He and Garfunkel regrouped in 1964, now under the auspices of Columbia Records, and released their debut album, a mix of traditional folk songs and promising Simon originals. That was essentially a “one-hit wonder,” however, and the two eventually parted ways to pursue their own paths in college and elsewhere.īy the time he was 22, he was starting to emulate Dylan’s penchant for writing meaningful lyrics that expressed much more emotion and weight than the standard pop songs of the day. With his middle school pal Garfunkel, he worked on tight harmonies in The Everly Brothers mold and even won a modest recording contract while still in high school, and the duo had a minor hit as Tom and Jerry called “Hey Schoolgirl” in 1957. Consequently, his work has, in my view, been more consistently excellent than his peers who, while capable of monumentally strong songs and albums, have numerous duds in their catalogs.īorn and raised in Queens in the late ‘40s and ‘50s, Simon claims to be essentially a rock ‘n roll kid, cutting his teeth on ‘50s rhythm and blues, doo-wop, Buddy Holly and Woody Guthrie. He has tended to labor a long time between records, struggling with his perfectionism and occasional writer’s block issues. While contemporaries like Bob Dylan and Van Morrison have each released upwards of 40 albums of new material since their debuts in the mid-‘60s, Simon has only 16. Perhaps the best indication of his nearly universal acclaim in the songwriting community was his selection as the very first recipient of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, established in 2007 to honor the titans of 20 th (and 21 st) Century popular songwriting. I’d say there are less than a dozen true geniuses of song craftsmanship in popular music, and among that rarified club, Paul Simon is my personal hero, because essentially, he’s the reason I wanted to learn how to play acoustic guitar - so I could sing his songs around the bonfires and on back porches with friends and family.įrom the delicate melodies and wistful lyrics of his early days with Art Garfunkel through his use of an ever-broadening palette of musical styles and rhythms and vocabulary-rich lyrics as a solo artist, Simon continues to astonish and impress critics and the public alike as he marks his 50 th year as a composer, as well as guitarist, singer and recording artist. In this essay, I salute one of the songwriting giants of the last half-century - Paul Simon. Periodically, I plan to use this space to pay homage to artists who I believe are worthy of focused attention - artists with an extraordinary, consistently excellent body of work and a compelling story to tell.
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