PAUL SIMON POLL RESULTS THREAD AND DISCUSSION

I voted American Tune higher than Rene and Georgette, but love both. In re the "appeal" of the latter, besides the really lovely chorus there's the notion of Doo-wop (and by extension music) as a redeeming force. Sort of a Simon thesis statement, but in a gentle, un-didactic way.

Can we guess top 5, or does that spoil things for people?

"american tune" is nice; i didn't vote for it; apparently it was used in a commercial for barack obama?

I don't know a dream that's not been shattered

I love "American Tune" (it was my #4), but my favorite version is Willie Nelson's not Paul's.

This performance from the two of them in '93 is great:

http://youtu.be/q_12lzRizYw

#22 SLIP SLIDIN' AWAY
#21 RENE & GEORGETTE MAGRITTE WITH THEIR DOG AFTER THE WAR

my 1/2

The "he kissed his boy as he lay sleeping" line in Slip Slidin' has been a guaranteed tear-up moment for me ever since I had kids.

Have you heard the acoustic Slip Slidin demo? I like it better than the original

me too

me three.

yeah, me too

Someone explain the appeal of Rene & Georgette
i'll try, i put it pretty high on my ballot. i think i like this one not only because of the lovely melody, but because it is a simon song that i find kind of mysterious? i'm not really sure what the song is *about* and that is actually a little rare for simon? he's a very purposeful writer, and it's unusual that a song of his feels so beguilingly strange. maybe? i don't know.

I like "Rene" more now than I did in the mid nineties when I bought Negotiations that's for sure.

the appeal of rene and georgette is all in the sort of yearning way he sings the names of all the doo-wop groups. any paul simon songs about music i automatically love, i think. but also i didn't vote for it.

rene is super ridiculously evocative. love the imagery in that song so much i don't really care what it's about.

I like the key change in "Siiiide by siiiddde...."

so annoying to think how much garfunkel there's gonna be in the top 20 though. who let all these s&g fans in. diminishing my goodwill towards BOTW somewhat.

― judith, Tuesday, March 20, 2012 5:19 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol otm

I'll count it a victory if Julio tops BOTW.

my ballot was like 80% S&G or Graceland, hate all you want but a) diehard-only polls are lame and b) i promise i will someday be better acquainted with PS's catalog

My ballot was 15% S&G.

idk its a song about memories, about before and after. there's artifacts and traces of past lives that become fossilised in those artifacts. how things were before. its like when sonny takes a look back on his yearbook photos in obvious child or the child of his first marriage. a kind of density of association, overstuffed with memory. here crystallised, here forgotten. but also like the mannequins of christopher street. its almost benjaminean: the trace the archive. an old photograph of them when they were younger. before and after. and how in that instant dancing alone in their room, the distinctions seem to fall away. i mean melodically it doesn't do much for me and i find the language a little clunky in places like someone said. a little heavy handed compared to the subtle allusions he works on other parts of that album.

al, i agree that diehard only polls are lame, i was just grumbling. also i guess someday i should become better acquainted with s&g's catalog. grumble grumble.

my ballot was 5% S&G

my ballot was like 80% S&G or Graceland, hate all you want but a) diehard-only polls are lame and b) i promise i will someday be better acquainted with PS's catalog

― some dude, Tuesday, March 20, 2012 3:07 PM (4 minutes ago)

i think its just that paul simon threads can count on the same reliable posters and you get used to a certain consensus and its a little disorienting to be reminded that there are people out there that have some notion that hazy shade of winter is a better song than gumboots for eg.

my ballot was 5% s&g

its weird i didnt know they were so popular relative to solo simon

^^^

i don't have any problem with people voting for a lot of graceland btw; it compensates for me brutally slashing graceland from my ballot, about which i still feel guilty

xp because of people's parents! and how they're in all the movies!

i actually had more s&g than graceland

more psyched than usual to see everyone's ballots

my ballot was 40% graceland B-)

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme is a good album dudes

okay but someone explain "scarborough fair" to me

In my anecdotal observation of a very small sample group, solo Simon resonates more with Gen X demographic than with millenials (who are more likely to have the S&G best-of or even Concert in Central Park than Negotiations, eg).

are plax + Lamp millenials?

i didn't vote for "scarborough fair" but i don't think i can explain even the S&G songs i like

his s/t is 25% of my ballot when i thought that would be rhythm of the saints. i guess i always forget how much ground he covers w/ it because its his most pared back instrumentally, but on graceland its like a couple of tracks will do in terms of standing in for the whole project, same with rhythm of the saints. whereas Paul Simon and Hearts and Bones subtly move out of these different moods and sounds in a way that's crucial to understanding what the project is about.

i really did want to vote for most of the s/t but i restrained myself

honestly i think my inability to grok 'scarborough fair" is same as the rest of s&g. garfunkel's voice freezes everything in amber or something; it gives it this museum-like quality that makes me care less about it.

i just voted for what i was most into

i'm not into the whole "sound of silence"/"scarborough fair" vibe in general

the s&g earnest dork vibe is tough to take

it's hilarious imo

it is, in theory

im sort of a sucker for the sentimental.

i find the world weary sentimentality of his solo works so much more affecting

im not so discerning

wait r u switching to the s&g camp what happening here noooooooooo

i can totally understand not liking scarborough fair; between its englishness and its old-ness its not very simony at all

garfunkel's voice freezes everything in amber or something; it gives it this museum-like quality that makes me care less about it.

That's part of my issue with BOTW. It's gorgeous and all, but inert.

i can totally understand not liking scarborough fair; between its englishness and its old-ness its not very simony at all

― max, Tuesday, March 20, 2012 11:45 AM (46 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes i want my simon frontloaded. all simon all the time! sad eyes happy face! shouldering little kids out of the way when they step on his spotlight!