The album Paul Simon felt he botched: “My demo was better than this”
The success of Simon and Garfunkel is often overlooked. Sure, people recognise that they had some big hits and performed incredibly well; however, the magnitude of their careers usually falls under the radar. They played to huge crowds in Central Park, broke records, had many number ones, and are still praised today for their artistic ability.
When the duo split, their popularity meant their solo work was well-received. Many people thought that what Paul Simon achieved on his own overshadowed the work he did with his writing partner. This point could be argued, but something that is clear is that Paul Simon never stopped learning about the songwriting process. He was always keen to expand upon his knowledge and was persistently willing to learn from his mistakes.
This is clear on his album Graceland, a piece of music he made by focusing on rhythm and beats before actually applying structure and lyrics to his works. One interviewer pointed out this is the opposite approach to a lot of other musicians. “That may be the way it works for most songwriters or a lot of them. They sit, and they play, and they come up with an idea, and they write a song.”
Simon continued speaking about the process and the unpredictability of how long it can take to write tracks. “The song may come in a day, if you’re lucky, or a couple of days, or a week, which is still pretty fast,” he said, “I was never fast, even when I was younger, when I wrote much faster than I do now. I was never prolific.”
It turns out that Simon’s approach to writing Graceland didn’t come out of nowhere; it was actually the result of his disappointment in the album that preceded it. As he found himself bending the way that songs were put together to fit the overriding theme of an album, Simon realised he had to take a new approach to creativity that didn’t compromise the small picture for the overall record.
“I started to build the albums around rhythms in response to my frustration with the album that preceded Graceland, which was Hearts And Bones. I felt with that album that I had written some songs that were better than the tracks that went on the album,” said Simon, “I couldn’t get things to fit together, so I ended up changing the songs to fit the track, and then I thought: ‘My demo was better than this.’”
Simon’s approach to songwriting and his constant search for different ways to pursue creativity are testaments to his attitude as a musician. Unsurprisingly, he continued to make excellent music even after his musical duo split up, as his passion for doing the best he could shines through with every piece he wrote.
