PAUL SIMON POLL RESULTS THREAD AND DISCUSSION

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (956 of them)

re: "rene and georgette", love the image of 50s doo-wop as this small and treasured object, a folded thing (like memory) that can be opened up and which when opened swallows the world. love, too, the way the music echoes this, the static drift the verses swelling into this romantic, nostalgic, gently swaying doo-wop chorus. so nice.

Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Tuesday, 20 March 2012 05:37 (twelve years ago) link

Three more of mine today but this really isn't shaping up like my list at all - too much Garfunkel, too much niceness. Not that he's ever not nice, but ILM adds a little more sugar than maybe I'm used to.

Anyway I voted for American Tune, Hazy Shade of Winter, and I Know What I Know. I had reservations about American Tune because the production is a touch syrupy, which is a thing with that whole album for me. I agonised over I Know What I Know because what I'm really loving is the incredible backing vocals, which obviously aren't Simon at all; I can't hardly see past them to the song itself. That's why I had trouble assessing the Graceland cuts in general for this poll.

Ismael Klata, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 06:44 (twelve years ago) link

horseshoe i think we are voting p similarly, peace like a river and born at the right time were my #3 and #4 and my highest placed songs so far and the top pick from their respective albums. lamp so otm about peace like a river. the ambiguity of time in that song is so interesting. all these messianisms, morning-time coming, the glorious day. I guess that's a standard trope of protest songs, but this isn't we shall overcome, nobody knew from time to time if the plans had changed. and the way this bleeds into the construction, carried along on that bassline. it occurred to me that the bass on this song is the secret weapon, the thing it rides along as the guitar spills off in all these counter-flows and eddies. but yeah so many things going on just structurally, the little key change into the "beat us with wires" section. that thing about history and about rivers, not the source or the mouth but the momentum. the milieu. the coming together. how it seemes to just coalesce for a moment before drifting on again.

judith, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 09:11 (twelve years ago) link

yeah, i never noticed how much he uses the river/time metaphor before.

judith, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 09:14 (twelve years ago) link

so annoying to think how much garfunkel there's gonna be in the top 20 though. who let all these s&g fans in. diminishing my goodwill towards BOTW somewhat.

judith, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 09:19 (twelve years ago) link

this latest bunch has 3 of my top 5.

i forgot peace like a river, this is what happens when you are rushed

max, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 11:26 (twelve years ago) link

i put scarborough fair as my no. 2 i think because i wanted to rep for s&g, but then i put a fair amount of other s&g on my ballot so i dunno

max, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 11:27 (twelve years ago) link

"American Tune" behind "Magritte," wha?

Literal Facepalms (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 20 March 2012 11:41 (twelve years ago) link

That's a point. Someone explain the appeal of Rene & Georgette, please. I find it almost absent in its slightness, but I also get the impression there's probably a couple of layers of meaning there that aren't reaching me.

Ismael Klata, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 11:49 (twelve years ago) link

I voted American Tune higher than Rene and Georgette, but love both. In re the "appeal" of the latter, besides the really lovely chorus there's the notion of Doo-wop (and by extension music) as a redeeming force. Sort of a Simon thesis statement, but in a gentle, un-didactic way.

something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 20 March 2012 12:56 (twelve years ago) link

Can we guess top 5, or does that spoil things for people?

kornrulez6969, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 13:22 (twelve years ago) link

"american tune" is nice; i didn't vote for it; apparently it was used in a commercial for barack obama?

I don't know a dream that's not been shattered

Literal Facepalms (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 20 March 2012 14:19 (twelve years ago) link

I love "American Tune" (it was my #4), but my favorite version is Willie Nelson's not Paul's.

This performance from the two of them in '93 is great:

http://youtu.be/q_12lzRizYw

EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 14:24 (twelve years ago) link

#22 SLIP SLIDIN' AWAY
#21 RENE & GEORGETTE MAGRITTE WITH THEIR DOG AFTER THE WAR

my 1/2

iatee, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 14:30 (twelve years ago) link

The "he kissed his boy as he lay sleeping" line in Slip Slidin' has been a guaranteed tear-up moment for me ever since I had kids.

something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 20 March 2012 14:38 (twelve years ago) link

Have you heard the acoustic Slip Slidin demo? I like it better than the original

kornrulez6969, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 14:39 (twelve years ago) link

me too

iatee, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 14:40 (twelve years ago) link

me three.

EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 14:41 (twelve years ago) link

yeah, me too

horseshoe, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 14:58 (twelve years ago) link

Someone explain the appeal of Rene & Georgette
i'll try, i put it pretty high on my ballot. i think i like this one not only because of the lovely melody, but because it is a simon song that i find kind of mysterious? i'm not really sure what the song is *about* and that is actually a little rare for simon? he's a very purposeful writer, and it's unusual that a song of his feels so beguilingly strange. maybe? i don't know.

tylerw, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 14:58 (twelve years ago) link

I like "Rene" more now than I did in the mid nineties when I bought Negotiations that's for sure.

Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 March 2012 14:58 (twelve years ago) link

the appeal of rene and georgette is all in the sort of yearning way he sings the names of all the doo-wop groups. any paul simon songs about music i automatically love, i think. but also i didn't vote for it.

horseshoe, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:00 (twelve years ago) link

rene is super ridiculously evocative. love the imagery in that song so much i don't really care what it's about.

call all destroyer, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:01 (twelve years ago) link

I like the key change in "Siiiide by siiiddde...."

Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:03 (twelve years ago) link

so annoying to think how much garfunkel there's gonna be in the top 20 though. who let all these s&g fans in. diminishing my goodwill towards BOTW somewhat.

― judith, Tuesday, March 20, 2012 5:19 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol otm

horseshoe, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:03 (twelve years ago) link

I'll count it a victory if Julio tops BOTW.

something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:06 (twelve years ago) link

my ballot was like 80% S&G or Graceland, hate all you want but a) diehard-only polls are lame and b) i promise i will someday be better acquainted with PS's catalog

some dude, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:07 (twelve years ago) link

My ballot was 15% S&G.

something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:09 (twelve years ago) link

idk its a song about memories, about before and after. there's artifacts and traces of past lives that become fossilised in those artifacts. how things were before. its like when sonny takes a look back on his yearbook photos in obvious child or the child of his first marriage. a kind of density of association, overstuffed with memory. here crystallised, here forgotten. but also like the mannequins of christopher street. its almost benjaminean: the trace the archive. an old photograph of them when they were younger. before and after. and how in that instant dancing alone in their room, the distinctions seem to fall away. i mean melodically it doesn't do much for me and i find the language a little clunky in places like someone said. a little heavy handed compared to the subtle allusions he works on other parts of that album.

judith, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:11 (twelve years ago) link

al, i agree that diehard only polls are lame, i was just grumbling. also i guess someday i should become better acquainted with s&g's catalog. grumble grumble.

horseshoe, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:12 (twelve years ago) link

my ballot was 5% S&G

horseshoe, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:13 (twelve years ago) link

my ballot was like 80% S&G or Graceland, hate all you want but a) diehard-only polls are lame and b) i promise i will someday be better acquainted with PS's catalog

― some dude, Tuesday, March 20, 2012 3:07 PM (4 minutes ago)

i think its just that paul simon threads can count on the same reliable posters and you get used to a certain consensus and its a little disorienting to be reminded that there are people out there that have some notion that hazy shade of winter is a better song than gumboots for eg.

judith, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:14 (twelve years ago) link

my ballot was 5% s&g

lag∞n, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:16 (twelve years ago) link

its weird i didnt know they were so popular relative to solo simon

lag∞n, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:16 (twelve years ago) link

^^^

judith, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:16 (twelve years ago) link

i don't have any problem with people voting for a lot of graceland btw; it compensates for me brutally slashing graceland from my ballot, about which i still feel guilty

xp because of people's parents! and how they're in all the movies!

horseshoe, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:17 (twelve years ago) link

i actually had more s&g than graceland

judith, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:18 (twelve years ago) link

more psyched than usual to see everyone's ballots

horseshoe, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:19 (twelve years ago) link

my ballot was 40% graceland B-)

lag∞n, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:19 (twelve years ago) link

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme is a good album dudes

some dude, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:19 (twelve years ago) link

okay but someone explain "scarborough fair" to me

horseshoe, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:19 (twelve years ago) link

In my anecdotal observation of a very small sample group, solo Simon resonates more with Gen X demographic than with millenials (who are more likely to have the S&G best-of or even Concert in Central Park than Negotiations, eg).

something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:20 (twelve years ago) link

are plax + Lamp millenials?

horseshoe, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:21 (twelve years ago) link

i didn't vote for "scarborough fair" but i don't think i can explain even the S&G songs i like

some dude, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:22 (twelve years ago) link

his s/t is 25% of my ballot when i thought that would be rhythm of the saints. i guess i always forget how much ground he covers w/ it because its his most pared back instrumentally, but on graceland its like a couple of tracks will do in terms of standing in for the whole project, same with rhythm of the saints. whereas Paul Simon and Hearts and Bones subtly move out of these different moods and sounds in a way that's crucial to understanding what the project is about.

judith, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:25 (twelve years ago) link

i really did want to vote for most of the s/t but i restrained myself

horseshoe, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:27 (twelve years ago) link

honestly i think my inability to grok 'scarborough fair" is same as the rest of s&g. garfunkel's voice freezes everything in amber or something; it gives it this museum-like quality that makes me care less about it.

horseshoe, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:29 (twelve years ago) link

i just voted for what i was most into

lag∞n, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:29 (twelve years ago) link

i'm not into the whole "sound of silence"/"scarborough fair" vibe in general

some dude, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:30 (twelve years ago) link

the s&g earnest dork vibe is tough to take

lag∞n, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 15:31 (twelve years ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.