Tag Archives: Paul Simon

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Song of the Day #1,518: ’50 Ways to Leave Your Lover’ – Paul Simon

My next ‘Folk Rock Derivative’ artist is both a perfect example of the genre and an argument for scrapping the concept of musical categorization altogether.

Nobody can argue that Paul Simon isn’t a folk rock artist — the man practically invented the genre when paired with Art Garfunkel in the 60s. But he has since explored so many different styles — from gospel and jazz to a few continents worth of world music — that one could be a huge Paul Simon fan and have no affinity for folk rock whatsoever.

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Song of the Day #1,406: ‘I Know What I Know’ – Paul Simon

Best Albums of the 80s – #1
Graceland – Paul Simon (1986)

All of the drama and anticipation of the last four weeks leads to this… the least surprising “Best 80s Album” pick of the batch. Sorry to be boring and predictable, but what choice did I have?

I considered ranking Graceland second just to up the excitement factor, but I couldn’t do it in good conscience. It’s too perfect, too ground-breaking, too emotionally and viscerally satisfying to deny. The only thing going against it is that it’s been the best! album! ever! for more than 25 years. At some point, shouldn’t Graceland fatigue set in?

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Song of the Day #1,372: ‘Dazzling Blue’ – Paul Simon

I’ve written several times that I consider Paul Simon’s most recent album, last year’s So Beautiful Or So What, one of his best ever — an equal of The Rhythm of the Saints and withing shouting distance of Graceland.

That’s certainly high praise, the sort of thing that is sometimes said during the blush of excitement that accompanies a new album release. Months later you’ll return to the same record and enjoy it but not to the degree you’d advertised.

With this album, however, that hasn’t been the case.

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Song of the Day #1,281: ‘Love and Blessings’ – Paul Simon

Closing out my Paul Simon Weekends is another song from the excellent So Beautiful Or So What. ‘Love and Blessings’ is the album’s penultimate track and one that crept up on me, going initially unnoticed before emerging as one of my favorites.

I was working in the yard one day, listening to the album on headphones, when a line toward the end of this song struck me: “Maple trees just a little but duller than the memory of the year before.”

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Song of the Day #1,280: ‘Rewrite’ – Paul Simon

I have reached my 18th and final installment of Paul Simon Weekends — four and a half months of what I consider some of the finest songwriting ever committed to tape.

It’s fitting that Simon goes out on a high note, with his latest album, So Beautiful Or So What, receiving some of the best reviews of his career. “Best since Graceland” is the popular refrain for those discussing this album, and I tend to agree, though it’s easier and less controversial to say “best since Rhythm of the Saints.”

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