PAUL SIMON POLL RESULTS THREAD AND DISCUSSION

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).

"Al" was my #1. It's a fab ringtone---those horns! But yeah, the last verse, I live that feeling. The poll with it & "Once in a Lifetime" is one of my fav ILM things.

BOTW was my senior class song. It's rubbed me wrong ever since.

Similar thing here. It was the only pop song my school choir was allowed to sing.

xxxxp

Mother and Child Reunion, Let's Stay Together, Hello It's Me and You Wear It Well are all among my favorites too. cheers!

"Al" was my #1 obv

"50 Ways" is the only big canonical Simon hit that i straight up don't get at all, i always want it to be better than it is

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

"You Can Call Me Al" is kind of a brainier "Hot Hot Hot" (not in a bad way!).

Also, Simon mentioned in an interview (Songwriters on Songwriting) that "Mother and Child Reunion" as a title comes from a menu item featuring chicken and scrambled eggs.

Also, I completely forgot about "Mrs. Robinson"!

Chevy Chase should've done a "serious" Paul Simon video at some point, maybe as a Graham Greene-type guy in "The Cool, Cool River."

"50 Ways" was my #5, at least half because of Steve Gadd. Love that shuffle so much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZZLLYEzKE8

yeah steve gadd absolutely kills that track

i posted this on the other thread so i assume everyone who cares has heard it but i love this edit that removes the goofy chorus and adds a nice bass line

http://soundcloud.com/aordisco/50-ways-to-leave-your-lover-pollyns-re-edit-remix-paul-simon

ha, that's interesting - but I for one welcome the goofy chorus. It's fun!

Lose the chorus and you lose the way he hits "discuuuuuss muuuch," which would make me sad.

Simon mentioned in an interview (Songwriters on Songwriting) that "Mother and Child Reunion" as a title comes from a menu item featuring chicken and scrambled eggs.

...and "Yesterday" was originally called "Scrambled Eggs." The secret history of pop music coming into focus.

http://sp.life123.com/bm.pix/scrambled-eggs1---eggs-on-plate.s600x600.jpg

xpost:

Plus I think the goofy chorus is kind of the point of the song, which is a ribbing of '70s touchy-feeliness and therapy talk.

xpost Few people know that "And I Will Always Love You" was originally titled "And I Will Always Love Juice," until Dolly Parton's conservative Southern management insisted it was too evocative of OJ Simpson and therefore of an interracial relationship.

The more you know

Also, goofy chorus is part of this ongoing thing we see where all this "adult" "grown-up" stuff paired with stuff that any kid is going to love singing along to.

I really like the 50 Ways edit - it's like a completely different song without the chorus.

'Lounge' is the mantra though - I can well imagine lounging, in a lounge, to that cut.

Never seen that whole AOR Disco site before, what riches it promises.

gdamn "50 ways" without the chorus is like christmas without presents or something

xxxxp More eggy Simon weirdness: "I Am The Walrus"' juxtaposition of eggmen/Humpty Dumpty and "coo coo ca-choo" ("Mrs. Robinson")

gdamn "50 ways" without the chorus is like christmas without presents or something

― call all destroyer, Wednesday, March 21, 2012 10:03 AM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

no dog its like christmas without church

Church of the Bus Gus

Pastor Coy Roy officiating.

Don't need to repent, Kent.

no no you guys this one's pretty easy

"I look outside my window and I watch the Cars" - Paul is in London where Roy Thomas Baker is producing their debut, he sees them arriving at the studio daily for tracking
"I fear I'll do some damage one fine day" - he is thinking of covering one of their songs in his own style
"but I would not be found guilty by a jury of my peers" - old hippies will love my Cars cover no matter what it sounds like
"still crazy after all these years" - I am an axe murderer

― pathos of the unwarranted encore (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, August 30, 2011 12:57 PM (6 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i think of this post every time it's "Paul Simon" time