What's your favourite Paul Simon song?

Subject: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 28 Jul 02 - 11:36 PM

I like Still Crazy after All These Years, Hearts and Bones & Graceland.

Subject: RE: BS: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 28 Jul 02 - 11:39 PM

The Sound of Sirens

Subject: RE: BS: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,BO in KY
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 12:22 AM

So hard to choose ... I would have to say anything off of "Rhythm of the Saints", probably one of the best underrated albums ever, but if forced, "Further to Fly" gets me every time ....

Subject: :Add: UNDER AFRICAN SKIES / AMERICAN TUNE (Simon)
From: catspaw49
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 01:50 AM

Tough choices.........

UNDER AFRICAN SKIES
Paul Simon


        Joseph's face was black as the night
        The pale yellow moon shone in his eyes
        His path was marked
        By the stars in the Southern Hemisphere
        And he walked the length of his days
        Under African Skies

        D - G - / D - A - // repeat throughout

C:        This is the story of how we begin to remember
        This is the powerful pulsing of love in the vein
        After the dream of falling and calling your name out
        These are the roots of rhythm
        And the roots of rhythm remain

        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

C:        This is the story of how we begin to remember
        This is the powerful pulsing of love in the vein
        After the dream of falling and calling your name out
        These are the roots of rhythm
        And the roots of rhythm remain

B:        Ba umba umba umba hey - hey - hey ...

        Joseph's face was black as the night
        The pale yellow moon shone in his eyes
        His path was marked
        By the stars in the Southern Hemisphere
        And he walked the length of his days
        Under African Skies

OR MAYBE.................

AMERICAN TUNE
Words and Music by Paul Simon

Many's the time I've been mistaken
And many times confused.
Yes, and I've often felt forsaken
And certainly misused.
Oh, but I'm all right, I'm alright,
I'm just weary to my bones,
Still you don't expect to be bright and bon vivant
So far away from home,
So far away from home.

I don't know a soul who's not been battered,
I don't have a friend who feels at ease,
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
Or driven to its knees.
Oh, but it's alright, it's alright,
For we lived so well so long,
Still, when I think of the road we're trav'ling on,
I wonder what's gone wrong,
I can't help it, I wonder what's gone wrong.

And I dreamed I was dying.
I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me,
Smiled reassuringly.
And I dreamed I was flying,
And high up above my eyes could clearly see
The Status of Liberty,
Sailing away to sea,
And I dreamed I was flying.

We come on the ship they call the Mayflower,
We come on the ship that sailed the moon.
We come in the age's most uncertain hours
And sing an American Tune.
Oh, and it's alright, it's alright, it's alright.
You can't be forever blessed.
Still tomorrow's goin' to be another working day,
And I'm trying to get some rest,
That's all I'm trying, to get some rest.

Subject: RE: BS: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 01:57 AM

Still Crazy after All These Years. It can be interpreted in several ways.... it just suits me down to the ground on many of them.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: C-flat
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 02:50 AM

Thanks, Catspaw, I was just trying to remember the title of "Under African Skies" when I read your post. I love the opening harmonies to that song.
I remember seeing a documentary about the making of the Graceland album which showed Simon discussing the writing and recording process. Everything was worked and re-worked and painstakingly gone over. The guy is such a perfectionist, not just about the musical content or the lyrical sentiment but the actual sound of every word and its relationship with the following words.
That the man's a genius is generally accepted, but he must be hell to work with!

Subject: RE: BS: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Benjamin
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 03:18 AM

This is a hard question. All and all, I would have to say that Paul Simon is my favorite songwriter/musician.

I've always loved his first album (with Art). Bridge Over Troubled Water is a great song. I Know What I Know or The Boy in the Bubble from Graceland. Spirit Voices is probably one of his most underrated songs.

Another noble thing he did was introduce Bakithi Khumalo's bass playing to the world. That guy is amazing!

Subject: RE: BS: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 03:45 AM

As usual, Spaw has beaten me to it.

I think "American Tune" is one of the truly great songs, and it will always remain a mystery to me why Paul Simon chose to sing "The Boxer" at that 9/11 memorial concert rather than "American Tune", which would have been the perfect anthem for the occasion.

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 07:36 AM

Hard choice, indeed. It changes, depending on what CD I pull out. Kinda like the playground ritual of figuring out who is your First Best Friend, Second Best Friend and Third Best Friend. Some favorites that come to mind are Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, (Everybody Loves the Sound of a) Train in the Distance (true words were never spoken), and Still Crazy after All These Years. Under African Skies is in there, too. I had the great pleasure of hearing Paul with musicians from both the Graceland and Rhythm Of The Spirit albums, including Ladysmith Black Mombazo, and a surprise guest appearance by Art Garfunkel seven or eight years ago in New York City. It was certainly the greatest concert I've ever been to.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: dwditty
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 08:11 AM

Lord help me if I ever have to sit through another Paul Simon song....j/k. John Forster does a hilarious spoof of Simon called "Fusion" on his Entering Marion disc. It has become my favorite "Simon" song.

dw

Subject: RE: BS: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: bernil
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 08:19 AM

I haven't heard everything but I do love what I've heard. The only records I have are Greatest Hits and the Rhythm of the Saints. I also have some old hits recorded on cassette. Bridge over Troubled Water and The Boxer are some of the wonderful old songs, and Obvious Child is one of the newer ones that I like. I wonder how many records he has made... I'd like to hear everything even if I have his Greatest Hits!

Berit

Subject: RE: BS: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: SharonA
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 09:28 AM

"American Tune" is my fave, too!

Subject: RE: BS: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Justa Picker
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 11:03 AM

I'd think the 2 best songs Simon has written are Bridge Over Troubled Water and 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover.

Subject: RE: BS: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 11:51 AM

Was a sunny day
Not a cloud was in the sky
Not a negative word was heard
From the people passing by
Twas a sunny day
All the birdies in the trees
And the radio singing songs
All the favorite melodies...

Subject: Lyr Add: KATHY'S SONG (Paul Simon)
From: allanwill
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 11:57 AM

KATHY'S SONG
(Paul Simon)

I hear the drizzle of the rain,
like a memory it falls,
soft and warm, continuing,
tapping on my roof and walls.

And from the shelter of my mind,
through the window of my eyes
I gaze beyond the rain-drenched streets,
to England where my heart lies.

My mind's distracted and diffused,
my thoughts are many miles away.
They lie with you when you're asleep,
and kiss you when you start your day.

And a song I was writing is left undone.
I don't know why I spend my time
writing songs I can't believe
with words that tear and strain to rhyme.

And so you see I have come to doubt
all that I once held as true.
I stand alone without beliefs.
The only truth I know is you.

And as I watch the drops of rain
weave their weary paths and die
I know that I am like the rain.
There but for the grace of you go I.

Subject: RE: BS: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: M.Ted
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 12:21 PM

I hadn't thought of Kathy's Song, but I listened to it a lot when I was young, and it still gets to me.

I love to hear "Red Rubber Ball", such a glib combination of wit and pain, though I understand Simon hates the song--and I agree that "The Boxer" was a bizarre choice--There are so many of his songs that would have worked better--people have mentioned that "Bridge Over Troubled Water" would have been a compelling choice, but "The Sound of Silence" would have been a good choice--"the vision that was planted in my brain still remains"--

Subject: RE: BS: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: kendall
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 12:27 PM

Tossup between The Sound of Silence and The Boxer.

Subject: RE: BS: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 12:27 PM

America,

I've got some real estate here in my bag.

Subject: RE: BS: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 02:24 PM

Paul Simon's a darn good songwriter, still I find him a little too "delicate" sometimes...it depends.

I'll go for "Kathy's Song" too. I also really like "The Boxer" and "Mrs Robinson" and "Still Crazy after All These Years". Most of the songs on "Graceland" are marvelous. I'm not too familiar with "Rythm of the Saints".

- LH

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: RolyH
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 05:07 PM

Its got to be America.

Many years ago on a long boring journey from NY to Miami on a Greyhound bus the passengers took turns to go up front and sing a song.On one of my few public appearances I sang the song which at the time seemed appropiate.

(are there still Greyhound buses?)

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Steve-o
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 05:58 PM

I'll take "St. Judy's Comet"....of all the songs written by rock stars about their brand new children (some of which are truly inspired), that is the coolest one. For the record, I think Paul HAD a great songwriting gift, but now it's gone- just take a listen to his recent album. He's mellowed himself into nothingness. By the way, "'The Boxer' was a bizarre choice" for the concert? It's a perfect choice- it's all about tough New Yorkers.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: M.Ted
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 06:07 PM

No one knew how to react to "The Boxer" until Lorne Michaels explained it, later in the week--with the right song, it would have become one of those "defining moments in television" that people remember forever--as it was, it was all a bit awkward--

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 06:12 PM

That is certainly how it came across, M.Ted, not only to me, but to several other (American) people with whom I spoke afterwards.

Murray

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: greg stephens
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 06:57 PM

As a 60's person, things were pretty tribal. You liked the Stones or the Beatles, but not both. Likewise Bob Dylan and Paul Simon. Me, I liked Bob Dylan, Paul Simon was a soft cissie. So what a pleasure was waiting for me years later when I discovered the boy anew and learned to love him to bits. Of his many wonderful songs, let me purely for Mudcat reasons nominate "Mrs Robinson".
(1) It's a good song
(2) For people who like discussing old movies, it's great that bit when Dustin Hoffman drives over the bridge.
(3) For musicians, that chord that starts that sequence off is brilliant.
(4) For old lechers, it reminds you of Ann Bancroft

For nerds, it lets you say "He's driving the WRONG WAY over the bridge"

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: drummergirl
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 08:27 PM

Anything from Graceland - in particular "You Can Call Me Al".

My best friend and I were singing it all the time when we were in Ireland two years ago. Then when I was there this summer, the TV kept playing commercials for a special concert of Simon and Van Morrison and the Fun Loving Criminals, and it made me really miss her.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: kendall
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 10:28 PM

Paul Simon may have been a sissy, but he wrote his own songs!

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 12:43 AM

kendall - Yeah....and???

(I know, you're just trying to get a rise out of us Dylan fans. Don't forget, Paul Simon stole "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme" from a fellow songwriter...so I've heard.)

- LH

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Benjamin
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 01:32 AM

LH, the story is: that song is a traditional song. Apparently, Dylan's Girl of the North Country is pretty much the same song (so I'm told).

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Wincing Devil
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 02:20 AM

Bookends
American Tune
Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes

I particularly thank him for introducing me to Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 10:48 AM

I like most of his songs, but two questions remain: Why should a sloth be sympathetic (sympathetic ai's)? Is Rosie the queen of Corona male or female?

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 03:02 PM

Benjamin - Yeah, the song is trad...it was the particular arrangement of it that Paul Simon "borrowed" from some musical friend (whose name I can't recall)...just as Dylan did with Dave Van Ronk's "House of the Rising Sun".

- LH

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 03:26 PM

LH-I believe the name you can't recall is Martin Carthy.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: RolyH
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 03:30 PM

Paul Simon nicked the arrangement of Scarborough Fair from Martin Carthy. Carthy's main beef was that Simon didn't credit "trad arr"
They kissed and made up and sang the song together last year

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: mousethief
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 03:42 PM

Think Too Much (the slower one -- can't remember if it's 'a' or 'b').

After that, anything on Rhythm of the Saints.

Alex

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Greenbeer
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 07:54 PM

mine is bookends

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Greenbeer
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 08:12 PM

oh and i forgot another one: "The Only Living Boy in New York"

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,Frogmore
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 11:40 PM

Many. How 'bout "(Can't Get Used to) Something So Right."?

Let's hear it for Paul, a great American songwriter.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,Don
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 03:01 PM

I'm not sure what my favorite Paul Simon SONG is, but I can tell you my favorite LINE from a Paul Simon song:

"My father was a fisherman, my mother was a fisherman's friend"

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 03:05 PM

there is no such thing

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Dave & Julie
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 04:35 PM

PS's songwriting has constantly improved but I still get a rare buzz from the "raw edge" of his very first solo album "The Paul Simon Song Book". Choose any from "He Was My Brother", "A Church Is Burning", "I Am a Rock", "A Most Peculiar Man", "Leaves That Are Green", "Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall". I still have the vinyl - unsophisticated, magical stuff.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 05:39 PM

My favourite Paul Simon song is "The Sound of Silence" but my favourite line must be "and an island never cries". As a child my brother and I would listen to the song "I Am a Rock" on long journeys.

Cat

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,Renata
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 06:22 PM

It's got to be "America" - emigrating from Europe in the 70's, and on my way to "look for America" myself then, this one still gets me every time....

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Deda
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 09:04 PM

I can't believe no one has mentioned Lincoln Duncan. Paul Simon has always been one of my favorite songwriters, although I agree, he's probably very demanding to work with. I just never get tired of him. I loved his earliest solo stuff, from Rhymin' Simon -- Papa Hobo. Also One Trick Pony. I loved all his stuff from the "Graduate" era, too. I still do. I can't think of any of his work that I don't really admire and enjoy terrifically.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 09:51 PM

Homeward Bound, is mine, mainly because I have never worked out that starting guitar lick. I'm sure a 'tuning' was involved.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,Bo in KY
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 11:59 PM

Just have to throw in a few more:

from the "Hearts & Bones" album, "René and Georgette Magritte with their Dog after the War" is sonically surreal, psychedelic, and knocks me out every time:

"with all of the mannequins dressed in the style
that brought tears to their immigrant eyes
just like the Penguins, the Moonglows, the Orioles
and the 5 Satins
The deep forbidden music they've been longing for ..."

And yes, the new album is fairly lame in comparison, but it has its moments:
This is from "Hurricane Eye":

"I'll be away for a long time, so here's how the story goes:
There once was a woman who lived in a shoe
she was baking a cinnamon pie
she fell asleep in a washing machine
and woke up in a hurricane eye..."

OK, so it doesn't work all that well as poetry. But the beat builds and modulates and grows on you!

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,Frogmore
Date: 01 Aug 02 - 12:02 AM

To me, Paul Simon is America's Lennon/McCartney in terms of diversity, intelligence, and good ol' soul. Now Bob Dylan...that's a whole 'nother thing. And Mississippi John, and Hoagy, and Mose, and ....... Goodnight y'all.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Sir Roger de Beverley
Date: 01 Aug 02 - 10:16 AM

Dave & Julie

I too have a vinyl copy of the PS Songbook that he signed for us when stopping over after playing the Grimsby Folk Club (UK) just before S&G hit the charts with The Sound of Silence.

Since it was deleted many years ago and has never been transferred to CD (apart from a couple of tracks on a compilation) I guess that it is pretty valuable - not that I'd sell it.

R

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,Lori
Date: 01 Aug 02 - 11:58 AM

Poem On an Underground Wall is my favorite Paul Simon song. I also like the poem itself. The last time I looked it was still there, scribbled on the advertising at the Russell Square station. "...a single word his poem comprising, four letters..."

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 01 Aug 02 - 01:13 PM

I like Paul's stuff, but much of his early work was pretty sophomoric. Take his line from The Dangling Conversation

And you read your Emily Dickinson
And I my Robert Frost

Tell me that doesn't sound like the kind of pretentious crap an English Major at NYU would write.

I like Celia a lot, as well as Bridge Over Troubled Water, and Still Crazy after All These Years. And America? A little too much touching angst in the line "Cathy, I whispered 'I'm lost', though I knew she was sleeping". Have to admit I fell for that kind of thing when I was, myself, a college lad.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: John Hardly
Date: 01 Aug 02 - 02:41 PM

Possibly One Trick Pony. I saw Peter Mulvey in a house concert cover this song and it was stunning. Another fave is Baby Driver. I can't hear it and not smile. Love the two "America's" too.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: catspaw49
Date: 01 Aug 02 - 03:09 PM

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

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: YOR
Date: 01 Aug 02 - 07:31 PM

"Still Horney After All These Years"

"Still Lazy After All These Years"

OK, back on track "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by far.

Roy

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Aug 02 - 09:23 PM

Why has no-one mentioned '50 ways to leave your lover'. Guess all Mudcatters are happy with their partners....*grin*

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: John Hardly
Date: 01 Aug 02 - 09:56 PM

Lonesome EJ,

Point taken. Maybe it sounds sophomoric, but as a guy too shy to write for fear of criticism, I gotta ask....

....so what should they have been reading?

Catspaw,

I guess I saw the same interview -- I was fascinated to hear him say he wrote to rhythms. so much of what he writes seems to stand well on its own, so it'd be kinda easy to assume that the words come first to him. Not so. Of course, that's also one reason his stuff holds up well -- or can make it in the pop market.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Dagmar
Date: 02 Aug 02 - 03:38 AM

Well...for me it is "Lincoln Duncan and that exactly for the following reason which I could not have phrased better than you C Flat and so I copied it : "The guy is such a perfectionist, not just about the musical content or the lyrical sentiment but the actual sound of every word and it's relationship with the following words."

Guest DON !!! this is the song you mean by the way and funny enough for me it was the same as for you...this line stayed with me for many years and i did not know from which song. but thanks to the mudcatters I was told that this line is the first line of the second verse of "Lincoln Duncan"..

I do not know what it is with this song and I dont care about the actual meaning of the words but it feels as if could not have ever choosen other words for this particular melody...its sound and solid and not one millimeter not "fitting" together in soudn and words..amazing!

Dagmar

Anyone "knows" why some songlines stay with us and speak to us because of their match of melody and words so long ..why some speak to some and others speak to others ? What EXACTLY is going on there?

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Aug 02 - 06:26 AM

How the Heart Approaches What it Yearns
from the One Trick Pony album

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 25 Nov 02 - 08:45 AM

thanks for replying everybody, anyone else want to mention theirs.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,boromir
Date: 25 Nov 02 - 10:20 AM

Fog rollin' in off the East River Bank

Like a shroud it covers Bleecker Street

Fills the alleys where men sleep

Hides the shepherd from the sheep

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: TIA
Date: 25 Nov 02 - 10:32 AM

Kodachrome

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,Geordie
Date: 25 Nov 02 - 10:34 AM

I have always thought Paul Simon was a bit twee as a songwriter. However, he does have flashes of pure brilliance. I love the Graceland Album; some of my other favourites are Lincoln Duncan; René and Georgette Magritte with their Dog after the War; and Train in the Distance.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 25 Nov 02 - 12:23 PM

I'm only sort of semi-impressed by Paul Simon's songwriting, but sometimes he's very good at turning a phrase. "The Sound of Silence" was a brilliant song, perfect for the time when it was released. "The Boxer" is pretty neat...some say it's about Dylan...I have no opinion on that. The parody he did of Dylan's electric style was a refreshing change, quite enjoyable even when not seen as a parody.

- LH

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Nov 02 - 01:04 PM

Kodachrome, Boy in a bubble, and 50 ways to leave your lover- I dont know why I just find myself singing them

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: 53
Date: 25 Nov 02 - 01:48 PM

Mrs. Robinson, I am a rock,

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Cluin
Date: 25 Nov 02 - 02:32 PM

That old brain-worm, "Me & Julio".

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 09:57 AM

Johnny Cash does a heartfelt version of Bridge Over Troubled Water on his new CD.

My favorite Paul Simon song is American Tune. A brilliant song that captures the essence of ordinary people living the American dream.

I also love the original, all-acoustic version of The Sound of Silence from the first Simon & Garfunkel LP.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,Stringman.
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 10:35 AM

My thanks To Dave&Julie.I thought "most Perculiar man" was great.
So I not so soft. :)

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Merritt
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 11:00 AM

My favorite these days is "Song for the Asking."

I used to play in an instrumental duo that covered pop, swing, celtic, hymns, etc. tunes. One revelation about Simon's music for me was that few of his tunes had the structure and melody to stand on their own musically, IMHO of course. Beatles, Everly Brothers, in cotrast, offered a lot more to work with.

- Merritt


"Only that day dawns to which we are awake." - H.D. Thoreau

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From:
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 11:39 AM

he's so past his prime its not even funny. He really ought to give up music making altogether.

oh yeah-my favorite song is heartspark dollarsign by everclear

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,daylia
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 01:19 PM

When I was a little girl, and the devil would call my name, I'd call out "Who do - who do your think you're foolin'...."

Still Love it Like a Rock!

Later, when I became a not-so-little girl, my favourite changed to "I Am a Rock". Maybe I've got this thing about rocks ...

And that line at the end of 'Duncan' still gives me goosebumps -

                   "I was playin' my guitar
                   Lyin' underneath the stars
                   Just thankin' the Lord for my fingers
                   For my fingers ... "

Is the world a better place for having known the work of Paul Simon's fingers? I think so!!!

- daylia

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 21 Feb 05 - 06:57 PM

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,Guest, Sandra
Date: 21 Feb 05 - 09:53 PM

How about Take Me To The Mardi Gras...? Such a great feel to this song. And, I like the snappy Late In The Evening......and all the music seeping throuuuugh!

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Justa Picker
Date: 21 Feb 05 - 09:55 PM

I think "Bridge Over Troubled Water" is the best song he's ever written - especially recorded Gospel versions by other vocalists.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: number 6
Date: 21 Feb 05 - 10:24 PM

Old Friends

sIx

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: cptsnapper
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 04:22 AM

I Do It For your Love, Train In The Distance, Father & Daughter

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Cluin
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 04:33 AM

I like "Call Me Al", mainly for the whistle solo in it.

"Me and Julio" is pretty good too.

But I guess my favourite would have to be "Kodachrome".

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 12:28 PM

Yes indeed thank you Paul for all that music. there was hardly anything of it that I didn't love - hardly any song that doesn't evoke memories and longings for times and things that might have been.

Best Paul memories: struggling with staccato am/Bm chord change in I am a rock. January '65. A friend had seen him play at Les Cousins and bought the album.

My first stereo system (with teak needles as Woody Allen jibed!) and the cars whizzing around the room in Baby Driver.

A million pub gigs with The Boxer to keep you company.

That band in One Trick Pony with Steve Gadd etc.

well you know it all, it was your lives as well.....


al the best

big al

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: dwditty
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 12:32 PM

Well, never did like Paul Simon much...but man, I love John Forster's portrayal of Paul ripping off cultural music of all kinds in his (Forster's) song, "Fusion."

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: stevi
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 01:03 PM

Duncan
He Was My Brother
Kathy's Song---- to start with the man's magic

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 07:22 PM

Paul Simon has written and performed so many great songs, and delivered them to us in such a way as they have imprinted themselves in our minds, and several generations relate to them. Very few people have been able to have this lasting effect. He certainly moved with the times and managed to re-invent himself and move very successfully from a folk sound to a new african sound which was unique to the 'western'music scene at the time. I have never heard a paul simon song or a S/G song performed by anyone else that comes close to them. Complete proffessional; complete singer; complete entertainer....far too fifficult to just pick one favourite song... the more I think about it the harder the task becomes.

P S I'm a fan.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Genie
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 07:30 PM

Gee, Paul wrote so many great songs (50 Ways To Leave Your Lover, The Boxer, The Sound of Silence, Under African Skies, etc., etc.) ...

but Bridge Over Troubled Water -- hands down! (IMNSHO)

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Genie
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 07:42 PM

Quote (JustaPicker):"I think "Bridge Over Troubled Water" is the best song he's ever written - especially recorded Gospel versions by other vocalists."

Yeah, that.

I love S&G's original version, but there are other versions (e.g., Aretha Franklin, Clay Aiken) that I love just as much. To me, that's a mark of a great SONG - as opposed to a great performance or arrangement. A great song can be remade in many ways and still sound great!

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: bflat
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 09:22 PM

I like a lot of his songs. First learned to play 59th Street Bridge Song. I like Homeward Bound; Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover and The Sound of Silence. He may have conscripted songs but he made them his uniquely.

Ellen

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Auggie
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 11:12 PM

Kathy's Song
Cloudy
Old Friends
Something So Right


Prior to this lifetime
I (too)surely was a tailor...
I own the tailor's face and hands.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 23 Feb 05 - 06:34 AM

Ace of Spades.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Ross
Date: 23 Feb 05 - 09:12 AM

We are having a Paul Simon night on the 7th March 2005

At the Bull ph in Barton-Le-Clay, Bedfordshire

Singaround format - all welcome

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: just john
Date: 23 Feb 05 - 09:16 AM

So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright

Architects may come and architects may go and never change your point of view.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,Sorethroat
Date: 23 Feb 05 - 09:46 AM

Way back on this thread in 02 someone mentioned the line "My father was a fisherman, my mother was a fisherman's friend"
to which another replied, 'There is no such thing!'
Well, there certainly IS - I'm suckin' on one right now.
Makin' me feel much better too.
For Stateside viewers benefit (and elsewhere), fear not! It's a brand name for a throat remedy over here in the UK.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Crystal
Date: 23 Feb 05 - 09:52 AM

50 ways to leave your lover!

or any spoof done by the muppets!

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Genie
Date: 23 Feb 05 - 03:30 PM

LOL, Sorethroat!

Fear not. We in the states also love to pop a Fisherman's Friend in our mouths PRN.

§:-D

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 23 Feb 05 - 03:38 PM

Any of his songs with African influence.....great!
Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 24 Feb 05 - 10:49 AM

Any song that gets some mileage out of sitting on a Widnes station platform has got to be an award winner

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: wanderhope
Date: 24 Feb 05 - 11:50 AM

One thing I remember was when he got the Grammy for Album of the Year (for "Graceland") and his acceptance speech was, "I want to thank Stevie Wonder for not recording anything this year."

Also -- my favorite of the many I love to sing -- Graceland, itself. Especially since Simon said, "It's not about Elvis.'

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Terry Allan Hall
Date: 24 Feb 05 - 07:03 PM

Too many to choose from, but "Duncan", "Hazy Shade Of Winter", "America", and "Hobo's Blues" (his instrumental duet/jam with Stephane Grapelli on "Paul Simon") always kill me!

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Haruo
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 04:59 PM

Only one I actually have the lyrics to in Esperanto is "The Sound of Silence":

La Son' Silenta
Translated by Roel Haveman

Kara nokto, venis mi
Por paroli plu kun vi
Ĉar vizio bildojn formis,
Lasis semojn dum mi dormis.
Kaj la vizio,
Enplantita en la kor'
Ne iras for
De la son' silenta.

Ensonĝe solas la anim'
Dum vagas mi sur s^tonpavim'
Ĉe bril' de stratlanterna aŭreol'
Mi froste ŝovas jakon al la kol'
Dum l' okulojn
Trafpikas neona fulm'
Tra la mallum',
Tra la son' silenta

En nuda lumo vidas mi
Dek mil homojn, eble pli.
Dum parolo diro mankas.
Dum aŭdad' aŭskulto haltas.
Iliajn versojn
Voĉoj certe kantos ne,
Kuraĝas ne
Pro la son' silenta.

"Stultuloj, vi ne scias ke
Silent' kancere kreskas se
Miajn manojn vi neglektas,
Miajn vortojn ne respektas."
Sed forfluas
Silente mia vort',
Hm hm hm hm,
Drona sort'
Silenta

Klino, preĝo, eu(fori'
Por memkreita neondi'.
La signo fulmas nun averton
Per vortoj kiuj spiras certon
Kaj ĝi diras ke
La vortojn profetajn
Vi trovos sur metroa mur'
Kun flustro nur
Kie la son' silentas

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Tootler
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 05:22 PM

My own personal favourites are

The Boxer
Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
Look for America

Between us, (me + wife), my sister and some friends we almost managed to "Look for America"

I didn't quite go to Saginaw, though I got pretty close
My sister didn't board a Greyhound in Pittsburgh, but she nearly boarded one to Pittsburgh
Our friends actually did manage to watch the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike on their way from Newark Airport to NYC.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Haruo
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 05:27 PM

Hey, last month I watched the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike going the other direction! Life finally imitating art, or perhaps in this case imitating paul.

Haruo

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,Pelrad
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 08:28 PM

I have too many favorites to choose from. When I was three years old, my favorite song was "Slip Slidin' Away," and I would request it several times a day. I listened to Paul Simon's music at least once a day for ten years straight. I used to find ways to quote him in my school essays.

"Baby Driver" - I can never hear it without seeing the skit from the Muppet Show with the babies hot-rodding in their buggies.


"Hearts and Bones"

"Song about the Moon"
If you want to write a song about the moon,
Walk along the craters of the afternoon
When the shadows are deep
And the light is alien
And gravity leaps like a knife off the pavement

"The Coast" from Rhythm of the Saints
"Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" from Graceland

"That's Where I Belong" from You're the One
Somewhere in a burst of glory
Sound becomes a song
I'm bound to tell a story
Thats where I belong


"The Cool, Cool River" from Rhythm of the Saints has my absolute favorite quote:
Sometimes even music cannot substitute for tears.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: GUEST,Desdemona
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 08:36 PM

I always liked "Fakin' It", and "Bookends" never fails to make me cry...come to think of it, they're both from the same album, aren't they?

~D

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Greg B
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 08:40 PM

'Homeless' from Graceland with Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Nothing more need be said.

Just listen.

Subject: RE: What's your favourite Paul Simon song?
From: Alba
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 09:25 PM

Lincoln Duncan.
No doubt:)

Coming in a close second,

I dream we are lying on top of a Hill Headlights slide passed the Moon
I fold in your arms and your voice is the heat of the night.
I'm on fire

In a phone booth at some local Bar and grill, rehearsing what I'll say my coin returns
How the Heart approaches what it yearns

Jude

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.