From Fleetwood Mac to Joni Mitchell: Harry Styles’ 10 best covers
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Credit: Irener
The Paul Simon song that Harry Styles wishes he wrote
Over the last few years, Harry Styles’ reinvention as a solo artist has been spectacular. It has seen him establish himself as a bonafide superstar who has duly earned his position as a headliner of Coachella. Surprisingly, Paul Simon is one of his biggest influences, and there’s one song by the singer that the former boyband member wishes he penned.
Even before Styles had endured a rebrand and broke free from the shackles of One Direction, when he was asked about the music he listened to, the singer often took the opportunity to heap praise on the diminutive New Yorker.
As the years went on with the group, the ‘Adore You’ singer began to feel more confident in his songwriting. While he didn’t collect as many co-writing credits as some of his bandmates, Styles later revealed ‘Walking In The Wind’ from their final album, which was a homage to ‘Graceland’ by Simon.
“I’m a big Paul Simon fan and I think the inspiration behind it was ‘Graceland’, in which the verse was so conversational, informal and it’s like spoken word,” he revealed. “It’s quite casual and I love that album and when I listen to it I love hearing the influence from that in this song. I really love the song.”
Despite Graceland’s glistening influence on his career, especially as a solo artist, it’s not a track from that particular Paul Simon record that he has named as the one song he wishes he wrote.
Speaking with EW in 2015, Styles revealed: “I wish I had written ’50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, I think the verse in that song is one of the best verses ever written. It’s incredible.” Back in 2019, he reiterated these comments and told Rolling Stone: “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,’ that’s the greatest verse melody ever written, in my opinion. So minimal, but so good — that drum roll. ‘The Boxer’ is a perfect lyric, especially that first verse.”
He added: “I grew up in a pub for a few years when I was a kid and Simon and Garfunkel were just constantly playing, always. Every time ‘Cecilia’ started, I’d be like, ‘I think I’ve heard this a hundred times today.'”
Elsewhere in the same interview, Styles used the example of Simon while defending pop music and said that it’s a right of passage for all great songwriters. The singer said: “I think of all the great songwriters I love — but they all had their pop songs. Joni Mitchell with ‘Help Me,’ Paul Simon with ‘You Can Call Me Al,’ Harry Nilsson with ‘Coconut.’ You have to conquer the fear of pop.”
With inspirations as acclaimed as those three, Styles is undoubtedly on the right track, and perhaps, one day, he’ll have his own ’50 Ways To Leave Your Lover’.
