PAUL SIMON POLL RESULTS THREAD AND DISCUSSION

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

50 ways chorus prob most epitomizes the aspect of ps that i cant really deal with

xpost Ditto, I have cracked myself up to that whole sequence so many times.

lol yes, that post has given me a deep deep new appreciation of "still crazy."

had no idea everyone hated the 50 ways chorus so much.

50 ways chorus prob most epitomizes the aspect of ps that i cant really deal with

For me it's like the opposite. The aspects I have most reaction against is the po-faced stuff that's most prevalent in S&G but resurfaces here and there through the solo career. Loose, jazzy Paul >>>>>>>> English-major Paul.

i like all the pauls.

lyrics to s&g songs can be really annoying, though, tru

Rubbing those two aspects of Simon up against each other in one song is what makes it classic. It was high on my ballot.

i don't dislike the 50 ways chorus specifically. the whole song just feels very slight and unmemorable to me in ways that seem surprisingly opposite to public opinion of it.

re: 50 ways, that is

btw, I heard it on the radio yesterday and thought "yep, high placement totally justified"

xp to self

I love the chorus of "50 Ways" & agree with tipsy re. the Simons.

50 ways was my #3

this is where i get to play "comedy films poll" by saying i love the 50 ways chorus bcz i loved it when i was 13.

guessing "For Emily Wherever I May Find Her" is not showin up

If that misses the top 10 that's a shame.

I didn't vote for it specifically for the slightness issue, but I do love the song. I think if Paul Simon were a one-hit wonder and this was his only thing, it'd do really really well in like the 70s songs poll, you know, this fondly-remembered bit of AM good times. As a "Paul Simon song" it doesn't quite fit somehow.

er, that's in ref to "50 Ways," not "Emily!"

For me it's like the opposite. The aspects I have most reaction against is the po-faced stuff that's most prevalent in S&G but resurfaces here and there through the solo career. Loose, jazzy Paul >>>>>>>> English-major Paul.

― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, March 21, 2012 11:02 AM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

these are i guess the two aspects of ps that i cant really deal with, and its not that hes loose and jazzy its that hes trying to be loose and jazz when its not really in his nature, he is not a chill dude

PS feels like a dude that only really relaxed and came into himself when he had kids

i mean just judging by his songwriting/lyrics and stuff