Legendary Bands - Paul Simon Posters

One of most distinguished singer-songwriters in American pop history, Paul Simon (b. Oct. 13, 1941, Newark, New Jersey) began his fourth decade of record-making in the '90s. One might suppose he'd therefore have an overflowing stock of songs in his repertoire, but it simply isn't so: A perfectionist of the highest caliber, and an admittedly slow songwriter, Simon has only recorded--both as a solo artist and with former partner Art Garfunkel--somewhere in the range of 125 original songs.

In comparison, the singer's closest contemporary, Bob Dylan--whose recording career began only two years earlier, in 1962--passed the 300 mark years ago. Discounting live albums, compilations, and their scattered contribution to the soundtrack of The Graduate, Simon & Garfunkel made only five albums between 1964-1971; likewise, Simon himself has recorded only seven albums of new material since his 1972 American solo debut Paul Simon.

Luckily for Simon--and, of course, his fans--the singer's quality control operates at the highest level imaginable. He is one of the very few pop songwriters whose lyrics, stripped of their musical context, can generally stand alone as poetry. Still, because of the conspicuous literacy that informed even the earliest Simon & Garfunkel songs--"The Sounds Of Silence," "Homeward Bound," and "I Am A Rock"--they have occasionally been criticized as overly melodramatic and pretentious; even Simon himself has occasionally grimaced while publicly performing some of his wordier early works.

But before long, the singer learned the value of lyrical economy. "The easier it is for people to understand, the better it is," Simon told writer Paul Zollo in 1993, "as long as you're not sacrificing intelligence or insight or feeling in order to make it easier. But if you can capture something that you feel is real and express it in a way that a lot of people can understand, that's rare and there's something about that that makes a song have a certain kind of life."

Simon's well-documented life as a recording artist began in the late '50s, when he and pal Art Garfunkel formed the Everly Brothers-influenced duo Tom & Jerry; the pair scored a minor 1957 hit with "Hey School Girl" and actually performed it on American Bandstand, when Simon was only 16. After three follow-up singles flopped, Simon studied English literature at Queens College and began haunting New York recording studios, recording demos of his own songs and other artists'. He recorded several early singles under the name Jerry Landis and Tico & the Triumphs, and began producing and arranging sessions for several little-known artists.

Eventually becoming attuned to the growing Greenwich Village folk scene of the early '60s, Simon rejoined Garfunkel and the pair officially debuted at Gerdes' Folk City in March 1964. Following an audition with Columbia Records, the duo inked a deal and recorded their debut album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. When it sold poorly, the pair temporarily split; moving to England, Simon recorded his first solo album The Paul Simon Songbook in a one-hour session in 1965.

The album, which contained many songs later re-recorded by Simon & Garfunkel, was never released domestically. Meanwhile, in the States, Columbia producer Tom Wilson had taken an acoustic track from Wednesday Morning 3 A.M. and dubbed in a rock background; the resulting single was "The Sounds Of Silence," the historic No. 1 song that brought Simon back to America and established Simon & Garfunkel as major recording stars. Before disbanding in 1971, the duo released 13 top 30 singles and five albums, all but the first (which eventually went gold) enormously successful multi-platinum sellers.

Paul Simon's solo career in many ways has simply been a Garfunkel-less extension of his earlier work. The musical adventurism that fueled both 1986's Graceland and 1990's The Rhythm Of The Saints was by no means a new development; Latin American instrumentation was, after all, an integral part of Simon & Garfunkel's "El Condor Pasa," from 1970's Bridge Over Troubled Water. Simon showed the influence of reggae on his earliest solo hit "Mother And Child Reunion," and followed it with "Me And Julio Down By the Schoolyard," which featured skilled Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira. Other stylistic forays for Simon have included a strong interest in gospel forms--evidenced on 1973's "Loves Me Like A Rock," featuring backing vocalists the Dixie Hummingbirds, and 1975's duet with Phoebe Snow, "Gone At Last," which also showcased the Jessy Dixon singers.

But it was indeed with the multiple Grammy-winning Graceland that Simon reinvented himself as a true world musician; the project incorporated African musicians Youssou N'Dour and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, as well as East L.A. Latino rockers Los Lobos and cajun/zydeco artist Rockin' Dopsie. Though some accused the singer of "cultural raiding"--and indeed, his working with South African musicians during the cultural boycott of the apartheid-ridden country caused a major political stir--Simon artfully merged his own writing style with the playing of the other musicians and created a fascinating, unique hybrid that "stole" from no one. (Several tracks, in fact, are credited as collaborations.) His 1990 follow-up The Rhythm Of The Saints, not quite as commercially successful, similarly incorporated South American percussionists and featured an astounding international cast, including Brazil's Milton Nascimento, Africa's Hugh Masekela, zydeco artist C.J. Chenier, American guitarist J.J. Cale, and the Brecker Brothers, among others.

Simon has had regular reunions with former partner Garfunkel, both in concert--they reunited for a national tour in 1981 (documented on 1982's Reunion In Central Park) and again in the '90s for charity--and on record, via the 1975 hit "My Little Town" and James Taylor's 1978 remake, "What A Wonderful World." Interestingly, Simon appears able to have it both ways in the '90s: As a one-off "nostalgia" artist, playing his old hits with Garfunkel, and as a still vital, probing solo artist, singing new songs that are as sophisticated musically as they are lyrically. A figure of enormous international respect, Paul Simon quite amazingly remains a central pop figure three full decades after he first sang "The Sound Of Silence."

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