Paul Simon’s big problem with John Lennon
Every songwriter has a unique approach to putting their melodies together. Whether making the best of a handful of chords or putting together the most complex musical exercises they can think of, every piece of songwriting tends to feel like a tiny puzzle that artists work their way through to create works of art. Although Paul Simon can admit to having many masterpieces in his collection, he did have a handful of problems with one of his contemporaries.
Throughout the first half of his career with Simon and Garfunkel, Simon was known for making some of the most mellow folk rock tunes of the era. While he may have gotten things rolling with the sublime political statement ‘The Sound of Silence’, the rest of the decade would be spent improving his craft in whatever way he knew how.
Across albums like Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme and Bookends, Simon was used to fitting his songwriting mould into different textures, whether it was poking fun at the establishment or experiencing the wonders of life as he saw around him like on ‘The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)’.
Before Simon started honing his craft, John Lennon was hard at work making strides as a songwriter. While The Beatles saw Lennon working alongside Paul McCartney throughout the first half of his career, the back half of the 1960s saw Lennon creating political musical masterpieces, often going after those in power on tracks like ‘Revolution’.
While Simon would have internal tension with Art Garfunkel for political statements like ‘Cuba Si, Nixon No’, he would harshly criticise Lennon’s way of approaching politics. Though Lennon’s solo tracks like ‘Give Peace a Chance’ read like propaganda posters surrounding the peace movement, ‘Power to the People’ didn’t hit the right note with Simon.
When talking about Lennon’s approach to the song, Simon never connected with the tune, telling Rolling Stone, “It offends me. I don’t feel it talking to me at all. John Lennon’s not interested in me when he makes that statement. I’m outside that record. It’s not affecting me”. Although Simon had no problem listening to Lennon’s great songs with The Beatles, he thought his knowledge about writing political songs never struck the right nerve.
Compared to his political material, Simon would say that Lennon was never breaking any new ground with his statements, explaining, “I find that he seldom says anything that’s interesting or innovative to me, and yet, I listen, based on a long-standing respect”. Lennon did lob the ball back at Simon, initially calling the songwriter a “singing dwarf” when describing the new music-makers on the scene.
Then again, Simon was harsh on even the greatest songwriters of his time, even taking a few cheap shots at Bob Dylan on the song ‘A Simple Desultory Philippic’. Even though Simon may have tried to branch out into new territories whenever he wrote a political song, ‘Power to the People’ works so well because of how universal it is. It may sound like a cheap cliche, but more often than not, cliches can work to one’s advantage.
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