Paul Simon is kind of a twat, but...

[Zeppelin4Life]

yep, yep. some of the best moments in live music IMO lol. His face is priceless.

[Stephen B.]

Have you guys heard Brad Behldau Trio's rendition of Still Crazy After All these Years? Oh man is that some good stuff. It's on their latest record Anything Goes.

[Bad Halen]

I had a friend who's mom gave us these tapes of some preacher playing Led Zepplin albums backwards, etc.

Anyway, one of the things he said was that "Bridge over Troubled waters" was a song written about heroin. The whole thing at the end about "sail on silver girl" is about a hypodermic needle....."all your dreams are on their way".

Whether or not that's true, it has made the song have a whole new meaning for me. I love songs that can go more than one way.

I wish I still had that weird tape.

[Harmony Head]

no kidding about artie being a clown.

i played in the support band for his last australian tour. i've been an enormous S&G fan all my life and to meet one of my greatest idols was a huge buzz.....until i actally met him!

what a wanker. from what i could gather, the crew, the band and everyone else around him couldn't stand the guy. i've never met a more insecure, unfriendly person in all my life.

on the funny side. on the last gig of the tour while he was playing onstage, the guitarist and i were rubbishing him from our dressing room (200 feet away) saying all sorts of stuff ("play 50 ways to leave your lover" etc etc)
in the middle of all this i went outside to go to the bathroom and who was standing directly outside our door but artie himself!! the band had been playing an instrumental while artie went backstage to spray paint his hair or something.

very embarrasing


i feel better now

[JGriffin]

I had a friend who's mom gave us these tapes of some preacher playing Led Zepplin albums backwards, etc.

Anyway, one of the things he said was that "Bridge over Troubled waters" was a song written about heroin. The whole thing at the end about "sail on silver girl" is about a hypodermic needle....."all your dreams are on their way".

Whether or not that's true, it has made the song have a whole new meaning for me. I love songs that can go more than one way.

I wish I still had that weird tape.

I may be able to track that tape down--I know the one you're talking about. The heroin thing was in a book I read once, as well.

i've never met a more insecure, unfriendly person in all my life.

It's funny, an old friend from high school sang backup on a Kenny Rogers tour and he said the exact same thing about Kenny Rogers.

[the brill bedroom]

Supposedly "sail on silver girl" is actually abouta few grey hairs that Simon's then wife Peggy had recently discovered, it was a little joke that he threw in as a dummy line and it stuck.

So, to bring this back to recording, anybody have any insight on how they recorded those gorgeous acoustic guitar sounds? I mean, a great guitarist, Roy Halee and Columbia's studios certainly didn't hurt, but anybody know what kind of mics and/or compressors they were using?

[tomhampton]

i apologize in advance for possibly veering this thread off track, but i gotta say it anyway....

one of the things i love about this board is that there are people here who aren't afraid to speak their minds about what they love, whether it's cool/hip/trendy or not. when i hit this forum and saw that there were 4 pages on a thread about paul simon, i figured it was one comment about him being somewhat talented, and 3.9 pages of "what the fuck are you thinking" replies.

you guys are all ok with me.

is it ok, though, if i like paul simon AND marillion?




T

[dirty]

No.

[dirty]

[JGriffin]

is it ok, though, if i like paul simon AND marillion?

I do, so as far as I'm concerned, yes!

In fact, I'm listening to Marillion right this very second.

[Lee Knight]

As good as a songwriter as he is -- you just can't get over the fact that the guy is a little weenie. He's made his whole career basically ripping people off, and being kind of crafty about it. Starting with the Everly Brothers when he and Garfunkel were teenagers, then Dylan and Irish folk music, then African Zulus -- the guy doesn't have an original bone in his body.

This stuff makes me crazy. At least you've got the references correct... Did you hate the way...

The Beatles ripped off Little Richard?
The Stones ripped off the blues in general?
Brian Wilson ripped off The Four Freshmen?
Led Zep ripped off Willie Dixon?
Rod Argent ripped off Jimmie Smith?
Coltrane ripped off Parker?
Beethoven ripped off Bach?
The Sex Pistols ripped off The Ramones?
Bob Dylan ripped off Woody Guthrie?
Rod Stewart ripped off Sam Cooke?
??????
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The thing that really gets me is when Paul Simon did that version of Bye Bye Love. I'm mean, did he really think we wouldn't know that was an Everly Bros. song. What a rip off artist!

[Foot Foot]

As good as a songwriter as he is -- you just can't get over the fact that the guy is a little weenie. He's made his whole career basically ripping people off, and being kind of crafty about it. Starting with the Everly Brothers when he and Garfunkel were teenagers, then Dylan and Irish folk music, then African Zulus -- the guy doesn't have an original bone in his body.

This stuff makes me crazy. At least you've got the references correct... Did you hate the way...

The Beatles ripped off Little Richard?
The Stones ripped off the blues in general?
Brian Wilson ripped off The Four Freshmen?
Led Zep ripped off Willie Dixon?
Rod Argent ripped off Jimmie Smith?
Coltrane ripped off Parker?
Beethoven ripped off Bach?
The Sex Pistols ripped off The Ramones?
Bob Dylan ripped off Woody Guthrie?
Rod Stewart ripped off Sam Cooke?
??????
?????
????
???
??
?


The thing that really gets me is when Paul Simon did that version of Bye Bye Love. I'm mean, did he really think we wouldn't know that was an Everly Bros. song. What a rip off artist!

I go both ways on Paul Simon, he has moments of brilliance and moments of beeing a weenie. But I have to say that I sometimes fell he does kind of rip artists off perioodically. Just the other day I was watching a DVD called "Roots, Rock, Reggae" a documentary on the Jamaican music scene in 1975. Well in the movie there is a clip with Joe Higgs and he sings one of songs. Wouldn't you know the first melody that comes out of his mouth is the exact same phrasing and melody as the opening line to "mother and child reunion". Everyone noticed. By the way, Mother and child reunion was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica.
I'm just sayin'..........

[Lee Knight]

I don't think Paul Simon has ever tried to hide the fact that he uses other music to create his own. To call it thievery seems a little short sighted, that's all. I'm no great "Paul Simon Advocate", believe me, but he's NOT a rip off artist. He may not play by the rules when it comes to "inspiration", I suppose, but he is a very creative guy. Incorporating other's music into his own.

Hey, let yer honesty shine, shine, shine, shine
Doh-n-de, doh-n-de, doh-n-de, doh
Here I am...

The only living boy in New York

[JGriffin]

Right on, Lee. Especially when you consider that the Stones and Zeppelin went so far as to record old blues songs and claim authorship of them, Paul Simon can hardly be the worst offender in the "rip-off artist" camp.

[Fieryjack]

My favorite is "My Little Town" off Still Crazy After All These Years. Distinctly American.

I don't think Paul Simon has ever tried to hide the fact that he uses other music to create his own

Did anyone here his version of Surfer Girl at the Radio City Brian Wilson tribute? Amazing. He totally re-worked the song beautifully.