I’m continuing my four-week series on great albums with a selection from perhaps the greatest one on my list, Paul Simon’s Graceland.
If Paul Simon had never recorded Graceland, he’d still go down as one of the finest songwriters and performers in history. His work with Simon & Garfunkel alone could land him in the canon. Throw in solo gems such as ‘Slip Slidin’ Away,’ ‘Still Crazy After All These Years,’ ‘Hearts and Bones,’ the exotic sounds of Rhythm of the Saints and even his less heralded, more recent work. That’s a catalog for the ages.
But Graceland sits on a throne atop all of that wonderful music. It’s one of those works of art that feels as if it must have sprung into existence fully formed by divine intervention. That’s an insult to the dozens of talented musicians who put their sweat into making this record, not to mention Simon himself, but it’s the highest compliment I can come up with.
‘Crazy Love, Vol. II’ is a song that has stayed with me more than almost any other on Graceland. It’s a bittersweet and tragicomic take on divorce that captures a tone I’m not used to hearing in popular music.
Such wonderful lyrics. Fat Charlie the Archangel is “sad as a lonely little wrinkled balloon,” worried that “somebody could walk into your room and say you life is on fire.” Reflecting on the end of his relationship, he says “Well this will eat up a year of my life, and then there’s all that weight to be lost.” These are lines that would feel like struck gold in a novel, let alone a song.
Slipped into the room
He said I have no opinion about this
And I have no opinion about that
Sad as a lonely little wrinkled balloon
He said well I don’t claim to be happy about this, boys
And I don’t seem to be happy about that
I don’t want no part of this crazy love
I don’t want no part of your love
I don’t want no part of this crazy love
I don’t want no part of your love
She says she knows about jokes
This time the joke is on me
Well, I have no opinion about that
And I have no opinion about me
Somebody could walk into this room
And say your life is on fire
It’s all over the evening news
All about the fire in your life
On the evening news
I don’t want no part of this crazy love
I don’t want no part of your love
I don’t want no part of this crazy love
I don’t want no part of your love
Fat Charlie the Archangel
Files for divorce
He says well this will eat up a year of my life
And then there’s all that weight to be lost
She says the joke is on me
I say the joke is on her
I said I have no opinion about that
Well, we’ll just have to wait and confer
I don’t want no part of this crazy love
I don’t want no part of your love
I don’t want no part of this crazy love
I don’t want no part of your love
Meet Me In Montauk 
Ah, yes…this one must be taken to the island! Just a perfect album and, if one were to believe in divine inspiration, this masterwork would certainly qualify.
I agree with everything you said about this album; and yes, it would be on my island too!
Mine,too. Hard to pick just one favorite song from this glorious work.
This is another of those albums released when listening to albums is what I did, so it sits pretty on the top of that pedestal for several reasons:
– it is a seamless album; it is impossible not to think of listening to Graceland from start to finish.
– it is unabashedly joyful, and then touching, then funny, then odd. Each mood is not only embraced; it is elevated to a whole new spectrum of what that mood can be.
– Ladysmith Black Mambazo – Need I say more?
– it is a wonderful example of how art can move nations. I remember attending an anit-apartheid rally in Gainesville during my first year at UF. And I remember the controversy swirling around this album and how Simon had included musicians who typically would never have a chance to be recorded and heard. I remember that following year’s Grammy award show, where the speeches were as much about South Africa moving past apartheid as they were about the music. For me, this album will always be linked to the politics that had nothing to do with its creation but everything to do with its impact.
– And finally, on a much lighter note, the “You Can Call Me Al” video, which led to our mother’s brilliant and wise declaration that “a short man in a dark suit standing next to a tall man in a white suit will always look even shorter.”
Ah – Graceland – I do so love you!
I found one of the speeches… and you’ll love the bonus footage of Don Johnson and Whoopi Goldberg! 🙂 Wow, does this clip take me back! I may as well be sitting in my dorm room listening to Steve Winwood, Paul Simon, Janet Jackson, Paul Simon, and Peter Gabriel. Music is simply not this good anymore
I said Paul Simon twice; I meant Barbra Streisand, of course! 🙂
“Music of great power and nuance and joy” – That was like entering a time capsule. Thank you for handing me the map, Clay.
I love Paul Simon’s voice and I love the Graceland album I remember when we went to graceland we played this album and I loved it so much as for this song it’s creative and I like it! =D