Artist Playlists
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After Simon & Garfunkel went their separate ways at the end of the ‘60s, Paul Simon could've easily knocked out a standard-issue singer/songwriter album and been a huge solo success. Instead, he started confounding us right away on his first solo LP. He imbues “Mother and Child Reunion” with rocksteady reggae vibes. Then his characters hatch a scandalously underhanded plot over a mix of bluesy and jazzy moods on “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.” Soon, Simon was working in influences from African roots music, zydeco, country, Caribbean, and tons of other places—see all of Graceland, Rhythm of the Saints, and the albums leading up to them—basically tilling and reconstructing the landscape for American music to follow. But his experiments aren't simply a Smithsonian excursion. Simon infuses these exchanges of musical ideas into grooves that keep the body fighting and dancing with the mind. - Paul Simon dominated the charts for decades with hits both folky and rhythmic, but his catalog shows remarkable breadth. The same man who infused “The Rhythm of the Saints” with percolating percussion is responsible for the rubbery funk-pop of “One-Trick Pony” and the dynamic doo-wop harmonies of “Quality.” Then there's the frisky “Wristband,” a wry and playful tale about being locked outside your own concert.
- Between his sublime duo with Art Garfunkel and his genre-hopping solo career, Paul Simon has one of the most revered songbooks in American music. His work's been widely reinterpreted, sometimes with its acute sensitivity perfectly preserved and other times with a jarring shock of rock catharsis. Whatever the treatment, his intelligence and humanity shine through—as does a boyish playfulness.
- From his feathery vocals to his global palette, Paul Simon's trademark qualities have given plenty of material to a variety of artists. The hypnotic harmonies of One Direction and Fleet Foxes evoke Simon & Garfunkel's united voices; Vampire Weekend's seamless integration of Afrobeat elements recalls Graceland; the whisper and strum of Iron & Wine and First Aid Kit tap into Simon's gauziest ballads.
- He may have sung about the sound of silence, but Paul Simon's inspirations make a joyous noise. His warm, introspective moments contain the uplifting harmonies of The Everly Brothers blended with the intricate acoustic fingerpicking and supple vocals of Bert Jansch. When he marries poetry to percussion, you can hear the firebrand folk of Bob Dylan and the bossa-nova rhythms of Antônio Carlos Jobim.