PAUL SIMON POLL RESULTS THREAD AND DISCUSSION

Popping the collar on your corduroy jacket c/d

The Spence/Bloomfield pic, could that have been at Monterey Pop?

yes

can we be shown paul simon + weirdos
http://www.paul-simon.info/PHP/pictures/thumb2/343_lionelrichie-steviewonder-quincyjones.jpg

Darryl Hall thinkin baout things

not weirdos

http://a2.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/84/4b99de66c2b9e5a1e377ac472e051a41/l.jpg

so not gonna happen

Was that photo taken after he blessed them for improving "Hazy Shade of Winter"?

boy did they

Are they planning anything for the 10th anniversary of the Slanted & Enchanted 10th anniversary reissue?

hoffs looks more baked than blessed

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee366/lamp11/20Sounds.jpg
#20 THE SOUND OF SILENCE
1964/1965 (single)
255 points/11 votes/0 #1 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YSh1-XuUKE

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee366/lamp11/19IAmARock.jpg
#19 I AM A ROCK
1965 (simon solo)/1966 (simon & garfunkel)
257 points/13 votes/0 #1 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKY-smJ6aBQ

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee366/lamp11/18YouCanCall.jpg
#18 YOU CAN CALL ME AL
1986
260 points/11 votes/3 #1 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq-gYOrU8bA&ob=av2e

#20 THE SOUND OF SILENCE

woo! and we're back. fickin' love this song. sounds like a museum. (my highest vote yet to place: in @ #8)

also voted for "i am a rock", but seriously regret it in light of "peace like a river"

kind of hate "you can call me al", despite the angels in the architecture, angels, hallelujah!

must specify here that i voted "i am a rock" solo version

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee366/lamp11/17BridgeOver.jpg
#17 BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER
1970
265 points/10 votes/1 #1 vote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_a46WJ1viA

I have a love hate relationship with You Can Call Me AL

<3 Bridge over Troubled Water though and goddamn I wish it was higher

whatever "you can call me al" is gr8 also look at lil paul simon in the video he cracks me up. i didn't vote for it btw :(

it just feels like a novelty song, even with Simon's lyrics

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee366/lamp11/16MrsRobinson.jpg
#16 MRS. ROBINSON
1967 (graduate soundtrack version)/1968 (album and single release)
284 points/12 votes/0 #1 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_jmDscGi7E

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee366/lamp11/15Latein.jpg
#15 LATE IN THE EVENING
1980
353 points/16 votes/1 #1 vote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57RIlznOpDM

"late in the evening" is a good song. not better than "peace like a river."

btw on the solo version of "i am a rock" simon sings it all raw and intense and kind of sounds like a serial killer.

oh, man, "mrs robinson". if i'm being brutally honest with myself, one of my favorite songs of all time, bar none. i freeze up and tune in every time i hear it, no matter where i am, no matter what i'm doing. even if it's the lemonheads cover. have loved that song desperately my whole life long, and i've never grown in the least bit tired of it. had it at #6, and i'm not sure i could bring myself to change that, which only shows how weirdly important S&G and paul are to me.

love "late in the evening", too, but nowhere near as much. cut "bridge over troubled water" at the last moment am at peace with that decision.

I'm sad that Late In The Evening is not even top 10, which makes me reallllly curious as to what's in store.

These results are really interesting!

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee366/lamp11/14Hearts.jpg
#14 HEARTS AND BONES
1983
363 points/13 votes/3 #1 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ425RKCqco

fwiw hearts and bones had the highest average vote placement of any song with 2+ votes and for a long time had the most #1 votes of any track.

also fwiw 'i am a rock' was really high on my own ballot, i think its one of the best s&g tracks and the guitar playing is just incredibly satisfying. the song has a lot of momentum and feeling to it, its the sort of song that you find yourself singing along to with unexpected confidence and passion, and the chorus is simple but just deeply effective.

a moment in "hearts and bones" that i love is "his hands rolling down her hair"

xp yeah "i am a rock" is great; its placement on my own ballot is sort of arbitrary but i love it. my sister was listening to it the other day and pointedly asked me if i identified it. offense taken.

identified with it. paul simon evidently renders me unable to type.

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee366/lamp11/13kodachrome.jpg
#13 KODACHROME
1972/1973 (single)
373 points/17 votes/1 #1 vote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLsDxvAErTU

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee366/lamp11/1250Ways.jpg
#12 50 WAYS TO LEAVE YOUR LOVER
1975
386 points/15 votes/0 #1 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=298nld4Yfds

"50 ways to leave your lover" is so fun. guys, it's really not better than "peace like a river."

hop on the bus, gus
you don't need to discuss muuuuuuuuch

haha not sure what happened there? anyway one of the only songs where i feel like it really is too low. im not even that huge a fan of '50 ways' but it just feels like such an important ~paul simon song~ that im kinda bummed it missed the top ten

i said "i appreciate that" and could you please explaaaaaain
about the 50 ways...

oh holy shit, guys, "kodachrome" (my #1!) and "50 ways to leave your lover" both waaaaaay too low. what church will you not burn?

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee366/lamp11/11Mother.jpg
#11 MOTHER AND CHILD REUNION
1972
388 points/15 votes/0 #1 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pa5H_4lBXs

on the first three solo albums i didn't vote for any of the big singles so i could have room for beloved album tracks. this is a big lie, especially in the case of "me and julio" but look this poll was way too hard and i needed to take desperate measures.

a couple years ago a good friend lost her (wonderful) mother and when i got in the car to go to her funeral, this song popped on. that day never really had a chance anyway but i was a mess.

"me and julio" was my #2, and i really had to struggle between that and "kodachrome". could not deny those two. saved space for "mother and child reunion" at the end, but it's one of the choices i half want to 2nd guess in retrospect.

loving the photo selections, btw, lamp

haha despite the fact that only voted for 2 of these 10 songs i think theyre a pretty unfuckable with collection of total jamz, like every one of them has something remarkable about them, they are a testament

i didnt vote cos I dont know enough solo paul simon...

I always assumed "Punky's Dilemma" was beloved on ILM.

I guess my two SBoSW jams won't make it.

haha despite the fact that only voted for 2 of these 10 songs i think theyre a pretty unfuckable with collection of total jamz, like every one of them has something remarkable about them, they are a testament

and

one of the only songs where i feel like it really is too low

go for me too. All permutations I could come up with for these results had 50 Ways top three.

Not enough said about "I Know What I Know", so I'll say two things:

1. it's my favorite song on Graceland because it sounds like a real collaboration; it doesn't feel like he's either Paul Simon-ing all over a good backing track or trying and failing to sing in another idiom. "Mother and Child Reunion" is like that for me too -- his song fits with a way huge backing track that comes outside of Simon's cultural word, and something cool comes out of it.

2. Good Lord the video editing on that live Graceland video is SLOPPY. Watch for the bass player, Bakithi Kumalo: he's playing a fretless Washburn -- no wait, a fretted Fender -- no, the Washburn -- all inside a matter of seconds.

I know "Mrs. Robinson" belongs to that category of oppressively overplayed radio songs, but the Joe Dimaggio verse will never not amaze me. I think you have to place it in the context of its moment, and in the context of the rest of the song--the way it comes out of nowhere--to appreciate fully what I don't hesitate to call a flash of genius. "Mother and Child Reunion" is one of many songs from my favourite year, 1972--"Let's Stay Together," "Hello It's Me," "You Wear It Well," etc.--where nostalgia cuts very deep for me. Loved it on the radio then (I was 11), still do. (Unlike "Kodachrome," which I loved then and am indifferent to now.) Pretty sure I did not know what reggae music was in 1972.

Kinda stunned BOTW is no higher than #17. Was my all too predictable #1 (I've been under its spell of late).