‘A Simple Desultory Philippic’: Paul Simon’s most vicious lyric
Snark, barbed insult, and bitchy mud-slinging aren’t typically associated with singer-songwriter Paul Simon. While he’s not above slight slights at former bandmates, ex-wives, or his lifelong frenemy Art Garfunkel, Simon’s gentle lyricism is far too wide-eyed and sincere ever to lace his folk-rock poetry with undertones too bitter.
However, he may have made an exception for 1965’s ‘A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara’d into Submission)’. Included on his UK exclusive solo album The Paul Simon Songbook and re-recorded for the acclaimed Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme third LP with Garfunkel, his uncharacteristic talking-blues whirlwind approach and affected nasal delivery sounds remarkably like one particular Greenwich Village vagabond songsmith similarly making a name for himself in the contemporary folk scene.
A frosty relationship between Simon and Bob Dylan may have been triggered during the latter’s heretical jump into the world of plugged-in rock, just as Simon & Garfunkel were due to play New York’s Gerde’s Folk City in 1966. Having already unendeared himself to Dylan with his earlier cut of ‘A Simple Desultory Philippic’, Dylan reportedly snickered during the duo’s hushed folk set, prompting awkward glances from Simon and awkward air in the venue.
The lampoon being a wry parody of Dylan’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’, it’s possible Dylan made a point of making his presence known, buoyed by the confidence of his perceived lyrical superiority.
Following this thorny encounter, Dylan’s mockery and need for a re-record emanate with an extra-stricken grievance. Peppering the song with a myriad of pop-cultural figures, from Mick Jagger to Ayn Rand, Simon clearly parodies Dylan’s dense and knotty approach to songwriting, giving the impression of a subtle lack of respect, as if to say, “This is easy songwriting”. Comically flexing his verbiage, Simon plunders archaic terms like ‘desultory’, meaning lacking purpose, and digs into antiquity to unearth ‘philippic’ from Greek orator Demosthenes. In doing so, he ironically mirrors the cryptic historical allusions that often entangle Dylan’s work.
The most vicious lyric of ‘A Simple Desultory Philippic’ may be its silliest. Among its winding traverse across references to Lenny Bruce and Phil Spector, as well as referencing as much as four of the vagabond’s recent pieces, Simon’s “I’ve lost my harmonica, Albert” quip at the end, followed by a clunky use of the reed wind as the track fades out feels acutely mocking, especially when Dylan’s first manager was called Albert Grossman.
It’s all speculation at the end of the day. Whatever beef had been had, troubled water was under the bridge by the late ’90s, performing with each other on odd occasions. Simon had offered a contrite appraisal of their respective strengths and had suggested that his seeming attack may have been lost in the performance.
”One of my deficiencies is my voice sounds sincere,” he told Rolling Stone. “I’ve tried to sound ironic. I don’t. I can’t. Dylan, everything he sings has two meanings. He’s telling you the truth and making fun of you at the same time. I sound sincere every time“.
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