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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.’
