The forgotten Paul Simon song he always thought was one of his best
A friend of mine only just recently heard Paul Simon‘s ‘Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes’ for the first time. Yes, they had so far lived 29 years of life, without hearing the euphoric sounds of that a cappella introduction.
Thereafter, they were treated to the riches of Graceland as an album for the first time and lived through an experience I can only be jealous of. It showcased the sort of songwriting and narrative intimacy that made Simon such a compelling writer, but paired with a new grand style of production, inspired by the soaring vocal harmonies of Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
While Simon is the sort of musician who you would expect to steer towards deep cuts, he’s unafraid to join critics and fans alike, labelling it “the peak in my solo career”.
It was an album that set Simon free. While the guitar, of course, played a large part in the record’s composition, it was a sum of a much broader part. A project that encouraged Simon to blend genres and, as a result, embrace multiple instruments. On Graceland, Simon was more than the folk artist once introduced to us, clutching nothing more than an acoustic guitar and telling profound stories of the human experience.
So after 1986, everything had changed for Simon. While in those moments of performative quiet, where he reached for the acoustic, he was still compelling. But in the studio, the realms of possibility had been opened wide, and the genre fusing wouldn’t seem to end.
So 14 years later, in 2000, he recorded a song that followed on from the mantra set out on Graceland. A tropical rhythm section was paired with his melodic folk sensibilities to create ‘Darling Lorraine’, a track that explores the journey of a relationship in particularly honest Simon fashion.
Once again, Simon distilled the essence of universal relatability through a very specific narrative. His lyrics have always been vulnerable, honest, and deeply linked to his own experiences, yet they convey a sort of timelessness that lends itself to dedicated fans.
This is why, 18 years after the song’s first version, Simon felt he could rearrange it. On his 2018 record In The Blue Light, a much slower ‘Darling Lorraine’ features as the eighth track.
“We tried to make the arrangement a bit simpler so that the story would come through,” Simon explained, before outrightly admitting. “I always thought ‘Darling Lorraine’ was one of my best songs.”
Without knowing it, Simon may have introduced the next genius idea in music, particularly for songwriters who share his style. The reflective nature of ‘Darling Lorraine’ has led to its change over time, which makes the hearing of its second version so fresh. In 2000, 18 years younger and closer to the story in which he tells, Simon’s voice still seems to be asking questions within the lyrics, while 18 years later, wisdom has completely set in, and so it listens as a completely different tale.
Neither lazy nor simple, the idea of revisiting your own song nearly two decades later is a musical method more people should adopt.
