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Tue 11 August 2026 21:15, UK
Paul Simon was never someone who claimed to be immune to criticism every now and again.
Any songwriter who puts themselves up on that pedestal is going to have those few moments where they don’t hit the mark like they’re supposed to, and they have to be ready when their musical baby is something that the rest of the world isn’t really ready to embrace. But even with as many classics as Simon has had, there were a few times when he felt like he was personally getting attacked for some of his masterpieces.
Then again, the public wasn’t necessarily wrong when picking out some of the greatest tunes in his catalogue. It didn’t take a fine musical scholar to explain that ‘The Sound of Silence’ hit the nail on the head for just about everything that the 1960s generation was going through, and even later on in his career, Graceland was the kind of second wind that no one would have expected to love so much, especially with a guy like him singing over top of various world music beats.
Simon was used to going in many different directions if he could help it, but not everything was meant for the same pop audience he always catered to. Still Crazy After All These Years did have some phenomenal songs on it, but there were also a few people who probably weren’t going to be as interested in the massive musicians that he had playing alongside him, like Steve Gadd or Tony Levin.
But if the world music on Graceland worked so well, Songs from the Capeman didn’t feel too far outside of his wheelhouse. He was ready to make music that tested the boundaries of what he could now focus more on the rhythmic aspect of everything. It seemed like it would be perfect, but the entire premise felt like too much too soon for most people, especially considering what happened with the production.
Because if the actual album was already hard to internalise, the Broadway show that went along with it was going to be even more tricky. The Capeman seemed to have everything going for it when it started, but after the album underperformed, the entire operation started to fall apart, which ended up costing Simon over $10million when looking at the diminishing returns of each performance.
The public wasn’t biting this time, and Simon didn’t hide the fact that he was more dejected about the project failing than ever, saying, “That hurt a lot. Not because the play failed but the criticism of it was vindictive and it was personal. I was surprised that so many people thought I was such an asshole. Maybe we’re all assholes and we just don’t know it. I mean, yeah, it’s rough when they come at you personally. But six months later, it’s gone. In any career, you have to have failures. That’s how you learn.”
Further reading: From The Vault
And that learning came in what he would do on his next few records. The worldbeat aspects were still around on records like You’re the One, but somewhere along the line, Simon found that perfect balance that allowed him to keep things experimental while still reminding people of the kind of songwriter that he had always wanted to be.
People didn’t necessarily hate Simon on principle for the album or anything, but when you look at the way he was presenting these things, it’s not like he was the best person to put his voice forward. He wanted to make the best tunes that he could, but The Capeman was a case where he had all of the knowledge to make a great record, but didn’t have the tools that he needed to make the ideas land.
