Music

The son of an English teacher mother and a musician father, Paul Simon was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1941 into a Jewish family of Hungarian origin

Before embarking on a solo career, he was first known for his collaboration with Art Garfunkel, whom he met at his school in Forest Hills in the borough of Queens in New York. Together, at the end of the 1950s, they formed the duo Simon & Garfunkel, still renowned today for the finesse of their vocal harmonies on acoustic accompaniments that were most often close to folk. Also inspired by their contemporaries from the Everly Brothers (whom they occasionally invited on stage), they had their first success in 1957 with the single "Hey Schoolgirl". If we ignore the famous "Concert in Central Park" in 1982 (a short-lived reunion that was the pretext for a short world tour), Simon & Garfunkel recorded only five albums between 1964 and 1970 which, like "Sounds Of Silence" (1966) and "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" (1970) marked the history of American popular music. The titular tracks of these two albums but also "Mrs Robinson", "El Condo Pasa", "Slip Slidin' Away", "Bye Bye Love" or "Cecilia" have transcended generations and are still classics at scout camps around the world!

Since going solo with "The Paul Simon Songbook" in 1972, the singer has composed an impressive number of melodies that have survived the years while maintaining the same relevance. Let's focus only on songs dedicated to or inspired by his loves. Already in the days of Simon & Garfunkel, he mentions his first love at first sight. The English girl Mary Chitty is the main subject of "Kathy's Song". His separation from Peggy Harper in 1975 served as the framework for "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover", one of his most beautiful songs. For actress Carrie Fisher, with whom he had a somewhat chaotic second marriage, he wrote "Hearts & Bones." For his third official relationship, he ended up simply putting the ring on the finger of Edie Brickell in May 1992, the singer of the New Bohemians. He had probably fallen under the spell of "What I Am", their hit released in November 1988.

The fall of apartheid

Also an actor, for a brief appearance in Woody Allen's "Annie Hall" and "One-Trick Pony" in 1980, for which he was a co-writer, Paul Simon is also remembered for his commitment to the fight against apartheid in South Africa. At the time, Johnny Clegg, aka the White Zulu, had already embraced the same fight with "Scatterings of Africa" but Simon was nevertheless one of the first to take the road to the ghettos of Johannesburg to work with Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the Boyoyo Boys. His approach was variously appreciated. The Artists United Against Apartheid association accused him not only of cultural appropriation but also of breaking the embargo imposed on the South African government. The album "Graceland" in 1987 and the tour that followed with most of the African artists nevertheless played a role in the gradual repeal of the racial laws of Frederik De Klerk's regime from February 1990.

Paul Simon's latest album, the mystical "Seven Psalms", was released in 2023. It is a long acoustic piece of thirty-three minutes sung in the manner of a troubadour...

So it looks as though Paul Simon really is “Still Crazy After all These Years”.

(AK/ML - Photo: Etienne Tordoir)

Photo: Paul Simon with Ladysmyth Black Mambazo on the stage of Forest-National in Brussels (Belgium) during the "Graceland" tour on February 4, 1987 (© Etienne Tordoir)