Paul Simon

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This article is about the musician; for other Paul Simons, see Paul Simon (disambiguation).

Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941 in Newark Heights, New Jersey) is a renowned American singer-songwriter, receiving Kennedy Center Honors in 2002. He is best known as half of the folk singing duo Simon and Garfunkel.

Simon has been married three times. His first was to slightly older southern belle, Peggy Harper ("Train In The Distance" from Simon's 1983 album Hearts And Bones, is about her), whom he married in late autumn 1969. They had a son, Simon's first child, in 1972. They divorced in 1975, though on good terms. His second marriage was to Carrie Fisher, whom he proposed to after a Yankees game. They were married on August 16, 1983 for a period of just 11 months, during which time she miscarried his child. Simon's current wife is Edie Brickell whom he wed on May 30, 1992. Their first child together, Adrian, was born by the end of the year. By summer, 2001, they had two more children, Loulou (Simon's first daughter), and Gabriel. His first son, Harper Simon, is a guitarist, his second son Adrian (13 years now) has his own band named 'Lopside Up' since 2005.

Contents

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Early Life and Career

Born into a Jewish family in Queens, Paul Simon's musical career began in Forest Hills High School when he and his friend Art Garfunkel began singing together as a duo, occasionally performing at school dances. Their idols were the Everly Brothers, whom they often emulated and/or imitated in their early recordings. Simon and Garfunkel fashioned themselves "Tom & Jerry," and it was under this name that the duo first tasted success. In 1957, they recorded the single "Hey, Schoolgirl," on Big Records which hit #49 on the pop charts while they were still in their late teens.

After graduating high school, Simon attended and graduated from Queens College, while Garfunkel studied at Columbia University in Manhattan. Simon was a Brother in the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity. Though Simon earned a degree in English literature, his real passion was rock 'n roll. Between 1957 and 1964, Simon wrote, recorded, and released more than thirty songs, occasionally reuniting with Garfunkel as Tom & Jerry for some singles, including "Our Song", "That's My Story", and "Surrender, Please Surrender", among others. He also briefly attended Brooklyn Law School.

Most of the songs Simon would record over the six years after 1957, however, would be performed either alone or with musicians other than Garfunkel. These were released on a multitude of minor record labels, such as Amy, ABC-Paramount, Big, Hunt, Ember, King, Tribute, and Madison. He used several different pseudonyms for these recordings, including Jerry Landis, Paul Kane (from Orson Welles's film Citizen Kane), and True Taylor. Simon enjoyed some mediocre success in recording a few singles under the pseudonym Tico as part of a group called Tico and the Triumphs. He wrote the song "Motorcycle", which was recorded by Tico and the Triumphs and reached #99 on the Billboard charts in 1962. That same year, he reached #97 on the pop charts with the hit "The Lone Teen Ranger" as Jerry Landis; both singles were released on Amy Records.

During this period, Simon met Carole King, with whom he recorded several unreleased demos as a duo called "The Cosines" to be recorded and released by other groups. In addition, Simon's experience in the studio led him to produce many singles for other acts, including The Vels, Ritchie Cordell, The Fashions, Jay Walker and the Pedestrians, and Dougie and the Dubs. It was also at this time that he became attracted to the New York folk music scene and made his first forays into the folk-rock genre, as is evidenced in the songs "Carlos Dominguez" and "He Was My Brother" (1963).

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Simon and Garfunkel

In early 1964, Simon and Garfunkel got an audition with Columbia Records, whose executives were impressed enough to sign the duo to a contract to produce an album. Columbia decided that the two would be called simply "Simon & Garfunkel," which, according to Simon, was the first time that ethnic names (both Simon and Garfunkel are of Jewish descent) were used in pop music Template:Ref.

Simon & Garfunkel's first LP, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., released on 19 October 1964, consisted of a set of twelve songs in the folk vein, five of them written by Simon. The album initially flopped, but radio stations on the east coast of the USA began receiving requests for one of Simon's songs on the LP called "The Sound of Silence". Simon & Garfunkel's producer, Tom Wilson, overdubbed the track with electric guitar, bass, and drums, and released it as a single that eventually went to #1 on the pop charts in the United States. Simon had gone to England after the initial failure of Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., and pursued a solo career there, releasing the album The Paul Simon Song Book in the United Kingdom in 1965, but he returned to the USA to reunite with Garfunkel after "The Sound of Silence" began to enjoy commercial success. Together they recorded several influential albums, including 1966's Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme, Bookends, and Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970). Simon and Garfunkel also contributed exclusively to the soundtrack of the 1967 film The Graduate (starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft). They recorded an early version of "Mrs. Robinson" not intended for the film (The song was originally titled Mrs. Roosevelt, about the 'good old days' of Eleanor Roosevelt and Joe Dimaggio. Reportedly, when director Mike Nichols heard the song, he told Paul "It's Mrs. Robinson now").

Simon pursued solo projects after the duo released their very popular album Bridge Over Troubled Water. Occasionally, he and Garfunkel would reunite, such as in 1975 for their Top Ten single "My Little Town". In 1981, they reunited for the famous concert in Central Park, followed by an aborted reunion album Think Too Much, which was eventually released (sans Garfunkel) as Hearts and Bones. Together, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

In 2003, the two reunited again when they received Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. This reunion led to a US tour, the acclaimed "Old Friends" concert series, followed by a 2004 international encore, which culminated in a free concert at the Colosseum in Rome. That final concert drew 600,000 people—100,000 more than attended Paul McCartney's concert at the same venue, one year earlier.

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Solo career

Simon is a prolific songwriter and his output has been of the highest calibre. After Simon and Garfunkel split in 1970, Paul Simon began to write and record solo material. He released Paul Simon in 1972, and There Goes Rhymin' Simon in 1973, which featured such popular hit songs as "Something So Right" and "Kodachrome". He continued to record remarkable material during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1986 he released the immensely popular Graceland, for which he won a Grammy. The album featured the groundbreaking use of African rhythms and performers Ladysmith Black Mambazo. In 1990, he followed up Graceland with the commercially successful and consistent successor album The Rhythm of the Saints, which featured Brazillian and Cajun musical themes. These albums helped to popularize world music as a genre.

Image:Paul Simon Olympia 2000.jpg

His most recent work was the studio album You're the One, which disappointed fans expecting more of the musical adventurousness found on his previous two albums. A live CD of the same title, recorded in Paris, was released in 2000. It is also available on DVD.

Paul Simon's new album called Surprise, produced by Brian Eno and Paul, is coming out on May 9, 2006.

During the mid-1960s, Paul Simon co-wrote the song "Red Rubber Ball" with Bruce Woodley of the Australian pop group The Seekers. When the American group The Cyrkle recorded a cover of the song, it reached #2 in the US.

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2004 reissues

In 2004, Paul Simon's record company announced the release of expanded editions of each of his solo albums, individually and together in a limited-edition nine-disc box set, Paul Simon: The Studio Recordings 1972–2000. Each of the expanded individual albums feature a total of 30 bonus tracks, including original song demos, live recordings, duets, six never-before-released songs and outtakes from each of his nine solo albums. Among the bonus tracks included in the release are:

  • an acoustic demo of "Homeless," recorded prior to his sessions in South Africa with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, from Graceland
  • "Shelter Of Your Arms," a previously unreleased song featuring a solo acoustic performance from the Hearts and Bones sessions
  • demos of "Me & Julio Down By The Schoolyard" and "Duncan" recorded in San Francisco in 1971 by Paul Simon
  • the original demo of "Gone At Last," with the Jessy Dixon Singers, from Still Crazy After All These Years
  • "Spiral Highway" and "All Because Of You," unreleased performances from One Trick Pony (which use the same music as "How the Heart Approaches What it Yearns" and "Oh Marion," respectively)
  • a work-in-progress called "Let Me Live In Your City," which eventually became the track "Something So Right" from There Goes Rhymin' Simon
  • early versions of "The Coast" and "Spirit Voices" from The Rhythm of the Saints
  • a duet with José Feliciano on "Born In Puerto Rico"
  • outtakes from Songs From the Capeman
  • live cuts from the You're the One concert tour

Simon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a second time in 2000 for his achievements as a solo artist.

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Acting career

Simon has also dabbled in acting. He played music producer Tony Lacey in the 1977 Woody Allen film Annie Hall, and wrote and starred in 1980's One Trick Pony as Jonah Levin, a journeyman rock and roller. Paul Simon also appeared on The Muppet Show. In the late 1990s, he also wrote and produced a Broadway musical called The Capeman, which was a commercial flop, and lost $11 million. He has also appeared frequently on Saturday Night Live.

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Samples

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Discography (as Simon And Garfunkel)

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Discography (as Paul Simon)

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Singles

Year Title Chart positions Album
U.S. Hot 100 U.S. Modern Rock UK
1958 "True or False"/"Teenage Fool" [a] - - -
1959 "Anna Belle"/"Loneliness" [b] - - -
1959 "Don’t Take the Stars"/"So Tenderly" [c] - - -
1960 "Just A Boy"/"Shy" [b] - - -
1960 "Just A Boy"/"I'd Like To Be" [b] - - -
1960 "All Through The Night"/"To Think Of You Again" [c] - - -
1961 "I'm Lonely"/"I Wish I Weren't In Love" [b] - - -
1961 "Play Me A Sad Song"/"It Means A Lot To Them" [b] - - -
1961 "Motorcycle"/"I Don't Believe Them" [d] #99 - -
1962 "Wildflower"/"Express Train" [d] - - -
1962 "Cry, Little Boy, Cry"/"Get Up And Do The Wobble" [d] - - -
1962 "The Lone Teen Ranger"/"Lisa" [e] #97 - -
1962 "Cards of Love"/"Noise" [d] - - -
1962 "Tick Tock"/"Please Don't Tell Her" [f] - - -
1963 "Carlos Dominguez"/"He Was My Brother" [g] - - -
1964 "He Was My Brother"/"Carlos Dominguez" [b] [l] - - -
1965 "I Am A Rock"/"Leaves That Are Green" [h] - - - The Paul Simon Song Book
1972 "Mother And Child Reunion"/"Paranoia Blues" #4 - #5 Paul Simon
1972 "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard"/"Congratulations" #22 - #15 Paul Simon
1972 "Duncan"/"Run That Body Down" #58 - - Paul Simon
1973 "Kodachrome"/"Tenderness" #2 - - There Goes Rhymin' Simon
1973 "Loves Me Like A Rock"/"Learn How To Fall" [i] #2 - #39 There Goes Rhymin' Simon
1973 "American Tune"/"One Man's Ceiling Is Another Man's Floor" #35 - - There Goes Rhymin' Simon
1973 "Take Me To The Mardi Gras"/"Something So Right" - - #7 There Goes Rhymin' Simon
1974 "The Sound of Silence"/"Mother And Child Reunion" - - - Live Rhymin'
1975 "Gone At Last"/"Tenderness" [j] #23 - - Still Crazy After All These Years and There Goes Rhymin' Simon
1975 "Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover"/"Some Folks' Lives Roll Easy" #1 - #23 Still Crazy After All These Years
1976 "Still Crazy After All These Years"/"I Do It For Your Love" #40 - - Still Crazy After All These Years (A-side only)
1977 "Slip Slidin' Away"/"Something So Right" [k] #5 - #36 Greatest Hits, Etc.
1977 "Stranded In A Limousine"/"Have A Good Time" [l] - - - Greatest Hits, Etc.
1980 "Late In The Evening"/"How The Heart Approaches What It Yearns" #6 - #58 One Trick Pony Soundtrack
1980 "One Trick Pony"/"Long, Long Day" #40 - - One Trick Pony Soundtrack
1981 "Oh, Marion"/"God Bless The Absentee" - - - One Trick Pony Soundtrack
1983 "Allergies"/"Think Too Much (b)" #44 - - Hearts and Bones
1984 "Think Too Much (a)"/"Song About The Moon" - - - Hearts and Bones (A-side); Still Crazy After All These Years (B-side)
1986 "You Can Call Me Al"/"Gumboots" #23 - #4 Graceland
1986 "Graceland"/"Hearts And Bones" #81 - - Graceland (A-side); Hearts and Bones (B-side)
1987 "The Boy In The Bubble"/"Crazy Love, Vol. II" #86 - #26 Graceland
1987 "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes"/"All Around The World, Or The Myth Of Fingerprints" - - - Graceland
1990 "The Obvious Child" #92 #24 #15 Rhythm of the Saints
1990 "Proof" - - - Rhythm of the Saints
1990 "Born at the right time" - - - Rhythm of the Saints
2000 "Old" - - - You're the One
2002 "Father and daughter" - - - The Wild Thornberrys Movie soundtrack


[a] as True Taylor

[b] as Jerry Landis

[c] recorded on Laurie Records as a member of The Mystics

[d] recorded as Tico & The Triumphs with Mickey Borack, Marty Cooper, Gail Lynn and Howie Beck.

[e] as Jerry Landis, but recorded with the members of Tico & the Triumphs.

[f] backing vocals on this record by Ritchie Cordell

[g] as Paul Kane

[h] released only in the UK as CBS 201797

[i] A-side with The Dixie Hummingbirds

[j] A-side as a duet with Phoebe Snow

[k] A-side with The Oak Ridge Boys

[l] released only in the UK

NB: This discography does not include singles released under the pseudonym "Tom & Jerry" with Art Garfunkel or singles released by Simon & Garfunkel

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Work on Broadway

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Notes

Template:Note Paul Simon, Speech given upon induction to the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, OH, 2003.

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External links

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