Category Archives: simon weekends

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Song of the Day #1,266: ‘That’s Where I Belong’ – Paul Simon

Three years after the Capeman debacle, Paul Simon released his first proper studio album in ten years, 2000’s You’re the One. This album is easily overlooked when considering the span of Simon’s career but every time I revisit it, I’m reminded how strong it is.

Frequent commenter Dana hit the nail on the head in describing this album the last time I featured it. He said it is reminiscent of Hearts and Bones but without matching that album’s highest points, and that the first half of the record is extremely good with the second half a bit on the sleepy side.

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Song of the Day #1,260: ‘Bernadette’ – Paul Simon

I’m afraid I was a bit harsh in my description of Paul Simon’s Songs From The Capeman yesterday. While it was certainly a letdown following a seven year wait after his two best albums, and it’s something of a half-baked affair, it isn’t without special moments.

If I hadn’t already posted the wonderfully profane centerpiece track, ‘The Vampires,’ I wouldn’t be able to resist highlighting it on Christmas morning. That song alone is worth the price of the Capeman album.

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Song of the Day #1,259: ‘Born in Puerto Rico’ – Paul Simon

The seven years between The Rhythm of the Saints and Paul Simon’s next studio album felt like an eternity. Following the one-two punch of Graceland and Rhythm, I was primed for whatever he would come up with next and had to just wait and wait and wait.

In the days before the ubiquity of the Internet — before Twitter and official artist websites — it was hard to know what a musician was up to. It turns out that Simon spent much of that seven-year span researching and writing a Broadway musical called The Capeman about a Puerto Rican gang-banger in New York who turned his life around in prison.

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Song of the Day #1,254: ‘Further to Fly’ – Paul Simon

Following the release of The Rhythm of the Saints, my family would debate whether this or Graceland was his greatest album.

Initially I sided with Rhythm, citing its earthy, exotic flavors and the way it turned world music into gorgeous pop. Eventually I came back around to Graceland‘s unique tour of South Africa via the Upper West Side. But there is no loser in that battle.

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Song of the Day #1,253: ‘The Obvious Child’ – Paul Simon

It’s hard to imagine a tougher act to follow than Paul Simon’s Graceland, but four years after that album’s release, he put out an album that can reasonably be called its equal.

1990’s The Rhythm of the Saints doubled down on the exotic rhythms of its predecessor, with Simon looking to South America rather than Africa for the rich percussion over which he spun his melodies. The album sounds as if it were recorded in the crowded streets of a Brazilian town (and in the case of some songs, it was).

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