Paul Simon: The worst great or the best terrible songwriter?

[John A Arkansawyer]

I'd never owned a copy of Still Crazy After All These Years till recently--okay, two years ago, 'cause I listened to it with the kid on the way back from the Hood/Cooley/Isbell show--and I was surprised despite myself at how cold the record was. So here's someone addressing the question directly: "It’s closer to one friend’s feeling that Simon’s performances are “covered in film,” as if a thin plastic wrapper prevented them from touching her."

[blackwll]

I like Simon. Not everything he does of course, but I would go see him if I had the chance. He is a New Yorker to the bone, for sure.

[walthers]

I am not a huge Paul Simon fan but like him well enough. My wife really likes him and bought us tickets to see him three weeks ago. I was not too keen on going (thought the tix were a bit over priced) but we went anyway. I have to say that it was a really good time. Career spanning setlist and his band was tight. I recommend seeing him if you get a chance.

[Rocky]

My stomach kinda soured on the guy after I read (on here actually) that he ripped Los Lobos off and then laughed in their face.

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/los-lobo ... land-snub/

[walthers]

Yikes. That story was not a very enjoyable read.

[Zip City]

He gets a pass for a catalog of brilliant songs with Simon & Garfunkel. He kinda lost me around Graceland

[Tequila Cowboy]

Dude is an asshole, well documented, but he's written a ton of great songs. I was kind of shocked that "You Can Call Me Al" is his most played, most sold an routinely tops fan lists as his best song. Really, you must be kidding? Me and Julio have a beef with that and will meet these fuckers down by the schoolyard. Not feeling groovy about that shit.

[beantownbubba]

Dude is an asshole, well documented, but he's written a ton of great songs. I was kind of shocked that "You Can Call Me Al" is his most played, most sold an routinely tops fan lists as his best song. Really, you must be kidding? Me and Julio have a beef with that and will meet these fuckers down by the schoolyard. Not feeling groovy about that shit.

Not sure what my favorite song of his is (it sure ain't "Al") but otherwise this is exactly right.

[Clams]

Paul Simon? *big ol' yawn*

[tinnitus photography]

massively overrated.

[allisonsdc]

Graceland is a cool album (with the exception of You Can Call Me Al) -- I dig all the songs with Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Rhythm of the Saints is also good (Born at the Right Time was the first song ever played for my son). And the Simon & Garfunkel catalog is fantastic. I can't speak to whether or not he is an asshole but I think he is a great songwriter.

[Markalanbishop]

I can't speak to whether or not he is an asshole

...then there's no place for you on this Board!

[blackwll]

Thank goodness he is the only singer/songwriter who is an asshole. If he is one.

[Shakespeare]

love him. havent heard the new album yet though

i think i love him so much partially due to the fact that the simon and garfunkel catalog is among the easiest to find cheap and used in any thrift store in the country. those were some of the earliest albums i fell in love with, and they still hold up. i think his first few solo albums are about on par. gracelands great too but more of a specific mood experience. i saw him at the 930 club after his most recent album before the one from this year and it was a blast, even with only one or two s&g songs. for someone that came out of that nyc folkie scene hes really covered a ton of ground musically and lyrically, and i think that gets unfortunately lost among some of the, for lack of a betetr term, unsavory angles to his recordings.

ive always kinda wondered why he seems to occupy a lesser stature among my generation. from my experience at shows and talking to classmates and such, dylan/stones/beatles/neil/who etc are all very popular, with paul simon either derided or acknolwedged as a guilty pleasure. maybe someone who followed them all along can chime in but it seems like paul never entered that "cool" tier of dinosaur acts. when i saw dylan and the who there was as wide an age/demographic range as ive seen at any show in my life, but when i saw paul it was almost 90% middle age couples.

couldnt care less what hes like as a person. that stuff never matters whatsoever to my enjoyment of the music. damn glad too cuz id lose out on way too many great albums if i applied a strict moral compass to my musical taste. lots of people are assholes so it follows that lots of musicians are too. no big deal.

[Rocky]

Dude is an asshole, well documented, but he's written a ton of great songs. I was kind of shocked that "You Can Call Me Al" is his most played, most sold an routinely tops fan lists as his best song. Really, you must be kidding? Me and Julio have a beef with that and will meet these fuckers down by the schoolyard. Not feeling groovy about that shit.

TC nails it...again.

[Bill in CT]

Check out the interview linked below for more information on Paul Simon being an asshat.

http://www.backstreets.com/SVZonSunCity.html

I'm a fan of much of Simon & Garfunkel and some of Simon's early solo work but haven't heard much he's done past the ubiquitous Graceland album. He was good when I saw him close the Hangout Festival in Gulf Shores, AL in 2011. That's the only time I've seen him perform.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

massively overrated.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

slightly off-topic: in primetime one night this week I saw a TV ad for his new album. Cannot recall the last time I saw a commercial for an album, and even moreso an album by an artist that wasn't geared towards tweens

[Smitty]

When a musician is an asshole towards other musicians (particularly ones I like ), it makes it hard for me to like or listen to them.

[jr29]

When a musician is an asshole towards other musicians (particularly ones I like ), it makes it hard for me to like or listen to them.

Chuck Berry gets a pass.

[Iowan]

Pretty indifferent to Paul Simon.

[Duke Silver]

Pretty indifferent to Paul Simon.

Same. He's in that category of musicians (along with like...Billy Joel) where the closer I look at them the less I like them, but I'm probably not going to leap up to change the station if one of their songs come on.

[Iowan]

Pretty indifferent to Paul Simon.

Same. He's in that category of musicians (along with like...Billy Joel) where the closer I look at them the less I like them, but I'm probably not going to leap up to change the station if one of their songs come on.

Billy Joel is a pretty good comp. I probably actively like more Billy Joel songs than Paul Simon songs, but I don't care enough about either to invest anything, nor do I switch the station reflexively upon hearing them.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

"Indifferent" is pretty much how I feel about Tom Petty. I like him well enough and understand his various contributions to music over the years but don't really have a desire to own much more than a greatest hits or maybe a landmark record such as Damn the Torpedoes. I do love "Casa Dega" (b-side to "Don't Do Me Like That"), an early rare live version of "Breakdown" I used to hear on WQDR in Raleigh and his Buried Treasure radio show but that's about it. Some songs I have just heard too much and/or they grate on me due to the vocals. Though I don't own a shit ton of Paul Simon, I probably rank him higher than Petty. I remember appearances from Simon and James Taylor on SNL years ago that were like watching paint dry. I have The Paul Simon Anthology which is a nice overview of his career up to 1993 but the last time I listened to it, I found myself struggling to get through it and even skipping some songs. I honestly don't get the hate for Graceland but to each their own. On the Dylan tip, I saw Simon and Dylan share a bill in Raleigh in '99. I enjoyed both sets but the pairing of the two during the encore of Simon's set seemed like a bit of a mismatch. Cool to have witnessed two greats sharing the same stage though.

[dime in the gutter]

paul simon has many, many, many, many fantastic songs. classics. all timers. craftsman. perfect songs. with and w/o art. but i don't listen to full albums....only hits packages and playlists, etc.

i have not been interested in anything since graceland. except for his wife.

billy joel should never be mentioned int the same sentence. ever. unless it's about what a pair of douche tags they both are.

and i can get my swerve on to billy joel, too. easy.