The 1986 song Paul Simon would redo in a heartbeat: “Too many words”
For any songwriter like Paul Simon, the work is never truly done after you walk out of the studio.
The main focus of any great Simon track is the emphasis on rhythm, and even though he liked the idea of stretching his songs and seeing what he could do on every single one of them, he felt that there were many times where the production didn’t do justice to the songs as it should have. And yes, that does even include some of the greatest tunes that he had ever worked on once Simon and Garfunkel broke up.
There was never anything inherently wrong with the duo or anything, but Simon clearly wanted to go in a bold new direction after working with his buddy for years. There was a lot more to explore when he got out of the duo framework, and from his solo debut onward, he wanted to make music that appealed to a bunch of different listeners. He may not have been able to get away with making a tune like ‘Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard’ before, but with the right session guys, anything was possible.
Still Crazy After All These Years was another example of him trying to make some of the biggest songs of his career, but there was always something missing from what he wanted out of his songs. And when he settled on making Graceland, he felt like he finally had an outlet for what he wanted his songs to be, other than the traditional rock and roll and pop sensibilities.
These South African musicians gave him the musical voice that he wanted every time they played, and the title track is the perfect example of them working off each other. The whole song has the same travelling beat that everyone has heard a million times, but hearing everyone else interpret his lyrics was a trip for him. But if that was already a mind-bender, getting the Everly Brothers to sing some of the backgrounds for him on the song was a dream come true.
He and Art Garfunkel spent their childhoods loving the Everlys, and a lot of his lessons in vocal harmony were taken from them. But when listening to the two of them playing off each other in context, Simon felt that there were a few times in the title track where he felt like the lyrics didn’t do justice to the signature harmonies that they sang behind him. They were too wordy, and Simon knew it.
The story of a boy and his father travelling to Graceland needed to have all of the specifics in there, but Simon said that he would have redone the entire thing if he had the chance, saying, “It’s the only lines I’d rewrite. I got the Everly Brothers on there. Too many words for them.” But that’s just one of the things that makes Simon’s songs sound so good out of context.
Sure, some of the lines can get too wordy, but that’s the reason why many of his songs feel so complete. The lyrics are able to paint a picture a lot better than everyone’s imaginations could, and you can feel Simon trying his best to pull everything that he can out of the song, whether it’s the setting we’re in, what the relationship is like in the song, or how everyone feels by the time the rest of the band kicks in.
It’s not an easy tightrope for anybody to walk, but Simon felt that there was a lot more to offer the listener than just a bunch of ho-hum lyrics every single time he made a record. There was an entire world of poets out there, and he was the next in line to help turn rock and roll into something that sounded a bit more cerebral than normal.
