Tag Archives: The Paul Simon Songbook

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Song of the Day #1,171: ‘Flowers Never Bend With the Rainfall’ – Paul Simon

I consider myself a pretty big Paul Simon fan, but I had never heard of The Paul Simon Songbook before working on these weekend posts. I’d always assumed his first solo album was released after the break-up of Simon & Garfunkel.

To be fair, Songbook wasn’t exactly a high-profile release. Simon himself killed a planned U.S. release of the album and reportedly requested that the British release be removed from circulation. Presumably he was unhappy not with the songs but with the recordings, because he went on to release almost all of the material on different albums over the next few years.

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Song of the Day #1,170: ‘The Side of a Hill’ – Paul Simon

After the failure of Simon & Garfunkel’s debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3AM, Paul Simon headed to London, where he played folk music in English pubs and enjoyed a small amount of success.

Simon drew inspiration from the music coming out of England at the time, and like Bob Dylan, later worked elements of English folk song lyrics and melodies into his own work. The best known example is the recording of ‘Scarborough Fair’ that appeared on a future Simon & Garfunkel album.

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