Paul Simon's 'Graceland'

this thread is hilarious.

Ah yes, that was during the 1986-87 "accordion" craze, when that most ridiculed of musical instruments was suddenly and briefly "hip". People like Simon, J.C. Mellencamp, Los Lobos, Buckwheat Zydeco and others were selling many records and winning Grammys for accordion-drenched LPs. It didn't last long, but it was a fairly interesting development at the time. I never owned "Graceland" but heard it a lot from roommates when I was in school, and still like about half of the uptempo songs, mostly for the amazing fretless bass playing and, yes, the accordion.
-- Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, June 7, 2004 3:16 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark Link

um, yeah. "accordion" "craze." all those grammys. even zydeco bands were getting into "accordions" at the time!

and this:

i would like the songs on Graceland if they removed the African beats and kept it to a guy and his guitar.I apologise if this offends anyone because it's meant to be rascist.
-- chevy chase, Tuesday, February 8, 2005 10:16 AM (3 years ago) Bookmark Link

classic

still a great album, credit is overrated

Definitely good. Definitely overrated.

I remember at the time, Rhythm of the Saints got a very good response, but for some reason nobody talks about it now. I also think it's a much better record than Graceland.

I always liked that first single from Rhythm Of The Saints -- The Obvious Child -- way better than anything on Graceland.

(M.I.A.'s next cover should definitely be "Boy in the Bubble")

Absolutely not. "I Know What I Know" is the only choice for a M.I.A cover. Besides, "Boy in the Bubble" might touch some sensitive family nerves.

Actually, it's just a bad idea all the way around.

there's no general Paul Simon thread, so maybe this is as good a place as any to post... a coworker inexplicably gave me a copy of Paul Simon's "Songs from the Capeman" awhile back, just got around to listening to it now. In the first song he gets off some really clumsy lyrics but also drops "nigger" and a rather forceful "fucking" in a rather disconcerting manner... not sure why this was such a commercial/critical failure, maybe cuz the subject matter is really kinda dark and bleak and not some happy-go-lucky cheery world music fusion thing that's easy for people to grasp on a surface level (don't get me wrong I know there's dark undercurrents to all his material including Graceland and, I assume, Rhythm of the Saints, but its fairly easy to ignore unless you pay unusually close attention to lyrics).

it is fairly amazing that this guy's voice has basically not changed AT ALL in 40 years

this is kinda good actually - some really beautiful doowop singing on here

yeah this is the only Paul Simon album I've never heard, I think! I should give it a listen.

I love that opening song "Adios Hermanos." It's so thick with storytelling. Main problem with that album/musical was collaborating with Derek Walcott on the rest of the lyrics.

I know this is a "musical" so maybe I should forgive some of the "speaking in character" stuff he lapses into (rolling his r's, etc. although it is kinda funny to hear him spit out "motherfuckers")

should I be blaming Walcott...? There are definitely some decidedly un-subtle, non-Simonish lyrical things going on here.

I haven't gotten into the rest of the album (other than the closer "Trailways Bus" kinda), but I love love how "Adios Hermanos" starts out with those super-long lines like "Gumboots" has, except in character and in a specific time and place, and how it builds into the super-long drawn-out single syllables by the end, and how it's all a cappella.

It's pretty much on par with "Nebraska" as far as songs in which the singer ends up strapped into an electric chair.

this is a totally ugly album (sounds really pretty tho) no wonder his audience didn't bite

sample chorus: "fucking puerto rican dope-dealing punk / get your shit-brown ass outta here"

sounds like it was co-written with this guy
http://www.paul-simon.info/PHP/pictures/thumb2/1062290526_paul-reed(lou%20reed).jpg

It's pretty much on par with "Nebraska" as far as songs in which the singer ends up strapped into an electric chair.

just behind 'ride the lightning' though

lolz great pic of him and Lou

talkin about puerto rican doo wop, i'm sure

("puerto rican doo wop" being the name of a sweet strain of cocaine in the late 70s)

okay, cheeseball me got a little choked up randomly hearing this "Father and Daughter" song off of "Surprise" while swimming with my daughter

It's a good song!

His singing especially: it's self-mocking yet totally sincere.

I had never heard it before but yeah struck me as pretty vintage Simon right off the bat

liked this song except for the cartoony backing vocals ...

This fucking album wow.

otm

rulez

first cd ever owned and I think I want it to be last thing I listen to before I die

It was my soundtrack to this last summer. I kept putting on the song "Graceland" just to hear it alone, and then listening to the whole album anyway. And then I'd listen again.

it has been the soundtrack to so many of my summers

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

I remember seeing the Graceland concert film this comes from in Music class back in Kindergarten onward whenever it was time to study "World Music." IIRC we never got to sing any of the songs.

My soundtrack to family car journeys in England. So many good memories.

x post.

growing up, it was such a part of my family holidays in the car. I now have a copy just to repeat the experience with my family.

its a best of Paul Simon CD but 40% of it is Gracelend so I don't feel I'm missing out.

growing up, it was such a part of my family holidays in the car.

Same for me. It always gives me flashbacks to the smell of hire cars and the South of France.

growing up, it was such a part of my family holidays in the car. I now have a copy just to repeat the experience with my family.

ha, me too! I had no idea this was a universal

I didn't grow up with it, but it was the last "family record" we had, coming out just as we stopped being able to do things as a unit. So it's nostalgic, but in a bittersweet sort of way.

Since it was the first CD my family owned (and I think the ONLY pop/rock CD for some time) it was a family experience for me as well - I was still young enough that I would listen to the music my parents liked, and it was an album the whole family seemed to really like.

def universally approved of in my family too

it was the first CD my family owned

Yup! Same here.

lol i think it's the only pop cd my mum owns

haha i didn't really hear this album growing up but when i went on vacation w/ my wife's family in June i must've heard this in the car like 8 times

I have still never heard more than four songs from this album. For some reason, this one totally passed my family by even though I think it would have been right up their alley.

we listened to it on vinyl, made me the indie fukk i am today

After listening to it again and again all summer, and getting kinda weirdly curious about what it would feel like to lose love and have a window to my heart, and then remembering that I'm happily married, I'm not sure what to think of this being a really popular family album, besides that the words must not be listened to very clearly.

what families cant appreciate having windows in their hearts plz

lolz yeah the lyrics on this album are a total downer! par for the course with Simon

Well that was your mother,
And that was your father,
Before you was born dude,
When life was great,
You are the burden, of my generation,
I sure do love you,
But let's get that straight,

what a horrible thing to say to your child

haha, yeah, the narrator of that song is an incredible asshole