous images – ‘jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule’ etc help create the sense of dislocation, longing, of being lost, of a hostile world out there which make the song so brilliant. Idiot Wind, Mississippi, Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues – so many others – do this too. At his worst, I agree with you – some of his more recent songs do feel like a bunch of often vivid but too random images and phrases which don’t add up to more than the sum of the parts. But at his best, he’s literally incomparable – there is no-one else who does what he does. Whish is also true of Paul Simon. We’re lucky to have them both.
Leffe Gin says
Re. Recorded down a well… one of the NY Columbia studios had an echo room lined with cement. The end of Bridge Over… has Hal Blaine in there hitting the floor with snow chains off his car. The main drums were recorded in a stairwell. I guess a craze for natural reverb combined with experimental techniques was rife at the time (Blaine did 35,000 or more sessions so he might be the common denominator?)
Moose the Mooche says
The BIGFUCKOFFDRUM in the chorus of The Boxer was recorded in an elevator shaft.
Leffe Gin says
No flies on this band. Second track is the best ever version of Still Crazy.
Leffe Gin says
The whole show is up on YouTube. It’s absolutely essential. You do get a bit of a hint of his prickly persona though.
Leffe Gin says
His hair is only 53.
Moose the Mooche says
42, by my reckoning – his ‘Highland Jig’ made its debut appearance in One Trick Pony.
Anybody ever watched it? Cracking album, of course. Late in the Evening: godlike.
Leffe Gin says
I think I saw it and wondered why he was pretending (badly) to be someone else. I would not call it acting.
Max the Dog says
I saw it once many years ago. I think I was impressed by Uncle Lou’s performance…
TrypF says
I love the apocryphal story about him doing Pebble Mill. The show’s producer tried to get his manager to get him to mime his new single outdoors.
Manager: I really think it’s a bit cold out there. I don’t want him to catch a cold at the beginning of a press trip.
Producer: But it’s a lovely day out there. A bit of a breeze, but the sun’s out…
Manager: I don’t think it’s something Paul would be happy with.
Producer: Everyone does it, all the greats. It’s just a bit of wind. I don’t know why this is such a…
Manager: It’s a wig! OK? Are you happy now? It’s a fucking wig!