Paul Simon

With Art Garfunkel. Their early albums are beautiful, unmatched - Wednesday Morning 3AM (1965) includes originals plus covers of Dylan ("The Times They Are A Changing") and Ed McCurdy ("Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream") and trad ("Peggy-O"). Sounds of Silence is strongest, followed by Parsely Sage Rosemary & Thyme later that year with their famous version of "Scarborough Fair." What's striking is how Simon can bridge the gap between protest songs and songs of beauty. If Dylan is a minstrel, Simon is a troubadour.

In the seventies, Simon split with Garfunkel, went into pop with There Goes Rhymin Simon.

Big break back to folk with Graceland.

Immortal Songs

• "America"
• "The Boxer"
• "Sounds of Silence"
• "Homeward Bound"
• "Bridge Over Troubled Waters"
• "Mrs. Robinson"
• "59th Street Bridge"

Best Books

• Book Title #1. (Buy it online)
• Book Title #2 . (Buy it online)

Essential Discs

• Wednesday Morning, 3am. (Label). (Buy it online)
• Sounds of Silence
• Parsley Sage Rosemary & Thyme. (Label). (Buy it online)
• Graceland. (Label). (Buy it online)

Heirs

Paragraph

• John Gorka
• Artist 2

Sites to Check Out

• General: URL #1
• Lyrics: URL #2
• Other: URL #3

Hugh Blumenfeld, Editor
hugh@balladtree.com

 

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