What's your favourite Paul Simon song?

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: bobad
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 09:34 PM

Homeward Bound - It brings me back to a particular time and place in my younger days.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Mr Red
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 12:48 PM

Well, it would be Scarborough Fair - if he had written it - or arranged it. I tend not to have favourites - it is all music from my youth and that is always special.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,Katia
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 01:46 PM

Bright Eyes - got to be

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 01:56 PM

"Homeward Bound" is a great song. So is "Slip Slidin' Away".

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Janice in NJ
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 06:23 PM

Poem on the Underground Wall.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Terry K
Date: 17 Aug 06 - 01:19 AM

Guest Katia - Bright Eyes was written by the chief Womble, Mike Batt.

cheers, Terry

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Tootler
Date: 17 Aug 06 - 06:10 AM

And recorded by Art Garfunkel.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Hovering Bob
Date: 17 Aug 06 - 07:41 AM

Not my favourite, but the one that had the greatest instant impact was "I am a Rock." It was the song he started his first set with at Huntingdon Folk Club way back in 196?
It was the first time I ever went to a folk club, earth shattering!

BobH

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 17 Aug 06 - 08:27 AM

I used to play that song endlessly when I was a youndg alienated student. then my room mate said to me


This song.......that line about 'the slient shroud of snow'. You know what its like....? Its like a bloody Christmas card verse from a manic depressive!

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,katia
Date: 17 Aug 06 - 08:38 AM

Little joke!

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Aug 06 - 08:38 PM

"American Tune" surely rates - but isn't the melody traditional or something? Seems to me I've heard it somewhere else.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Jul 18 - 02:37 AM

Refresh

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: gillymor
Date: 16 Jul 18 - 12:30 PM

I still like to play "Kathy's Song" and "April Comes She Will" after all these decades and I like to listen to "Boy in a Bubble" among the later stuff.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,WNC Gal
Date: 16 Jul 18 - 12:53 PM

The tune used for a good bit of "American Tune" is quite similar to the hymn tune "Passion Chorale" composed by Hans Leo Hassler in 1601. These days the tune is most frequently associated with the hymn "O Sacred Head Now Wounded."

Was listening to Ronnie Norton's show at Bluegrasscountry.org earlier today, and he played several outstanding bluegrass covers of Simon songs, including Emmylou Harris's lovely version of "The Boxer." Ronnie mentioned having attended the Paul Simon/James Taylor/Bonnie Raitt show in Dublin last week.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Tony Rees
Date: 16 Jul 18 - 05:48 PM

Far too many great songs to pick a favourite, but I have a soft spot for (most of) his least commercially successful albums i.e. "One Trick Pony" and "Hearts and Bones". Both title tracks are spot on in my humble opinion. And the opening guitar lick in E on "Hearts and Bones" is simply a thing of beauty.

Subject: Lyr Add: JONAH (Paul Simon)
From: Tony Rees
Date: 16 Jul 18 - 06:37 PM

Lyrics to "Jonah" ... always seem so evocative - especially with the wistful melody.

Regards - Tony

JONAH
(Paul Simon)
As recorded by Paul Simon on "One Trick Pony" (1980)

Half an hour; change your strings and tune up
Sizing the room up
Checking the bar
Local girls' unspoken conversation
Misinformation
Plays guitar

They say Jonah he was swallowed by a whale
But I say there's no truth to that tale
I know Jonah he was swallowed by a song

No one gives their dreams away too lightly
They hold them tightly
Warm against cold
One more year of traveling ‘round this circuit
Then you can work it
Into gold

They say Jonah he was swallowed by a whale
But I say there's no truth to that tale
I know Jonah He was swallowed by a song

Here's to all the boys who came along
Carrying soft guitars in cardboard cases
All night long
And do you wonder where those boys have gone?
Do you wonder where those boys have gone?

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Tony Rees
Date: 16 Jul 18 - 07:51 PM

Further to the above lyric and song title, it helps to know (as I did not at first) that the "Jonah" of the song is the protagonist - a somewhat washed up musician - in Paul Simon's (sole?) movie "One Trick Pony", of which the album is notionally the soundtrack. The the "Jonah" references suddenly make sense...

Regards - Tony

Subject: ADD: Grounds for Violence (Sound of Silence parody
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Apr 22 - 03:12 AM

Elizabeth Block sent a Canadian parody of Sound of Silence.

Grounds for Violence
With apologies to Simon & Garfunkel

Hello winter, my old friend
I don't believe you'll ever end
Because the snowbanks are still towering
And my despair is overpowering
A ridge of ice has just encrusted my whole lane
It's quite insane
These are the grounds for violence

On slippery streets I try to walk
I cannot make it round the block
Because a water main has snapped again
My gate can't open; it has frozen in
I cannot stand the mere idea of April snow
It has to go
These are the grounds for violence

And when I try to take the bus
I see the scars on all of us
No one talking, never mind speaking
Without relief, people just freaking
Reporters ruining songs their voices can not sing
It's now a thing
These are the grounds for violence

I want tomatoes in my yard
Right now the ground is really hard
I want to sit outside on patios
I want to lose my winter fat, it's gross
But my wishes do not hasten warmer air
Life isn't fair
These are the grounds for violence

-- Bartley Kives, reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press (Winnipeg aka Winterpeg)

---

SOUND OF SILENCE (DT Lyrics)
(Paul Simon)

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more,
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no-one dare,
Disturb the sounds of silence

Fools said I "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows."
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon God they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said
"The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and
tenement halls."
And whispered in the sounds of silence.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Words and music by Paul Simon. Copyright 1964 and 1965 by
Charing Cross Music.

@political
filename[ SOUNDSIL
DC

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,jondoe
Date: 22 Apr 22 - 09:01 AM

Which is your favorite child, or pet?
I'd say American Tune and Armistice Day have a special place. But he's like Joni Mitchell. There are way too many to mention. He had a song in Shampoo, where Warren Beatty is screwing Julie Christie in the pool house - and his GF happens to see it. A lyric-less version of Silent Eyes. Such a moving scene - and movie!
And if we include his wife, I'd add Steve Martin's Pretty Little One!

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 22 Apr 22 - 01:17 PM

For me, the song "The Dangling Conversation" because it reflects the ennui of the privileged class of young college students who grew up with everything given to them.

It highlights just how spoiled Americans and Brits have become with material possessions and part of the dubious "meritocracy" so revered among academics and upper classes.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Sol
Date: 22 Apr 22 - 07:36 PM

Like with a lot of great artists, there are many great songs to choose from however, there's always one special song that you consider your own personal favourite because it wasn't 'a biggie'. With regards to Paul Simon, it has to be "Kathy's Song" for me. Beautifully composed, sung and played, based on a real person. It's just perfection.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST, Lin
Date: 23 Apr 22 - 04:56 AM

By far it is "Kathy's Song." I just love this song so much.
I could listen to it over and over again and never tire of hearing it.

I also enjoy hearing some of the covers on YouTube just to hear how other people sing it. There are some pretty good covers of this song.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 23 Apr 22 - 06:53 AM

The Obvious Child - I am a fan of Olodum

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: voyager
Date: 24 Apr 22 - 03:01 PM

It's a tie for me -

#1 - The Sound of Silence performed w/Art at Monterey Pop Festival ('67) Sound of Silence

#1 - Graceland (the whole album/movie)

#1 - The Boxer

and this is my shortlist.

Paul Simon - American Musician extraordinaire voyager

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,Malcolm Storey
Date: 26 Apr 22 - 06:20 PM

Too many to say

Subject: ADD: A Most Peculiar Man (Paul Simon)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Jan 24 - 07:08 PM

Not my absolute favorite, but one of many favorites.

A MOST PECULIAR MAN
(Paul Simon)

He was a most peculiar man
That's what Mrs. Reardon says, and she should know
She lived upstairs from him
She said he was a most peculiar man

He was a most peculiar man
He lived all alone within a house
Within a room, within himself
A most peculiar man

He had no friends, he seldom spoke
And no one in turn ever spoke to him
'Cause he wasn't friendly and he didn't care
And he wasn't like them
Oh, no, he was a most peculiar man

He died last Saturday
He turned on the gas and he went to sleep
With the windows closed so he'd never wake up
To his silent world and his tiny room
And Mrs. Reardon says he has a brother somewhere
Who should be notified soon
And all the people said, "What a shame that he's dead
But wasn't he a most peculiar man?"

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Paul Simon
A Most Peculiar Man lyrics © Sony/atv Songs Llc

From S&G Sounds of Silence album:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhT97UIOaUs

Paul Simon Solo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpJo7LSSUyU

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: gillymor
Date: 23 Jan 24 - 08:13 PM

I've grown to appreciate Red Rubber Ball.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: robomatic
Date: 23 Jan 24 - 11:47 PM

I find myself often singing (trying to sing) "American Tune".

Subject: Lyr Add: WRISTBAND (Paul Simon)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Jan 24 - 05:54 PM

Considering his whole long career, I’d have to say The Boxer or maybe Bridge Over Troubled Water. Some lighter ones I like are: Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, Loves Me Like a Rock, and Cecilia. But the one I’m grooving on lately is this one. It’s about as political as Simon ever gets:


WRISTBAND
As recorded by Paul Simon on “Stranger to Stranger” (2016)

VERSE 1: I stepped outside the backstage door to breathe some nicotine
And maybe check my mailbox, see if I can read the screen;
Then I heard a click, the stage door lock, I knew just what that meant:
I'm gonna have to walk around the block if I wanna get in.

CHORUS 1: Wristband, my man, you've got to have a wristband.
If you don't have a wristband, my man, you don't get through the door.
Wristband, my man, you've got to have a wristband.
And if you don't have a wristband, my man, you don't get through the door.

VERSE 2: I can't explain it; I don't know why my heart beats like a fist
When I meet some dude with an attitude saying: "Hey, you can't do that, or this,"
And the man was large, a well-dressed six-foot-eight,
And he's acting like Saint Peter standing guard at the Pearly—

CHORUS 2: Wristband, my man, you've got to have a wristband.
If you don't have a wristband, you don't get through the door.
And I said: "Wristband? I don't need a wristband!
My axe is on the bandstand! My band is on the floor!"

BRIDGE: I mean it's just...
[Scat] (Wristband)
[Scat] (Wristband) [etc.]

VERSE 3: The riots started slowly with the homeless and the lowly.
Then they spread into the heartland towns that never get a wristband—
Kids that can't afford the cool brand, whose anger is a shorthand
For “You'll never get a wristband,”
And if you don't have a wristband, then you can't get through the door.
No, you can't get through the door.
No, you can't get through the door.
Say, you can't get through the door, no.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,jOhn
Date: 25 Jan 24 - 04:09 PM

Some good songs here.
Thought I recognised this thread, I started it 22 years ago!

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 25 Jan 24 - 09:25 PM

Now, Kodachrome.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 26 Jan 24 - 02:49 PM

Good to see you sir John. How are you?

Diamonds on the souls of my shoes

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: gillymor
Date: 26 Jan 24 - 04:19 PM

and The Boy in the Bubble, also off Graceland.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Sol
Date: 26 Jan 24 - 04:37 PM

This is probably common knowledge however, here we go.

Paul Simon asked Linda Ronstadt what were her earliest childhood memories. She replied she remembered lying in her crib in Tuscon, Arizona and hearing the Mission bells ringing.
Hence ....

      
       In early memory
       Mission music
       Was ringing 'round my nursery door
       I said take this child, Lord
       From Tucson, Arizona
       Give her the wings to fly through harmony
       And she won't bother you no more

(From "Under African Skies")

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Neil D
Date: 29 Jan 24 - 07:48 PM

Any song that features bass player, Bakithi Kumalo.