Monday, April 4, 2011

Who I'm Listening To: Paul Simon

Paul Simon, both as a solo artist, and as one-half of Simon and Garfunkel, is my favorite musician in the whole entire universe, including Harmonia. That says a lot. For an earthly musician to beat out whatever Harmonia has to offer, which I guarantee you is a combination of whimsy, fantasy, and holy shit, must mean he's special. Now, I know what you're thinking, and the answer is yes. I love Paul Simon more than Journey and Steve Perry.

"Bullshit!" you might say. "If you love Paul Simon so much, why don't you create a blog about him? Oh, that's right. You didn't. You created one for Steve Perry. Hmph."

My reply to that is, as soon as Paul Simon starts sportin' him some glorious man-hair and shockingly tight pants, then he'll get his own blog too. But he won't, because he looks like this:

Musician Paul Simon, co-founder of the Children's Health Fund, participates in an event to encourage politicians to not forget young people during the debate on health care reform at the U.S. Captiol September 16, 2009 in Washington, DC. The American Academy of Pediatrics have asked Congress for health insurance coverage for all children, ag-appropriate benefits and reasonable payment to assure real access to services.

It's okay, though. If Paul Simon were flashy, it would take away from his songs, and that would be a crying shame. He's a brilliant lyricist, and, so far, the only one who can make me choke up. His songs are beautiful and haunting, tortured and inspirational. One of my favorites is from "Slip Slidin' Away:"

God only knows
God makes his plan
The information's unavailable
To the mortal man



Every time I hear a Paul Simon tune, I get the same feeling I do when I go to visit my parents: a sense of comfort, of familiarity. I flashback to when I was twelve and listening to Negotiations and Love Songs on my Walkman knock-off in the backseat of my parents' Mazda Protégé, going home after attending a Christmas celebration in downtown Perry, warm, cozy, happy. Whenever I hear a Paul Simon tune, I feel that everything will be alright in the world, that no matter what my worries or concerns are, somehow everything will turn out okay. A musician who can elicit that kind of emotional response is truly one-of-a-kind, one of the greats. He's the kind of artist who can give those frou-frou, lute-playing bastards on Harmonia a run for their money.

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Here are a few other songs I love that Playlist.com didn't have in its database or I forgot to add:




2 comments:

  1. He will forever look like he did in "Call Me Al" - don't post recent photos of him ever again.

    Kthnksby

    ReplyDelete
  2. LOL. I know. Heartbreaking, isn't it?

    ReplyDelete