POLL paul simon - the rhythm of the saints

Was this a New Jersey?

Not at all. I don't remember a sense of disappointment.

He was at risk of one post-Graceland but RotS totally delivered without rehashing it.

also pretty strong sonic connection between graceland and this... it's an expansion of that world from within as opposed to some deconstruction or pivot from it

There were, however, lazy white takes I remember glancing at (I was just becoming aware of rockcrit): "Brazilian percussion"= "South African rhythms."

Also, the album had no "You Can Call Me Al" as a hit even though (a) "The Obvious Child" and "Proof" got heavy MTV play (b) "You Can Call Me Al" only reached #23 in its second release.

this definitely doesn't have as many singles or single-esque tracks than Graceland, and overall the palette is way less interested in punching through the speakers and grabbing you, and a lot of the songs really stay in their groove and ride it into those emotional excavations. it's great. but can't imagine, for example, falling in love with almost every track as a child, the way i did with Graceland. it's just a different kind of record, for a different moment in a life. almost like /still crazy/ versus the first two solo albums, maybe. tho Graceland has plenty of that Simon wistfulness. just it also has like "Gumboots" and "I Know What I Know" and "That Was Your Mother" and the opening of "Diamonds." basically Graceland is a much more *fun* album - maybe his most fun album? but if you're in the mood, ROTS lets you ease into the sadness and the beauty, the middle-agedness, the reflection.

i think that's right. i had access to both albums as a child but i never really dug deep on RotS until my late 20s. graceland bounds from track to track with all these immediate new sounds in a way that few records ever have. i had to be much older to realize that melodically and lyrically RotS was just as good or better.

"spirit voices" is a great song... there's something about the way he sings the titular line that kinda drags along in this lazy way. love it

For years after I loved this album, I sort of hated it...it became associated with too many things I dislike.

But I returned to it a few weeks ago, and it truly is so so good.

confession, i've never been able to fully get on board with "Spirit Voices." maybe feels the most like what the bad version of this album would be --- white guy is cultural tourist, convinced he's had profound experience. but really it might just be the line "i drink a cup of herbal brew." it's a really lovely recording though.

you aren't wrong but the last part wins out for me

This thread inspired me to pull out my cassette of RotS as I'm trying to fall asleep--just a couple of tracks in, and I'm reminded that J.J. freaking Cale is on "Can't Run But"; his telltale gentle tonedoggery could only be coaxed from the fingers of one singular Okie guitar slinger (as much as Clapton would hope otherwise)

That reminds me that Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds plays harmonica on "The Obvious Child", which is slightly less surprising once you remember that at the time he was go-to guy for the authentic harp thang.

there is a crazy storm here atm & i am a bit terrified of storms so i put on Rhythm Of The Saints & it’s like the musical equivalent of a weighted blanket but like, magical & restorative

i have loved Paul Simon my whole entire life but holy shit, since I hit middle age he just hits so ~beautifully~ i feel v corny but it is so profound for me these past few years in particular

j0rd’s original origin story for this thread is pure gold btw

Love u

back atcha <3

i would change my vote to “she moves on” now. such a tender and vivid song

there were a few weeks this past summer where i basically only listened to the 91 concert in the park album… great new york summer album, when he says it’s a beautiful night in new york you can really feel it. he plays a good number of rhythm of the saints songs including ones like “she moves on” that seem to have been dropped from his sets by the 2000s.

My storybook lover
You have underestimated my power
As you surely will discover

appreciate this revive, Veg. giving this a listen this morning. my boo got us an upgrade for the turntable cartridge for Christmas and it is sounding so gently enveloping and fabulous on headphones. love the little bits of synth sprinkled throughout. and man, Vincent Nguini deserves a lot more attention... his guitar work is so lovely and so essential to the sound of the album.

Love that '91 concert album.

guys now that i have a kid i sing so much paul simes to her

can't listen to "born at the right time" without sobbing tbh

i also feel v corny, but there it is

not rhythm of the saints-specific but she just stopped letting me sing her "graceland" to sleep after basically a year of doing so.

i think rhythm has become my favorite of his albums

guys now that i have a kid i sing so much paul simes to her

can't listen to "born at the right time" without sobbing tbh

i also feel v corny, but there it is

not rhythm of the saints-specific but she just stopped letting me sing her "graceland" to sleep after basically a year of doing so.

i think rhythm has become my favorite of his albums

argh sorry for the double post

great post tho!

so nice it needed posting twice :)

I got this t-shirt on the Born at the Right Time tour — let me tell you, I was the envy of my 6th grade peers.

https://totalholisticbody.s3.amazonaws.com/band-tees-rock-tees-vintage-paul-simon-born-at-the-right-time-tour-1991-lhoxc.jpg

damn that shirt rules wtf

Scorned at the Right Time

Never been laundered, never been dry cleaned

i was pretty into comic books at the time, so i thought Paul looked kinda like the surprisingly ruthless villain in a Punisher graphic novel or something

It's funny how, for exemplifying "grown-up" songwriting, Simon's songs connect so well with kids. One of the earliest songs I remember hearing and loving was "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover," though I thought the line was "you don't have to be corduroy."

was like a pencil point
a love bite

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, June 28, 2014

xp ha, that's one of my kids' favorite songs! the internal rhyming in the chorus with the names makes it a fun sing along and is reminiscent of Dr. Seuss -- "hop on the bus, Gus!"

it was one of my favorites too!
also slip slidin away

re: kids: he's just a great pop songwriter, great ear for hooks and always looking for more rhythmic interest than probably any other "folk singer-songwriter" i can think of. he puts in the work to get the songs there.

i also think there's a lot of comparison to be made with Billy Joel, who i also loved from a pretty early age (though Simon got me first - maybe 3rd vs. 6th grade?). craft out the wazoo, songs you can sing along to, and maybe this intriguing edge of unfamiliar words and sketches of vaguely 'adult' situations --- all without the dreariness of sitting down to watch a 'people movie' where a bunch of grownups are just talking all the time.

oh man as a kid i was obsessed with

cars are cars
all over the world
cars are cars
all over the world
cars are caaaaaaaaaaars
all over the world

yeah as a kid I think I associated him with the adults on Sesame Street (though I didn't see his appearance on that show til years later) — they hung out with (and liked) kids and muppets but clearly had some other unknowable life going on elsewhere.

Never been laundered, never been dry cleaned

Hazy Shirt of Winter

I HAD THAT SAME SHIRT AS A HIGH SCHOOLER, I got it at a thrift store.

The druggy boys one year ahead of me, whom I worshipped, often complimented me on it, which brought me into their good graces and eventually their inner circle.

Dr C otm

Then I fall to my knees
I grow weak, I go slack
As if she captured the breath of my
voice in a bottle
And I can't catch it back

But I feel good
It's a fine day
The way the sun hits off the runway
A cloud shifts
The plane lifts
She moves on

― le goon (J0rdan S.), Sunday, June 29, 2014 11:52 AM (eight years ago)

hard to imagine better, more economical writing than "a cloud shifts / the plane lifts / she moves on." it's up there w/ "ro-lex / mo sex" for me

The Hilburn bio has draft lyrics of "The Cool Cool River" rather different from the published ones. He was meticulous about paring down.

The Cool, Cool River is a strong candidate for my choice of the greatest song ever made.

I've always adored this entire record (there's a couple of earlier posts of mine within this thread) but of late I got even more appreciation for especially Vincent Nguini's playing. It seems to me that he played guitar as if playing elaborate bass riffs, but distinct from actual bass by picking higher notes over the full span of an acoustic guitar, creating an incredible gentle, subtle and wonderfully lush background sound of a large diversity of notes. With a huge sense of rhythm to them.

an acoustic guitar

I've been meaning to get The Cool, Cool River down on solo acoustic guitar myself, but so far struggling a lot inbetween the unusual chord scheme that's out there and some youtube video which supposedly shows all of the riffs but sounds to me like a wildly jazzed-up version. My failing to follow what's exactly happening made me so much more in awe of the song than I already was.

Good post, Valentijn.

Alfred, I LOVE all the draft lyrics (already gushed twice upthread); for a couple of these songs the work-in-progress versions could easily have been released and been beloved.

my horse and my saddle
and my gracious companions
we tripped over a mountain
and we fell into a vast canyon

That the dude can write that and then throw it away continues to amaze me.

Also when I was first learning guitar - 1989 or so - I had a book of tabs called Fingerpicking Paul Simon. I don't play fingerstyle much lately, but I still use a lot of Simonesque voicings - there's a world of fun just in the "50 Ways" intro and I throw those chords on whenever I want a spacey maj7 vibe.