Paul Simon (album)
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Paul Simon is a 1972 album by Paul Simon, released about two years after he split up with longtime musical partner Art Garfunkel. It was released on the Warner label. Musically, it is a direct follow-up from his work with Simon and Garfunkel. The song writing quality that is revealed in Simon and Garfunkel songs like "The Only Living Boy in New York" and "Song for the Asking" is, on Paul Simon, extended and combined with a new appreciation for the album as a complete and single work of art. The result is an album that works from beginning to end, wherein each song holds its own but also reflects on its mates, adding its own texture to the single overarching statement.
The album includes many autobiographical elements. Several songs on the album make reference directly or indirectly to his rocky marriage to Peggy (nee Harper), which ended in divorce in 1975 (?). Troubles with the marriage figure prominently on songs such as "Run that Body Down" and "Congratulations". As one becomes more familiar with the album, and understands more of what the album communicates, this theme seems to arise in many of the other songs as well.
Other themes include drugs, and adolescence, especially in urban areas.
Paul Simon can most accurately be placed in the folk rock genre. As such, it owes a debt to other folk rock pioneers, such as Bob Dylan and the Everly Brothers. Joni Mitchell, a contemporaneous folk rock artist, also concentrates her albums with personal communication, perhaps more intensely. The works of Leonard Cohen also share qualities with Paul Simon, particularly the poetry of the lyrics, an area in which Cohen shows extreme talent. Of course, the albums of Simon and Garfunkel and the later works of Paul Simon share similarities with this album. Specifically, the songs "Mother and Child Reunion" and "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard", and some of the percussion by Airto Moreira and Los Incas, prefigure the fascination Simon had with world music, most especially on Graceland.
The album reached #4 in the U.S. and #1 in the United Kingdom and Japan.
Track listing== All songs composed by Paul Simon except where noted.
- "Mother and Child Reunion" – 3:05
- This song is considered to be one of the first attempts at reggae music by a white musician (although many scholars point to the Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" as an earlier example of reggae by a white artist). The name has its origin in a chicken-and-egg dish which Paul Simon saw on a Chinese restaurant's menu, that was named just like this "Mother and Child Reunion."
- "Duncan" – 4:39
- "Everything Put Together Falls Apart" – 1:59
- "Run that Body Down" – 3:52
- "Armistice Day" – 3:55
- "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard" – 2:42
- "Peace Like a River" – 3:20
- "Papa Hobo" – 2:34
- "Hobo's Blues" (Simon, Stéphane Grappelli) – 1:21
- "Paranoia Blues" – 2:54
- "Congratulations" – 3:42
Personnel
Musicians
- Paul Simon: acoustic guitar, vocals, percussion, producer, arranger (all tracks)
- with
- Hal Blaine: drums (4, 10, 11)
- Huks Brown: lead guitar (1)
- Ron Carter: bass (4)
- Russel George: bass (6)
- Stephane Grappelli: violin (9)
- Winston Grennan: drums (1)
- Stefan Grossman: bottleneck guitar (10)
- Jerry Hahn: electric guitar (4, 5)
- Neville Hinds: organ (1)
- Jackie Jackson: bass (1)
- Larry Knechtel: acoustic and electric pianos, harmonium, organ (1, 3, 8, 11)
- Denzil Laing: percussion (1)
- Fred Lipsius: horns (5)
- Los Incas: flute, charango, percussion (2)
- Mike Manieri: vibes (4)
- Charlie McCoy: bass harmonica (8)
- Victor Montanez: drums (7)
- Airto Moreira: percussion (5, 6)
- Joe Osborn: bass (7, 11)
- John Schroer: horns (5, 10)
- David Spinozza: acoustic guitar (4, 6)
- Steven Turre: horns (10)
- Wallace Wilson: rhythm guitar (1)
- Cissy Houston, Von Eva Sims, Renelle Stafford and Deirdre Tuck: backing vocals (1)
Production and Engineering
- Roy Halee: co-producer, engineer
- Leslie Kong: contractor (1)
- Bernard Estrady: additional engineer (2)
- Phil Ramone: engineer (6)