I think Simon is a premier wordsmith although I agree with Leej about some of his earlier work. He writes in two ways.....sometimes they coincide and sometimes they don't.

He writes about and to phrases that he either sees somewhere or pop into his head. "René and Georgette Magritte with their Dog after the War" was a phrase he saw on the back of an old photograph and it stuck in his mind. He also writes not to tunes, but to rhythms. This started with him during "Hearts and Bones" although I think it had been coming along that way for a while. Virtually all of the Graceland stuff was written to a rhythm that he liked. That's why so many of the phases seem so one-off and even a bit disjointed. They all do however tell a story.

He can use words and phrases that are completely incongruous but fit perfectly within that song.

Spaw