PAUL SIMON POLL RESULTS THREAD AND DISCUSSION

I know "Mrs. Robinson" belongs to that category of oppressively overplayed radio songs, but the Joe Dimaggio verse will never not amaze me.

yeah I feel the same way. other people have expressed incredulity at my admiration for the Dimaggio verse but it's such a perfect image, the vanished, defeated folk hero. And I don't even like baseball.

I have always thought of solo-era Simon as a pretty chill dude. It's the evolution from earnest nerd to laid-back hipster that I think most separates S&G from the later stuff.

Hard to imagine the Simon of S&G working a line like, "When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school..."

Yeah, and with that going, it seems like Simon really speaks to people like me who WERE earnest nerds and possibly English majors etc., went to a lot of museums, and just get a little further on and go "okay, chilling is cool too."

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

― horseshoe, Wednesday, March 21, 2012 8:01 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, a bit shocked by and disappointed in this thread. 50 ways chorus is so wonderful, esp in the way the song suddenly becomes propulsive, suggesting the actual act of leaving, after the static intimacy of the verses, which only contemplate it. and i'm also w horseshoe in liking all the pauls, the laid-back hipster of the 70s no more and no less than the earnest undergrad of the 60s.

"50 Ways" is literally the first pop song I remember listening to and having stuck ion my head, chorus only. The verses in between made it like a peek-a-boo game.

And as I've said elsewhere, the line that I loved most then was "You don't have to be courdoroy."

The thing about the 50 Ways chorus, for the stans who love it and don't get why anyone would hate it...much as I love it and I *did* vote highly for it, the chorus and the verses are almost two separate songs. The chorus is the novelty/corny Simon, where it's so close to an advertising jingle that it could easiily be the only thing a person hears when they think of the song.

If you don't love that song a LOT, you may not even be able to remember the quieter, more pleasant/writerly verses.

And honestly it would be the most boring poll in the world if the results exactly matched your ballot.

The verses in between made it like a peek-a-boo game.

lol, yeah, i remember having something like this sense of the song at first. not as an infant, so probably not as literally, but as a kid who loved the chorus.

And honestly it would be the most boring poll in the world if the results exactly matched your ballot.

oh, of course. i just like to fulminate.

So, the top ten at this point is looking fairly predictable, not that that's a bad thing - it should be pretty much wall to wall classics, although my hopes for "Oh Marion" are dashed and "Papa Hobo" along with them. But for once I have no sense at all of what will swing #1 - seeems like there's a few strong contenders although I expect "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes," "Julio," or "Only Living Boy In New York."

Generally don't have too much to say about this last batch of ten - they're all pretty great and I've posted about them before I'm sure. The only ones I voted for were "Late in the Evening," "Bridge," and "You Can Call Me Al," which I voted #1... though I can't really explain or articulate why. Not in the sense of it being this really strong emotion that resists verbalization...it was more just the ballot-making process, each song I compared it to and went "Do I like this more or less than 'You Can Call Me Al'," and it always won. It's not really the quintessential Simon song but I will never get tired of singing along to it, any place or any time that it comes on.

my man

Is Diamonds a lock? I was having a private guess at the top ten earlier and could come up with seven (none of which were Diamonds, and only one S&G, though I guess Only Living Boy will probably make it)

america is gonna be #1

or graceland

obvious child???

Diamonds is a lock, yes

Julio

Cecilia

Living Boy in NY or Boy in the Bubble, though wouldn't be surprised if any of the previous 6 make it.

Duncan better make it.

looking like "Take Me To The Mardi Gras" isn't gonna make it, which surprises me, but I guess it got swamped by all the S&G on here.

I won't pretend to have any idea what the top 10 will be, a lot of the placements here have been completely inexplicable imho

It might not be very suspenseful if Lamp manages to sneak out the top ten without anyone noticing

#40 - FAKIN' IT
#39 - THE LATE GREAT JOHNNY ACE
#38 - THE 59th STREET BRIDGE SONG (FEELIN' GROOVY)
#37 - AT THE ZOO
#36 - KEEP THE CUSTOMER SATISFIED
#35 - MY LITTLE TOWN
#34 - TRAIN IN THE DISTANCE
#33 - STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS
#32 - SO LONG, FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
#31 - GUMBOOTS

#30 - SCARBOROUGH FAIR/CANTICLE
#29 - HOMEWARD BOUND
#29 - BORN AT THE RIGHT TIME
#27 - AMERICAN TUNE
#25 - A HAZY SHADE OF WINTER
#25 - THE COOL, COOL RIVER
#24 - PEACE LIKE A RIVER
#23 - I KNOW WHAT I KNOW
#22 - SLIP SLIDIN' AWAY
#21 - RENE & GEORGETTE MAGRITTE WITH THEIR DOG AFTER THE WAR

#20 - THE SOUND OF SILENCE
#19 - I AM A ROCK
#18 - YOU CAN CALL ME AL
#17 - BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER
#16 - MRS. ROBINSON
#15 - LATE IN THE EVENING
#14 - HEARTS AND BONES
#13 - KODACHROME
#12 - 50 WAYS TO LEAVE YOUR LOVER
#11 - MOTHER AND CHILD REUNION

I am starting to think that Crazy Love will not place :(

a song I voted for primarily because of how much I love the line "fat charlie the archangel files for divorce"

11 of my votes in there so far. guess nothing from so beautiful is making it in? i voted for "dazzling blue." surprised that you can call me al wasn't top 10, thought that was a shoo-in.

figure that "diamonds", "only living boy", "cecelia", "graceland", "america" and "me & julio are locks". beyond that, i'm not sure. "the boxer" maybe? "boy in the bubble"? "bleecker street" and "el condor pasa" are favorites of mine, but i have to figure they're long shots here.

i really wasted my ballot, i blame the time pressure

did he really wear a wig? seems like he suddenly got hair in the 80s again but it's gone again now (he invariably wears hats).

"Think Too Much" will surely make this, no?

did he really wear a wig? seems like he suddenly got hair in the 80s again but it's gone again now (he invariably wears hats).

everybody did. it was the times. they were mostly made out of excess burt reynolds, iirc.

yeah, "think too much" def has a good shot. not a personal favorite, but good call.

xp

Guessing "The Obvious Child" is the Rhythm left, "Graceland" and "Diamonds," and that's it post-70s.

i guess the boy in the bubble places as well

xp haha.

did you guys know it was his idea to have a golden coke spoon on a necklace dangling around his neck in Annie Hall? true story!

one of my all time fave shows was his Liverpool gig in 2002, his first Merseyside gig since playing the clubs back in the pre-fame 60s. was an absolute carnival atmosphere in there, it was in this tent they used to have every Summer down by the Albert Docks at this month-long mini fest called 'The Pops'. usually only mid-levelish bands played it so this was some kind of crazy coup on behalf of the promoters. it ended up getting rated 10/10 by the big local paper 'The Echo' (who it's said rarely give full marks to gigs). after the support act i raced out to get a tour brochure and the entire merchandise stand had been decimated, nothing whatsoever left, literally just empty cardboard boxes and cellophane on the tables and floor. never seen that before/ since. for a rock gig it had an almost 'rave' like atmosphere!

I hate gigs but that sounds the best

I bet Boy In The Bubble will be top 5. Maybe even 1.

It will. Cecilia won't.

9 of mine on so far, I expect 5 or 6 more in the top 10. As a bettin' man I'd put 5 bucks on Julio for #1 (tho that's partly because I voted it there...)

Ceciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilia

sorry, had to. it's in my head every time I see the word

my car is named Cecilia

:D

Cecilia reminds me that I need to do an ilm search for a thread about handclaps in music, it's one of my favorite things

It will. Cecilia won't.

would be a crime if this were true. luckily, it isn't.

Cecilia is a about as raunchy as a pop hit can be, making love (not coy?, and then that stone-cold moment when he comes back from washing his face!

Anyone who has a partner whose name fits the cadence of CeciliA is lucky. Like Don Rickles's wife--she can sing that song to him when entering the bedroom in a negligee.

Don RickliA?

She comes in with some Frederick's of Hollywood number singing "Making love in the afternoon with Don Rickles up in my bedroom..."