“Such wisdom”: The Paul Simon moment that still blows Art Garfunkel away
There are a number of different rules that surround songwriting. Regardless of whether you are speaking about Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan or somebody else, while opinions might vary wildly on how you should approach songs, there needs to be some kind of relatability there.
There are different approaches to songwriting, but it’s normal for people to want to write beyond their years. If you’re only 20 years old and love the work of a songwriter older than that, it’s natural that you would want to write something that mirrors the work of that artist you love. Bob Dylan once spoke about the idea of musical exploration and how you will naturally write inspired by other artists, but you should allow your own personality to shine through that influence.
“You can’t just copy someone,” he said, “If you like someone’s work, the important thing is to be exposed to everything that person has been exposed to. Anyone who wants to be a songwriter should listen to as much folk music as they can, study the form and structure of stuff that has been around for 100 years.”
This puts a lot of songwriters in a difficult position. People want to write from experience, but if a writer is young, they don’t just want to write from their age; they want to appeal to people at large, which means expanding beyond what they know and trying to have empathy for a situation that they don’t know anything about. It can be hard to achieve this, as it involves listening to a lot of music, reading, and having a basic understanding of other humans that you may be unable to relate to.
Paul Simon was able to achieve this. He didn’t only write from his point of view, but the point of view of various people. In doing so, he was able to make music that touched the hearts of thousands, even if they were people with whom he had nothing in common. Simon was relentless in his approach to writing music, which helped when penning classic songs.
“I work with my guitar and a legal pad and use about 50 pages to develop a song,” he said, “I get going fairly early in the morning, because my mind is sharp, […] Slowly, a song will begin to emerge although sometimes it will stagger along, day after day, making no progress at all. […] I think most songs should be written in the vernacular.”
Despite Simon’s relationship with his musical partner Art Garfunkel breaking down over the years, there was still an element of admiration there. Garfunkel was always incredibly impressed with Simon’s ability to write and appeal to different people, and this came through wonderfully on the song ‘Old Friends’.
On the track, Art Garfunkel sings about youth and going through changes. Simon was only in his ‘20s when he wrote it, but he conveys emotion that Garfunkel could not wholeheartedly relate to in his older years.
“It’s amazing that a 24-year-old Paul Simon could write with such wisdom about an older person’s perspective,” said Garfunkel “’Preserve your memories… how terribly strange to be 70′. Now that I’m 73, I just think life is strange, period! A fabulous mystery.”
