The German song at the centre of Paul Simon’s ‘American Tune’
Paul Simon is a prolific songwriter. This was always the case from a very young age, as before Simon & Garfunkel became the cultural phenomenon that the world now recognises them as, they were still writing songs and gaining traction from them. At the age of 15, they managed to create a top 50 single, creating their own rendition of ‘Hey, Schoolgirl’ by the Everly Brothers.
Granted, that early song isn’t how Simon & Garfunkel are remembered, but it does show an early willingness to engage in creativity and do so in a way that resonates with people. The band would end up becoming folk icons and one of the most culturally relevant folk duos of all time.
The band was never supposed to last, as tensions within the duo got so high that they ended up going their separate ways. Doing so meant that, as individuals, they could explore their own creative ventures. Paul Simon continued writing some folk music but was also very excited about exploring some different creative avenues as a solo artist. This meant embracing other cultures wholeheartedly.
One album he most famously did this on was his record Graceland. That album was inspired heavily by South African music, as Simon was given a copy of the Accordion Jive Hits No. 2 record and felt drawn to it. The energy of the sound created by a group called The Boyoyo Boys was infectious, to the point that he felt compelled to travel to South Africa and have them help him make another album that incorporated his own sound and South African-inspired music.
The original song that appealed to Simon was called ‘Gumboota’, which he re-recorded and put on Graceland under the name ‘Gumboots’. He ended up not being a massive fan of the track in the grand scheme of things but was always very willing to embrace the influence that African music had had on him and how it was important to acknowledge that influence.
“If it wasn’t that ‘Gumboots’ led me into the whole project, I would have dropped ‘Gumboots’ from the album,” he said, “Because I think it’s the weakest of the South African cuts.”
It wasn’t just Africa that inspired Paul Simon, though. On his 1973 album, There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, Simon released the track ‘American Tune’, which was interestingly inspired by one of Germany’s most famous composers. Johann Sebastian Bach was a huge inspiration for this track, as the melody he used on ‘St Matthew Passion’ formed the foundation of the song ‘American Tune’.
It’s interesting, as Bach’s work was also a reinvention of a song that came before it. He famously was inspired by Hans Hassler, and based ‘St Matthew Passion’ off the song, ‘Mein Gmüth ist mir verwirret’. The strange places where inspiration is found for contemporary music will always be fascinating, as Paul Simon went back in time centuries to find the right melody for ‘American Tune’.
