(Credits: Far Out / Album Cover)
Sat 22 November 2025 18:00, UK
Every songwriter should take notes on how Paul Simon conducted himself throughout his career.
While he was far from the most in-demand celebrity of his generation by any stretch, he knew what he was capable of and made sure that he never pushed himself into realms that seemed impossible. If it was in his wheelhouse, it was easy for him to make it a reality, but don’t go asking him to play the part of the over-the-top celebrity that most think of when they think of rock stars.
Because, really, Simon seemed to be like any other guy that you’d come across in New York City that just so happened to be one of the best songwriters who ever lived. He certainly didn’t have the same kind of sarcastic wit that Bob Dylan had, but that sincerity in a song like ‘The Sound of Silence’ is something that’s missing from a lot of songwriters who try to cover up their feelings.
Then again, that’s not to say that Simon was stuck in the “sensitive songwriter” type, either. He prided himself on writing detailed stories in his tunes, and when he eventually got around to making Graceland, he managed to completely reverse his traditional process and make the kinds of songs that were better suited to world music than being played on one acoustic guitar.
But when looking at his musical history, you can’t really call what Simon does “boring” by any stretch. There are definitely a few albums that are a lot more languid than others in his catalogue, but if you take the songs at face value, you can hear the sound of someone who’s always trying to find the perfect turn of phrase that will move someone in the same way that he was moved listening to artists like The Everly Brothers.
That’s what all good rock and roll is supposed to do, and Simon should know, having grown up when the genre was getting born. He had already begun learning harmonies off of the Everlys when he first got together with Art Garfunkel, but even though Chuck Berry can be considered the true godfather of rock and roll, the real “big bang” for most people came from listening to Elvis Presley for the first time.
No one knew what they were looking at when Presley strutted his stuff onstage, but it’s not like he was the most original artist in the world. A lot of what he did came from covering musicians that had set the template for rock, but as long as he was performing with that signature hip shake, no one could take their eyes off of him when he started singing tunes like ‘Hound Dog’ or ‘All Shook Up’.
And while Simon certainly respected Presley, he did have enough sense to realise that life wasn’t really for him, saying, “One of the earliest thoughts I had concerning music — I was about fourteen, and I loved Elvis Presley. And I said to myself, ‘I can never, never be Elvis Presley. I’ll never be as good as Elvis Presley. So I’m never gonna do what Elvis Presley does. I’m gonna go and find somethin’ else to do.’”
Given how magnetic Simon’s stage presence can be, that’s also probably for the best. Since half of his most popular video includes Chevy Chase mugging for the camera while Simon sits in a chair, it’s safe to say that he wasn’t going to be practising the same poses that Presley did, let alone try to get into the music by using the acoustic guitar like a prop.
What he did needed to be a little bit more musical, and while there are a few subtle nods to Presley’s music every now and again in his songs, that’s not exactly what Simon was after. If ‘The King’ was able to wow any crowd by his raw stage presence, Simon was going to do the same thing by reminding people what a great songwriter can do with only one instrument in their hands.
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