Personal Selections No. 38- Please Get this Message to Paul Simon
songs you should listen to by Paul Simon
In general, I don’t want to meet celebrities. I can’t stay cool; I get starstruck by even D-list stars. But I want to meet Paul Simon so bad, or at least somehow send him a message with this story.
It’s a story I may have written about in this newsletter before1, and I know I’ve told it to dozens of people at this point. Please excuse me, and try to understand that it’s one of the strangest coincidences to ever happen to me, a tiny event that I think about once every other week.
It was dark when I arrived in Ankara after a long journey from the US, but still early enough for there to be plenty of people hanging out around campus as the taxi driver pulled up to my dorm. The lady in the dorm office recruited a couple of my fellow residents to carry my two suitcases up the four flights of stairs to my hall on the top floor. In my classic shoebox dorm room, I wanted to unpack enough to feel like I was going to sleep in a bedroom and not a closet. Pulling my laptop out of my carry-on, I decided to play Paul Simon’s album “Graceland” because Mindy Kaling had recently mentioned the titular track as one of her favorite songs of all time.
It has an iconic album opening, with the accordions and classic 80s drum set that start “The Boy in the Bubble.” I was hooked from the beginning, having never heard anything quite like it. I was half-listening, half listing off in my head everything I needed to do in the coming week. As the third song played, lyrics came out of my laptop that made my mind halt in its tracks:
"And I said, 'Aren't you the woman who was recently given a Fulbright?'"
I remember stopping re-folding a shirt and saying, out loud, “Why, yes, Paul Simon.”
Because, the thing is, I was the woman who was recently given a Fulbright scholarship2- that’s why I was in Turkey, at all. Not only that, but I had so recently been given a Fulbright, that I was hearing this line on my first night as an official in-country Fulbrighter. How many songs do you know that mention Fulbright? And how many times do you listen to the album Graceland all the way through for the first time?
Basically, Paul Simon wrote this song years before I was born and it reached through decades to find me, with its sarcasm and wit and all, sitting on my floor unpacking in a new country. A woman who was recently given a Fulbright.
I refuse to hear that I’m overreacting about how spooky and wonderful that is.
I couldn’t get over it and this kismet moment sent me into weeks and weeks into listening, almost exclusively, to the album “Graceland.” By a rough estimate, I’m about the millionth person to claim it one of the greatest albums of all time, serendipity or not. I liked plenty of Paul Simon hits before Graceland, but this project made me a verified Paul Simon fangirl. In the years following my Graceland obsession, I’ve deep-dived his discography and come out with my own deep-cut favorites.
So, as the anniversary of that fateful night approaches, I want to be indulgent and tell you about the Paul Simon songs that you might not have heard, if you’re not a fellow fan like me, that I’m begging you to listen to.3
Train in the Distance x Paul Simon
I love this song first because I really do love the literal sound of a train in the distance (everybody does, apparently!) and second because I profoundly relate to the metaphorical meaning Simon illustrates, here. To quote his explanation in the song:
“the thought that life could be better is woven indelibly into our hearts and our brains.”
At my worst4, I do have a fear that I’m missing out on something bigger, that I should already be planning my next move to a different city, that I should be applying to a different job because life is too short! There’s not enough time so I better pick up the pace! The sound of the train in the distance is that anxious part of me saying that I haven’t been brave enough to really go for it. I feel shame for not being bold and then shame for not being grateful for the life going on around me.
Though Simon tells a story of a marriage coming together and falling apart because of this phenomenon and I don’t relate to this application specifically, the principle remains: it is a deeply human thing to fear that “life could be better.” This song is a balm in that regard, assuring me that it’s not just me.
Apart from the meaning, I am also obsessed with Simon’s delivery of these lyrics. He sounds like he’s telling a story to you from his recliner. I love the little fry on his voice- it’s so casual and intimate. And there’s obviously that melancholic organ in the bridge, which hurts so good every time.
Let Me Live In Your City (Work in Progress) x Paul Simon
I hard the toughest time choosing between this one and the final version of the song (“Something So Right”), on the same album. The demo highlights the brilliance of the guitar line maybe more than the more fully produced version does, but I also love the build and lyrical choices of the final product. Ultimately, what swayed me to the demo side is my obsession with the short but poignant titular line that is included in the demo, but not in the final version:
“Let me live in your city.”
As someone who has a sort of nomadic relationship with cities, this is so intensely romantic. To me, it means “let me breathe the same air your breathe, let me be close enough to understand what makes you tick.” Swoon.
Along with a whole song of truly charming lyrics, that guitar simply never quits. It is subtle but masterfully intentional. It conveys just enough on its own so that it flourishes instead of distracts from Simon’s voice. But still, it’s never a boring, mutable guitar line. This humble demo is a masterclass in singer/songwriting magic.
Boy in the Bubble x Paul Simon
This song will always take me back to Istanbul, listening to the swells of the accordion as I was baptized in a deluge of big, new city. I was so happy to be there, and so happy to have just discovered this album for myself as I navigated a metro system alone in a language I was only beginning to learn. Truthfully, these situations are where I feel the best version of myself. Where I am learning a million things per second, in solitude in a sea of strangers.
If the album “Graceland” tells the story of Paul Simon building a third space, a world of sound not quite American nor South African, “Boy in the Bubble,” is Simon’s bursting into this world as an optimistic, if overwhelmed, stranger. The refrain spoke directly to how I was feeling, excited and terrified at the prospect of being a newly arrived foreigner:
"These are the days of miracle and wonder This is the long distance call"
The lyrics, overall, are a bit manic, especially when underscored by all the maximalist instrumentation happening on this record. Besides the headlines being painted in the verses, there are a couple of thrilling moments of alliteration. But the percussion keeps the rails on the track, and you feel like taking a deep breath when the song ends. It’s a thrill ride, where the whole time you’re trying to gauge just how secure the lap belt is. For me, this song will always be a soundtrack for being a foreigner.
Think Too Much (a) x Paul Simon
I’m including two tracks from “Hearts and Bones” on this list because I believe it to deserve the most justice! It was considered a flop when it came out, but there are such gems on this one that get overlooked!
There are two versions of this song on the album- version “a” and “b.” I love both, but I’m highlighting this one because it’s a favorite of mine to blast in the car on a day where I can roll down the windows. That 80s drum set with the funky strummed electric guitar is just a blast. Also, as an overthinker myself, the lyrics are perfect for belting.
Initially, Simon wrote this upbeat version, poking fun at his own overthinking tendencies. However, as he was writing it, he thought about how overthinking really is a really pitiful thing, so maybe the song should be a little more soft and contemplative. Hence, version “b,” (which actually appears first on the album) more of a lullaby than the version “a” pop banger. He has two songs about overthinking because he thought too much about how overthinking is both silly and sad. Paul Simon, our patron saint of overthinking!
If you know someone who knows Paul Simon, or if you personally have an email address for him on file, by all means pass this silly newsletter along. He doesn’t really need to read all of this, just that little prologue part. I want so deeply for him to know, first of all, how much I admire him. But second!5 And more importantly! I want him to know how he wrote that very specific lyric that found its way to me in the most wonderful, serendipitous way. I just really believe he’ll appreciate the perfect timing of it all. Ok, thanks!
I feel almost certain I have, but I can’t find it now.
If you’re unfamiliar, the Fulbright scholarship has been around for decades and funds Americans to go overseas and for international students to come study/teach in the US.
I’m not including “Hearts and Bones” here because I’ve recommended it in a previous Personal Selections, but it goes without saying that you should listen to that one, too.
If you’re familiar with the Enneagram, you should know that I’m a Type 5 and therefore stress towards 7. So this song being resonant checks out!
If there is third thing I need him to know, it’s how convicted I am about “Hearts and Bones” being criminally underrated.
we should talk about Graceland