Paul Simon’s 10 favourite songs by Paul Simon
Despite retiring from touring many years ago, Paul Simon continues to devote himself to his craft. As his 2023 album Seven Psalms proves, the singer-songwriter still has plenty left to give and that he was born to create music.
For every imaginable situation that life throws up, ranging from jubilation to agony, there is a Simon song fitting of the occasion. Whether this be from his solo canon or through the work he contributed for Simon and Garfunkel, there’s no mood or emotion that he’s not made a track for.
It was never Simon’s ambition to be internationally famous; all he’s ever craved is the freedom to create. If ‘Sound of Silence’ didn’t become an unexpected radio hit following the initial dispansion of Simon and Garfunkel, he’d have been more than happy to have continued immersing himself in the British folk scene, playing to half-full rooms on a nightly basis.
At 11 years old, he met his kindred spirit, Art Garfunkel. Immediately, the pair hit it off, but little did they know what would come from their fruitful partnership and how it would shape their lives forever. This union was the start of a complicated relationship that blossomed into one of the best musical duos of all time, but it was also mightily dysfunctional.
For all of their redeeming qualities as musicians, Simon and Garfunkel were both characters with strong creative visions that didn’t mesh. Simon and Garfunkel have enjoyed more reunions than most bands have albums, but there’s a reason why they’ve called it a day so frequently. Nevertheless, divine chemistry arises when they put their issues behind them and perform together, but historically, the tension off-stage turned their brotherhood bitter.
Simon preferred the stress-free life that came with his solo career, and he flourished after the duo disbanded. While Art Garfunkel had a more technically astute voice, Simon’s songwriting prowess made the partnership tick. That magnetic skill places him in the pantheon of America’s greatest musical brains and makes him an artist whose work will live on for centuries.
For any musician, narrowing your own work down to a handful of favourites is a difficult task. Furthermore, it becomes even more challenging when you’re the rightful owner of a back catalogue as robust as Simon’s.
However, in Robert Hilburn’s biography, Paul Simon – The Life, a no-holds-barred discussion with Simon about his body of work takes place, and the singer graciously listed the ten tracks which mean the most to him.
Many artists grow tired of their biggest tracks, which often take on a life beyond what the songwriter ever envisioned. However, Simon still appreciates the beauty in his most famous works. Among his top ten selections are ‘The Sound of Silence’, ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, and ‘Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard’.
Yet, that doesn’t mean that Simon’s favourites only consist of the greatest hits, and he also found room for deeper cuts from his repertoire, such as ‘The Cool, Cool River’, which appeared on his 1990 album, The Rhythm of The Saints.
However, if one song were to define his career, it’d be ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’. Furthermore, on a personal level, it altered how Simon viewed himself with the pen, setting a new benchmark in his eyes.
Reflecting on creating the song in the documentary, The Making of Bridge Over Troubled Water, he explained, “I have no idea where it came from. It came all of the sudden. It was one of the most shocking moments in my songwriting career. I remember thinking, ‘This is considerably better than I usually write.”
Another Simon and Garfunkel favourite included is ‘The Boxer‘, written by Simon during a challenging moment of his life after doubt had crept in. At the start of the duo’s career, they were lauded as the future of music by the press, and they couldn’t do anything wrong in the eyes of the beholder, but this eventually changed.
Although they were still immensely popular, Simon started to witness the changing of the seasons and felt they’d become yesterday’s news in the blink of an eye. However, rather than back down, he picked up his boxing gloves and fought against the tide. “I think the song was about me: everybody’s beating me up, and I’m telling you now I’m going to go away if you don’t stop. By that time, we had encountered our first criticism,” he once noted.
He elaborated further on the peculiar position the duo found themselves in, adding, “For the first few years, it was just pure praise. It took two or three years for people to realize that we weren’t strange creatures that emerged from England but just two guys from Queens who used to sing rock ‘n ‘ roll. And maybe we weren’t real folkies at all! Maybe we weren’t even hippies!”
Despite achieving such a mighty degree of success, Simon has felt more comfortable when treated as the underdog. When Simon and Garfunkel first went their separate ways, the widespread consensus was that he would be left behind. However, against the odds, he proved himself to be a generation-defining songwriter who could stand on his own two feet.
