“I just started to cry”: The moment Paul Simon uncovered his favourite song of all time
Music connects with the soul more viscerally than any other art form. It can unlock emotions within listeners that they didn’t even realise existed within them, whether this be joy, desperation or anything in between Paul Simon learnt this one weepy day in the 1950s.
Simon’s love of music was born during childhood, and it has never dissipated by an inch. Even now, the singer-songwriter is still obsessed with the art of songwriting despite suffering from immense hearing problems, which has made it difficult. However, his burning desire for his craft remains the reason why he wakes up in the morning.
Before writing his own music, Simon was merely a fan like the rest of the population. He had a particular fondness for the work of Elvis Presley, his first musical hero. ‘The King’ transformed contemporary music in the 1950s, and Simon worshipped the ground that Presley walked on.
As a teenager, Simon’s life changed forever when he switched on the radio and heard Presley for the first time. He later reflected in an episode of Omnibus: “I remember in that parking lot being in the backseat of my parents’ car when they went shopping, and hearing Elvis Presley for the first time on the radio, ‘That’s Alright, Mama’. The announcer said, ‘Now here’s a singer named Elvis Presley, every time he performs in the south, there’s a riot every time he sings.”
It was his first seminal musical-related memory, and for him, Elvis is still among the greatest artists in history. He followed Presley’s journey before he became the most recognisable celebrity in the United States and witnessed his rise to greatness. Simon’s music taste naturally evolved as new artists emerged, and Presley’s career derailed.
Still, his childlike enthusiasm for Elvis never waned, and the late star was responsible for his favourite song of all time. Understandably, like the rest of the musical community, Simon was devastated by Presley’s death and took it upon himself to visit Graceland.
The experience formed the basis for his solo album of the same name, a tribute to the late musician. He once said of the voyage: “I went to Graceland, and I didn’t tell anyone I was coming, I didn’t get any special treatment. I went there, walked around, and I was unimpressed. Until you finish the tour and come outside, and then there’s his grave.”
He’d found it tacky mere moments ago, but now the connective nature of the man at its heart rose to the fore. As Simon emotionally continued, “He had a God-given talent that he shared with the world. And without a doubt, he became most widely acclaimed, capturing the hearts of young and old alike. And I just started to cry, and I thought, it’s really true.”
He proudly added, “This guy was loved by everybody. Being in the crowds at Graceland… it’s almost like a religious thing.” As well as the album name, Simon also borrowed from Presley on the title track, influenced by ‘Mystery Train’. The Elvis effort was initially recorded by Junior Parker in 1953, but for Simon, the only version that matters is Presley’s.
In the biography Paul Simon: The Life, the singer-songwriter discusses his love for the track with author Robert Hilburn. Additionally, in an interview with Forbes, Hilburn said: “He had first fallen in love with doo-wop acts, most of whom were based in New York, but once he found Elvis (he remembers hearing Presley for the first time on the car radio in 1956) and the Everly Brothers, his fascination shifted to the South.”
The much rings true in the seamlessness of his melodies, as Hilburn continued, “To this day, one of his all-time favourite records is Elvis’ ‘Mystery Train,’ which was cut in Memphis several months before Elvis went to RCA and recorded ‘Heartbreak Hotel.’ If you listen closely to ‘Mystery Train,’ you can hear traces of it in the song ‘Graceland.'”
‘Mystery Train’ has defined Simon’s life and has been his most prized record since childhood. Simon has an unshakeable emotional attachment to the song, which he demonstrated by playing it 56 times in concerts during 2011 alone. While the singer has never outright described the creation as his favourite song of all time, his actions and Hilburn’s words prove it to be the case.
It might be disparate to what Simon went on to write in some ways, but the folk star love for those moving early melodies in his childhood has always remained. As the diminutive ‘Cecilia’ writer told Paul Zollo, “My first songs, they were just imitations of doo-wop. The early people that I liked in doo-wop were the Moonglows and the Penguins … Frankie Lymon, of course.”
He added. “Not as a writer but those records …I wasn’t really aware of who the writer was then. Chuck Berry, I would say he was probably the first really major influence. But I didn’t really know that until later.” First off, he just knew he was on the brink of tears somewhere near a radio, and the rest of his life could perhaps have been prognosticated in that very moment.
