Tag Archives: Paul Simon

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Song of the Day #1,277: ‘Love and Hard Times’ – Paul Simon

Top Ten Songs of 2011 – #3

As my series of Paul Simon Weekends comes close to wrapping up, I hope I’ve made a strong case for his spot atop my list of favorite songwriters. For 50 years he has led listeners on a musical journey as sublime as it is ambitious.

I hope his latest album, So Beautiful Or So What, is not his last, but if that turns out to be the case, it would be a fitting end to his career. It’s a beautiful work, one of his finest, and it touches gracefully on themes or mortality and the afterlife.

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Song of the Day #1,274: ‘Father and Daughter’ – Paul Simon

When I wrote yesterday that I never revisit Paul Simon’s Surprise, I left out one major exception.

‘Father and Daughter,’ the album’s closing track, first turned up on the soundtrack to The Wild Thornberrys Movie before finding a home on Simon’s own album. I suspect he considered it too good a song to relegate to a soundtrack album from a little-seen kids films.

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Song of the Day #1,273: ‘Everything About It Is a Love Song’ – Paul Simon

Paul Simon waited six years between You’re the One and his next studio release, 2006’s Surprise.

But he wasn’t slacking off. In 2003, Simon reunited with Garfunkel for a memorable performance of ‘The Sounds of Silence’ at the Grammys. That appearance led to a reunion tour that spanned two years and included runs in the U.S. and Europe. The duo would go on to perform together several more times over the next seven years.

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Song of the Day #1,267: ‘Señorita With a Necklace of Tears’ – Paul Simon

In yesterday’s post, I described the second half of Paul Simon’s You’re the One as “sleepy” and it’s true that it is more languid and less accessible than the album’s first half.

But sometimes it’s those slow-growers that wind up having the most impact in the long run. Such is the case with a lovely song titled ‘Señorita With a Necklace of Tears.’

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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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