Paul Simon - An Appreciation

Making my entrance again with my usual flair....

 

Love Paul Simon and Graceland is one of my favorite albums But i also like Los Lobos and this is a nice little rant about Paul and my respect for the guy took a hit. http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/teenage-kicks/los-lobos-on-paul-simon-do-you-1/

 

I love the song and did not know it was based on a Bach chorale.
That's cool.

 

This is the chorale from St. Matthew Passion:

 

That is very cool. And if you hadn't pointed it out, if I was just hearing the Bach piece, I would recognize that the melody is familiar, but I don't think I would have put the two together.

 

A friend of mine did some work for Simon years ago and has similar feelings about him.

"Concert in Central Park" was one of about four cassettes my parents had in the rotation when we traveled when I was a kid, and even though I've heard it about eleventy billion times I still love it.

 

That was my first concert -- my mom let me go for my 12th birthday. Sat so far back I could barely hear the music but it was still a great time.

 

Jeez, I'd never heard that story. That's brutal.

As I was growing up my parents listened to a lot of Paul Simon and S & G. A month or so ago I was listening to Kornheiser's radio show and he started talking about what a genius Paul Simon is. I realized I didn't have any Paul Simon songs on my iPod, so I went online to download a Greatest Hits record from eMusic. Then I looked at the song list and realized... Jesus, I HATE all these songs.

Sorry to be the turd in the punch bowl. Carry on.

 

Yikes. And whoever it was urging him to "keep it in the family" to avoid litigation might be worse than anything the group has said about Paul Simon.

 

Wow, weird thread because I myself have also been heavy into Simon and Garfunkel. Been watching old concert footage on YouTube (i.e Central Park in 1981) ... the music just hits you in a weird spot. My personal favorites are "Homeward Bound," "Kodachrome" and "Hazy Shade of Winter" -- but all their stuff is great.

Check out this video of Simon and John Lennon at the Grammys (w/ a special appearance by Garfunkel):

 

Damn. That is freakin' surreal.

 

Every time I hear "Cecelia" on the radio, I crank up the volume. That song was so ahead of its time.