Paul Simon’s Graceland is an all-time classic, his best work, a critical and commercial smash, one of the most beloved albums in history. It feels almost unnecessary to write about it because its story is so well-known, its rhythms and melodies long ago memorized.
What struck me as I reached this album in the chronology of my Paul Simon Weekends is that Graceland arrived at the lowest point in Simon’s career.
It had been 11 years since Still Crazy After All These Years, his last successful studio album. During that span he’d released the soundtrack to One-Trick Pony, dismissed as a vanity project, and Hearts and Bones, the biggest flop of his career.
By 1986, Paul Simon had become an afterthought, a relic of the 60s and 70s. Nobody expected his next album to be very special, let alone a genre-busting masterpiece that bridged cultures and redefined popular music.
That’s what I call a comeback.
Simon has called Graceland‘s title track — today’s SOTD — the greatest song he’s ever written. It has a lot of stiff competition on my list (including several tracks from this very album) but I believe he has a valid point. The intro, in particular, is so sublime I could see choosing it as the background music for one’s passage through the Pearly Gates.
Was shining like a National guitar
I am following the river
Down the highway
Through the cradle of the Civil War
I’m going to Graceland
Graceland
In Memphis,Tennessee
I’m going to Graceland
Poorboys and pilgrims with families
And we are going to Graceland
My traveling companion is nine years old
He is the child of my first marriage
But I’ve reason to believe
We both will be received
In Graceland
She comes back to tell me she’s gone
As if I didn’t know that
As if I didn’t know my own bed
As if I’d never noticed
The way she brushed her hair from
Her forehead and she said, “Losing love
Is like a window in your heart
Everybody sees you’re blown apart
Everybody sees the wind blow”
I’m going to Graceland
Memphis, Tennessee
I’m going to Graceland
Poorboys and pilgrims with families
And we are going to Graceland
And my traveling companions
Are ghosts and empty sockets
I’m looking at ghosts and empties
But I’ve reason to believe
We all will be received
In Graceland
There is a girl in New York City
Who calls herself the human trampoline
And sometimes when I’m falling, flying
Or tumbling in turmoil I say
Whoa, so this is what she means
She means we’re bouncing into Graceland
And I see losing love
Is like a window in your heart
Everybody sees you’re blown apart
Everybody sees the wind blow
In Graceland, in Graceland
I’m going to Graceland
For reasons I cannot explain
There’s some part of me wants to see Graceland
And I may be obliged to defend
Every love, every ending
Or maybe there’s no obligations now
Maybe I’ve a reason to believe
We all will be received
In Graceland
Whoa, in Graceland, in Graceland
In Graceland,
I’m going to Graceland
Meet Me In Montauk 
I just read the lyrics without listening to this wonderful song, and I can understand why Simon believes this is his greatest song. This is one of my all time favorite albums; I never tire of listening to it. How wonderful you just got to see him in concert!
Well, having just seen him perform this song, and so many other standouts from Graceland, this past Tuesday, 25 years after first hearing these notes emerge from the turntable in my dorm room at UF, I can resoundingly agree. This album is a masterpiece.
I’ve been reading Life of Pi with my class over the past month, and Yann Martel, Pi’s author, says that the novel was born because he was in need of more than just a story. Feeling that his life was amounting to a whole lot of nothing, his previous books met with little interest, he was in the need of a Story. I love that idea and think it makes sense for so many artists. Paul Simon, having hit a low point in his career, needed not only to make music, but to make Music, so he went to a journey, and took us all along for the ride. .
No argument here that Graceland is just about as good as it gets, not just for Simon, but for any artist.
What I find interesting listening to this song so many years after first hearing it is just how familiar and comfortable it is given how utterly revolutionary and novel the African instrumentation and rhythms were at the time. This album has become part of our landscape, our musical fabric and consciousness. It has inspired other musicians to travel down this road such as Vampire Weekend. Yet, no matter how many times I play this record, it remains as fresh and vibrant as it was 25 years ago.
What a comeback indeed!
Reinvention, redemption, rebirth, what happens when you’ve hit bottom and are reorganized spiritually. This song and that concert last week are like being witness to the most profound, personal and meaningful journey of a man’s deeply felt and well-examined life. Having recently gone through a very low point I could relate and rejoice and love the image of us all bouncing into Graceland. “Everyone can see your blown apart” but what joy in witnessing the expansion of the soul that wind brings to your heart.