Paul Simon: Songwriter (2011)

This is a poem by a recent Poet Laureate:

All night each reedy whinny
from a bird no bigger than a heart
flies out of a tall black pine
and, in a breath, is taken away
by the stars. Yet, with small hope
from the centre of darkness,
it calls out again and again.
Delights & Shadows.

And this is a stanza of a Paul Simon song:

There is a girl in New York City
Who calls herself the human trampoline
And sometimes when I'm falling, flying
Or tumbling in turmoil I say
Oh, so this is what she means
She means we're bouncing into Graceland
And I see losing love
Is like a window in your heart
Everybody sees you're blown apart
Everybody feels the wind blow...

Now I ask you: Who is the real Poet Laureate?
 

And not just for a year --- for every year since he wrote "Sounds of Silence," all 50 of them.

Well, at 68, Simon can still write them. From "So Beautiful, Or So What":

Sweet July, and we drove the Montauk Highway
And walked along the cliffs above the sea
And we wondered why, and imagined it was someday
And that is how the future came to be
Dazzling blue, roses red, fine white linen
To make a marriage bed
And we'll build a wall that nothing can break through
And dream our dreams of dazzling blue

As for singing, just revisit his performance of "Sounds of Silence" at the 9/11 memorial service.

And now we have "Paul Simon: Songwriter" --- two discs, 32 songs, 140 minutes of music. You know most of them. But there are alternate versions, and choices you might not have made, and, mostly, there's a chronological sequence that starts with the teenage triumph of "Sounds of Silence" --- recorded live this year --- to "So Beautiful," recorded in the studio this year.

Simon's view is that he's a writer first, a performer second. Name a song, up pops a memory: "The Boxer," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Kodachrome," "Still Crazy After All These Years," and all of "Graceland," his favourite song, his favourite album, his masterpiece.

The popular idea is that those songs stay with us because they're short stories and character sketches.

The proof is right in the open, for all who have ears --- Paul Simon, Poet Laureate. 

Disc 1/2
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01. Paul Simon - The Sound Of Silence 4:25
(Live At Webster Hall, 2011, New Unreleased Version)
02. Paul Simon - The Boxer (Live At Central Park, 1991) 4:17
03. Aretha Franklin - Bridge Over Troubled Water 5:29
04. Paul Simon - Mother And Child Reunion 3:03
05. Paul Simon - Tenderness 2:50
06. Paul Simon - Peace Like A River 3:14
07. Paul Simon - American Tune 3:44
08. Paul Simon - Kodachrome 3:32
09. Paul Simon - Something So Right 4:33
10. Paul Simon - Late In The Evening 3:59
11. Paul Simon - Train In The Distance 5:12
12. Paul Simon - Hearts And Bones 5:39
13. Paul Simon - Still Crazy After All These Years 3:23
14. Paul Simon - Rene And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After 3:41
The War
15. Paul Simon - Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes 5:46
16. Paul Simon - The Boy In The Bubble 3:58
17. Paul Simon - Graceland 4:50

Disc 2/2
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01. Paul Simon - The Obvious Child 4:08
02. Paul Simon - Further To Fly 5:31
03. Paul Simon - The Cool, Cool River 4:30
04. Paul Simon - Spirit Voices 3:55
05. Paul Simon - Born In Puerto Rico 4:55
06. Paul Simon - Quality 4:12
07. Paul Simon - Darling Lorraine 6:35
08. Paul Simon - Look At That 3:51
09. Paul Simon - Señorita With A Necklace Of Tears 3:37
10. Paul Simon - That's Me 4:34
11. Paul Simon - Another Galaxy 5:19
12. Paul Simon - Father And Daughter 4:07
13. Paul Simon - Rewrite 3:49
14. Paul Simon - Love And Hard Times 4:05
15. Paul Simon - So Beautiful Or So What 4:06