‘Mother and Child Reunion’ - Paul Simon - 1972

Credit: Far Out / Album Cover

The songwriters Paul Simon ranks in the “top tier” of music history

Mon 22 December 2025 17:40, UK

Ever since the 1960s, Paul Simon has been setting the standard for how to write bulletproof melodies in his songs. Whether playing his usual take on folk-rock or taking risks on projects like Graceland, Simon has cultivated a way of writing songs that have grown fluid in terms of which genre it is, leaving his musical thumbprint in the way he shapes his melodies. When considering his influences, Simon viewed only a handful of artists on the highest tier of songwriters.

Then again, Simon was also always a tough customer when it came to his songs. Throughout his time in Simon and Garfunkel, he was known to be frustrated with how his songs were being translated, famously not liking the rock version of ‘Sound of Silence’ when he heard it for the first time before it became a hit.

When it came time for the group to make their magnum opus, Bridge Over Troubled Water, it was becoming clear that Simon and Garfunkel had done all they could together, with Simon quickly moving on to his solo career with folk-pop diamonds on tracks like ‘Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard’. While it takes a certain amount of songwriting experience to create a chord sequence like ‘50 Ways to Leave Your Lover’, Simon’s sense of melody culminated in every influence he could think of.

The truth is, looking back at the songwriting world, it is hard to ignore the impact of Simon. While some are more imposing or lyrically dense, what Simon has excelled at is his keen sense of melodic intuition. He has always been more on the pure side of songwriting, and that is reflected in those who came before him that he considers the greatest of all time.

Discussing the songwriters that shaped him, Simon would offer up a brilliant list of songwriters that he considered the highest quality, saying, “I’d put it at [George] Gershwin, [Irving] Berlin and Hank Williams. I’d probably put Paul McCartney in there too. Then I’d have Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.”

Paul Simon - Musician - 1986 — Credit: Far Out / Record Sleeve

While songwriters like Berlin and Gershwin are better suited to the stage and screen than traditional rock and roll, it’s easy to see the way that Simon took the foundation of their music and injected them into his music. Rather than look at his guitar as an extension of his personality, every Simon song sounds like it was poured over with the same amount of detail as a Gershwin production, taking the most basic melody and making it sound like the work’s most complicated production.

Then again, Simon has never been far from country, which makes sense considering his acoustic foundation. Outside of the love of Hank Williams, though, Simon’s sense of storytelling in his songwriting is descended from Williams, who is always known for getting straight to the point with his songs and writing standalone stories that work on their own when played on an acoustic guitar.

When it comes to Paul McCartney’s influence, it almost goes without saying how much Simon has taken from the Beatle. From the first time the Fab Four touched ground in America for their first television appearances, every artist recognised how sophisticated their chord progressions were, with McCartney being responsible for incorporating elaborate melodies into songs like ‘Yesterday’.

The two men are quite well-connected in the world of song. Both writers have a keen sense of melody and are not afraid to make themselves look corny in the name of a great tune. Simon was always more concerned with the sanctity of songwriting than with what made him look cool.

On the lower tier of songwriter, Simon would even include more acclaimed songwriters as varied as John Lennon and Stephen Sondheim, thinking every artist of their calibre could be considered among the greatest he had ever heard. Then again, the eclectic mix of names is a good indicator of how he looks at his music. Regardless of genre, everything has the potential to be fantastic as long as there’s a bulletproof melody over the top.