In his first studio album in 10 years, Paul Simon offers optimistic story-songs that quickly find their way under the listener’s skin.
After the singer-songwriter’s 40-plus years in the game and numerous experiments with worldly rhythms and instrumentation, it’s surprising the recently released “You’re the One,” with its elegant conversational phrasing and subtle mood changes, is so immediately effective.
But Simon, who turned 59 last month, says he wanted to keep the disc uncluttered and simple while not intentionally plotting hits. The often supremely catchy new melodies, including such standouts as “That’s Where I Belong” and the sad-comic “Darling Lorraine,” came quickly this time, with some tunes completed in just a day or two.
“Oh, I can spend weeks on a song,” Simon says. “The process can take months. This time it surprised me, they were written so fast. I felt like I was taking dictation.”
In a career dating to the ’50s, Simon has established himself among the best and most popular songwriters of the rock era. Growing up in Queens, N.Y., he befriended angelic-voiced schoolmate Art Garfunkel, and the two teamed up as Tom and Jerry, later renaming their folk duo Simon & Garfunkel.
The pair’s 1964 debut, “Wednesday Morning 3 a.m.,” flopped initially until a retooled single, “The Sounds of Silence,” took off a year later and hit No. 1, launching the folk-rock duo.
For the next five years, Simon & Garfunkel was one of pop’s most successful acts, crafting a series of memorable hit albums, including “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme,” “Bookends” and 1970’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” the harmony team’s last album of new material.
Simon returned to solo work with “Paul Simon” in 1972, and the album spawned a Top 10 single in the reggae-tinged “Mother and Child Reunion.” The follow-up, “There Goes Rhymin’ Simon,” was a another million-seller, thanks to the hits “Kodachrome” and “Loves Me Like a Rock.”
Simon’s 1975 album, “Still Crazy After All These Years,” including the No. 1 hit “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” topped the charts and won the Grammy Award for album of the year.
A few less-successful projects followed until Simon became interested in South African music, resulting in 1986’s beautifully crafted “Graceland,” another Grammy winner and his biggest-selling solo effort.
Four years later, he delivered “The Rhythm of the Saints,” which did for Brazilian music what “Graceland” had done for South African rhythms. It was another multiplatinum seller.
Simon next composed “Capeman,” a musical based on the true story of a Puerto Rican immigrant who was convicted of a gang-related murder in New York in 1959. The show closed in 1998 after terrible reviews, but Simon’s soundtrack album was well-received, and the project has been revived in Britain and pursued by two regional groups in the United States.
We reached Simon last week at the New York home he shares with his wife, singer Edie Brickell, and their three children, just after he returned from a short European tour. A PBS special, “Paul Simon: You’re the One — In Concert From Paris” will be broadcast early next month.
Question–New songs like “Darling Lorraine” and “Old” seem more inward-looking than some of your previous work. Would that be a fair estimation?
Answer–I don’t think so. These are stories with characters I’m relating. I wish I had an anecdote about where something like “Darling Lorraine” comes from, but I don’t. The lyrics come and they dictate where the story is going. Until I wrote that line, “I’m sick to death of you, Lorraine” near the end, I didn’t know she was going to die. “Old” is me saying, “Look, what’s old anyway when the human race is so young.” It’s not autobiographical.
Q–This is your first straight studio album in some time. How did the songs develop?
A–They usually start with me making up a guitar piece, then (longtime Simon guitarist and collaborator) Vincent Nguini plays a duet and we go from there. I keep a book of phrases that come into my mind and they sometimes make it into a song, changing the direction of the lyrics. The lyrics always come as a surprise. This time, I wanted a more American, rhythmic sound.
Q–Was it disappointing when “Capeman” closed so quickly?
A–Yes, of course it was. But I can understand what went wrong. I was fascinated by the story of this guy since I was a teenager. I didn’t know how to make it work any better or package it differently. When it went down, I was disappointed, but I figured that in three to five years, somebody will attempt it again and maybe get it right. That’s now happening.”
Q–You can always depend on your albums for some very elegant musicianship. What’s your take on the current state of pop?
A–You know, there’s a big difference between what the music corporations get behind and push and what’s happening all over the country. I don’t have anything against the hybrid of rap and heavy metal, which is so popular in the charts. And I don’t have anything against hip-hop, which is sometimes very interesting. But I know for a fact that people are playing music as organically and with as much feeling and skill as they always have all over the world. It’s not waning at all. Look at the guys in my band — Vincent, (drummer) Steve Gadd.
Q–I know you sometimes attend music festivals around the world. Have you been anywhere lately?
A–I was in Morocco for this thing and probably the only person anyone would’ve heard of was (African bluesman) Ali Farka Toure, who jammed with musicians from all over the world, and it was exciting and incredible.
Q–How do you approach touring? What will the dates be like?
A–I love touring with this band. I’m doing venues where the sound is good and the repertoire will mostly be the new album along with songs I haven’t done in some time. I’m looking forward to it. Should be fun.
Q–Where do you think you fit in the midst of this teen-skewered pop culture?
A–I don’t know. I’d never write a song just for the sake of having a hit because who knows if I’ll ever have another hit. I believe you can evolve in a way that’s right for your age and still do good work. Or do good work that’s completely ignored.
Q–I wanted to ask you about the Jamaican session drummer Winston Grennan, who played on “Mother and Child Reunion” and died recently.
A–I knew he was sick. It’s sad. I met him when I went to Jamaica in the early ’70s and wanted to make a ska album. I met the guys at that studio you see in the film “The Harder They Come” and the studio players, who were all in Toots & the Maytals, said, “We don’t do ska anymore. It’s reggae now.” So, I said, “What’s that?”
