Paul Simon's 'Graceland'

The colonialist narrative is almost a potent as 'Buena Vista Social Club' - white entrepreneur 'discovers' long lost primitive music, conspicuously coded as 'exotic' and 'Other'? Fetishistic to say the least.

I only with he had continued making "traditional" Paul Simon albums. "Hearts And Bones" was his best ever, and he has yet to record a proper followup that is mainly the work of Paul Simon and not just Paul Simon trying to show some talented ethnic musicians to the world.

what if you don't care about the coding? I mean, is the music bad?

I lean towards the former, since I cannot get the songs out of my head (in a good way) without even listening to the freakin' album.

The whole album's good, and the best songs are way better than good.

You're the one saying 'primitive', 'exotic' and 'other', buddy! I don't think that's how the record is received. What has fetishism got to do with it anyway?

At this distance, the album is both a classic and overrated. There is an awful lot of filler on the second side. But the first six songs are among the best Simon has ever written, musically and lyrically. Boy and Graceland, especially, have fabulous lyrics, and Diamonds remains stunningly pretty. Nothing on Rhythm of the Saints or Hearts and Bones -- both of which I like a lot -- really comes close to those.

The colonialism charge is completely misplaced. This was totally different than, say, Joni Mitchell's Jungle Line, where she recorded over loops of field recordings of African drums, and used those sounds as a metaphor for mystery, darkness, man's primitive nature, primal truth, etc. Simon was inspired by a new kind of music he heard, but he was never using it in an objectified way. His use of township jive for hipster New York narratives emphasized the sophistication and (gulp) universality of the music, not its exoticism. He was using African music much the way Kurt Weill used blues in Mahagonny, or Mahler used Chinese music in Das Lied von der Erde, or Cheb Khaled used Irish music in Abdul Qadr, or David Byrne uses Brazilian music all the time, or, for that matter, all of alt-country: acts of cross-cultural engagement and respect, not appropriation.

And, just to make things clear to those who were not around then, Simon bent over backwards to credit his African collaborators at the time. Not just Ladysmith Black Mambazo, but also especially Ray Phiri (guitar) and Baghiti Khumalo (bass), both of whom also contributed to Rhythm of the Saints and toured with Simon for years. But there was never any question that these were Paul Simon songs (except for the one song that was recorded over a pre-existing track). That is part of what gave the project its strangeness and excitement.

Thought two: this-- "His use of township jive for hipster New York narratives emphasized the sophistication and (gulp) universality of the music, not its exoticism. He was using African music much the way Kurt Weill used blues in Mahagonny, or Mahler used Chinese music in Das Lied von der Erde, or Cheb Khaled used Irish music in Abdul Qadr, or David Byrne uses Brazilian music all the time, or, for that matter, all of alt-country: acts of cross-cultural engagement and respect, not appropriation" --is quite right and well put.

Thought three: "Boy in the Bubble" ought to have been a bigger hit than "You Can Call Me Al," but such things can't be helped. I also like "I Know What I Know" and even the one with Linda Rondstadt, "Under African Skies."

Thought four: I agree that Rhythm of the Saints is a fantastic record that is way underrated.

Of course, if you don't like Simon (and I really can't stand Simon & Garfunkel), then this "Graceland" argument is largely moot. I think it and the eponymous debut are his best work.

I've been curious about "Hearts & Bones" for years (I heard the track with Chic the other day), but am afraid it's gonna sound as static and morose as "Rene & Georgette Magritte..." or "Train in the Distance."

Anyway, I don't know--this record annoys me, actually; like many here I like that bass playing. But Paul Simon is a very annoying singer to my ears. Every time I hear this or that awful fucking Ry Cooder Buena Vista Social Club crap, I think back on the Drew Friedman cartoon of Simon and Byrne meetin' up in the jungle, both with their portable tape recorders. Still, Ry Cooder is far more the villain for doing what he did to Cuban music, in my opinion; it's ridiculous, too, that we can't *go* to Cuba easily and find out what's going on there.

I liked "Graceland" aside from the Ronstadt track (she irks me on a number of levels), and saw the '86 show at Radio City (Ladysmith, Masekela, Makeba).

I ask you: is this a government that cares about art?

As for Simon...I'm loath to call Simon a colonialist. Insulting labels are only applicable in the case of failed or flawed art, which Graceland certainly isn't.

The graceleand album whether it is your cup of tea or not is a remarkable album from what I call a genius of a man. He is a phenomenal singer, and I think comments like eddshurts:

Anyway, I don't know--this record annoys me, actually; like many here I like that bass playing. But Paul Simon is a very annoying singer to my ears. Every time I hear this or that awful fucking Ry Cooder Buena Vista Social Club crap, I think back on the Drew Friedman cartoon of Simon and Byrne meetin' up in the jungle, both with their portable tape recorders. Still, Ry Cooder is far more the villain for doing what he did to Cuban music, in my opinion; it's ridiculous, too, that we can't *go* to Cuba easily and find out what's going on there.

Is a bunch of bullcrap ok you dont like it, but he didnt do anything to cuban music its called a striving musician growing and striving for something new and exciting, and succeeding in that too!

Like I said any good musician would have respect for if not love Paul Simon.

ILM: Arguing About Records We Don't Own And May Not Have Even Heard

The Blue Aeroplanes onced covered it, but I never found their version particularly engaging. I'm actually not sure if it was an issue with their cover specifically, or just general fatique with the song.

Matter of fact, they would sound dissapointingly weak then, with the exception of "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes" and maybe one or two more. The songs were built around the African beats, and they just don't hold up as pure songs the way the songs on his earlier albums did.

Which I why I like consider "Graceland" one of his weakest albums btw.

Generally it is a good way to judge whether a song is good or not. Personally I know it would show very well how those songs are not good.

The best songs work perfectly backed by only a guitar or a piano. Always. This also includes Simon's best songs. Most of which were written in 1982-83 or earlier.

Perhaps that's because he's American.

-- Geir Hongro (geirhon...), May 17th, 2006.

http://www.mywasteofspace.com/heehee.gif

Western music is European.

always felt graceland's appeal transcends era, age and gender in a way bia does not

i mean its much better but dads do love both

dads do, but i feel more mums and kids also love graceland than bia

I think BIA has one thing in common with Graceland, in that it sort of goes for an exceptionally mild version of pan-global music here and there, but where Graceland almost creates this singular new genre of music, MK just added a few flourishes here and there to a song like Ride Across the River. I’ve actually listened to it a few times lately and while a couple of the tracks are harder to take now than they were 40 years ago, I think most of it holds up pretty well. So Far Away is good, Your Latest Trick is one of those “secret lives of adults” songs I heard as a kid and it being a grownup sound very mysterious, Ride Across the River is excellent, etc. Walk of Life sounds exponentially worse now.

They were also two of the first CD blockbusters. BIA is a unique case of an album that had to be edited down from the CD/Cassette master for the Vinyl release.

bothers in arms is a great album, its stylistically pretty much not what im looking for in music but still i cannot deny its power, i liked it when i was 11 and i like it now

having a sports bloopers based video is a perfectly placed grace note for this work and its era

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd9TlGDZGkI

Walk of Life sounds like a lovable losers era ‘80s Cubs team to me, I can picture Thad Bosley having an effective pinch hit at bat or Doug Dacenzo making a competent catch.

woo
hoo

I always put "Walk of Life" alongside "Sultans of Swing" as songs about musicians while the type of music the musicians in the song are playing isn't the same genre as the Dire Straits song itself.

(Unless the "song about the knife" the buskers play in "Walk of Life" is not Brecht/Weill's standard "Mack The Knife" but is in fact "Six Blade Knife" from the Dire Straits self-titled debut LP Dire Straits!)

"They were also two of the first CD blockbusters. BIA is a unique case of an album that had to be edited down from the CD/Cassette master for the Vinyl release."

That happened a few times. Union by Yes for example. The most recent non-experimental example I can think of is Goldie's Timeless, which omits "Mother" if you buy it on vinyl.

So in a way the vinyl revival has had one positive side-effect, which is that it has eliminated the hour-long album. That was a plague in the 1990s. The album that went on too long.

Someone has taken an incredible amount of time and effort to back up the idea that "Walk of Life" is the perfect song to end any movie.

(that probably should've gone in a Dire Straits thread)

Wasn't Brothers in Arms the first CD to go platinum?

xpost Walk of Life project rules.

XP Platinum on CD sales alone, yes.

brothers in arms and graceland two stone cold dad rock classics

I have probably said this before but these were literally the only music I heard on long car journeys throughout my entire childhood.
Occasionally some happy clappy church singing tapes or the odd Enya or Cat Stevens track, or Jokerman by Bob Dylan, tacked on to the end of a C90.

even as a kid I was fairly sure that a girl in New York City who said she was a human trampoline didn't actually mean 'we're bouncing into Graceland'.

or in the graceland.

why not?

i guess because I thought she was commenting on the nature of her interactions with other people and wasn't referring to going to a real or metaphysical location.
maybe if I said I'm a human basketball and someone said "oh you mean we're dribbling into Graceland" I'd go yeah sure idk

I have probably said this before but these were literally the only music I heard on long car journeys throughout my entire childhood.

Honestly being a dad or mom in the late 80s driving your family to the Grand Canyon listening to Paul Simon seems pretty great. Apropos of nothing did you know nostalgia was originally considered mental illness

they really knew what was up back then

More like the M4 than the wide open roads of Arizona :)

BIA was the first record I remember buying with my own money. I didn’t know about the songs on it being edited down to fit on vinyl. I remember being torn between getting the cassette or the vinyl, and ended up getting the vinyl, which I would then have to dub onto cassette using my dad’s stereo, but editing was not a concern.