{"id":808616,"date":"2026-05-20T00:06:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T00:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/808616\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T00:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T00:06:15","slug":"on-this-day-in-1973-paul-simon-released-a-hit-song-that-could-never-be-played-on-british-radio-stations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/808616\/","title":{"rendered":"On This Day in 1973, Paul Simon Released a Hit Song That Could Never Be Played on British Radio Stations"},"content":{"rendered":"

On this day (May 19) in 1973, Paul Simon<\/a> released \u201cKodachrome\u201d as the lead single from his album There Goes Rhymin\u2019 Simon. The song reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts. It was also an international hit, landing comfortably within the top 10 in four other countries. However, it was banned from BBC radio in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

According to Songfacts<\/a>, there is a strict British law against commercial endorsements on BBC radio stations. Kodachrome was a type of color film that Kodak developed in the mid-1930s. It was also a registered trademark of the Kodak company. As a result, it was immediately banned from radio stations across the United Kingdom. So, Simon didn\u2019t release it as a single in England. Instead, he released \u201cTake Me to the Mardi Gras\u201d and issued \u201cKodachrome\u201d as the B-side.<\/p>\n

[RELATED: The Meaning Behind Paul Simon\u2019s Picture-Perfect \u201cKodachrome\u201d]<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Simon recorded both songs and \u201cLoves Me Like a Rock\u201d at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama. He tapped the Muscle Shoals Rhythm section, also called the Swampers, to play on the tracks. The session made him the first major rock artist to record there. Later in the decade, the Rolling Stones and Bob Seger would both book sessions at Muscle Shoals.<\/p>\n

Paul Simon Wasn\u2019t Sure What \u201cKodachrome\u201d Meant<\/p>\n

While working on material for his 1973 solo album, Paul Simon was writing a song called \u201cComing Home.\u201d Then, the word \u201cKodachrome\u201d came to him. At the time, he didn\u2019t know what it meant. However, he knew that it would make for a more interesting title. As a result, he scrapped what he was working on and created something new. The result was a tribute to the life\u2019s bright spots and the inaccuracy of our memories. More than that, Simon knew it was a hit from the start.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds like a pop song,\u201d Simon said in an interview.<\/a> \u201cAll the other ones sound odd. \u201850 Ways to Leave Your Lover.\u2019 They didn\u2019t sound like what hits sounded like at the time. Radio was more open to things that weren\u2019t exactly what ever other hit was,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Featured Image by Michael Putland\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On this day (May 19) in 1973, Paul Simon released \u201cKodachrome\u201d as the lead single from his album…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":808617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[29],"tags":[20829,976,171,975,21043,174853,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-808616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-1970s","tag-classic-rock","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-paul-simon","tag-pop-rock","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116603990121248762","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}