"The Side of a Hill" (written under the pseudonym "Paul Kane" out of his admiration for the film Citizen Kane) on The Paul Simon Song Book (1965)
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The Sound of Silence
Song lyrics, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. (1964)
Context: And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said "The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sound of silence"
Bridge over Troubled Water
Song lyrics, Bridge over Troubled Water (1970)
Context: When you're weary
Feeling small
When tears are in your eyes
I will dry them all
I'm on your side
When times get rough
And friends just can't be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
“God only knows
God makes his plan
The information's unavailable
To the mortal man.”
Slip Slidin' Away
Song lyrics
Context: God only knows
God makes his plan
The information's unavailable
To the mortal man.
We work our jobs
Collect our pay
Believe we're gliding down the highway
When in fact we're slip slidin' away.
“I wanted to sing other types of songs that Simon and Garfunkel wouldn't do.”
On the breakup of Simon and Garfunkel as a musical team. Interview with Jon Landau for Rolling Stone (1972); republished in The Rolling Stone Interviews: 1967-1980 (1989) edited by Peter Herbst, p. 210
Context: I wanted to sing other types of songs that Simon and Garfunkel wouldn't do. "Mother and Child Reunion" for example, is not a song that you would have normally thought that Simon and Garfunkel would have done. It's possible that they might have. But it wouldn't have been the same, and I don't know if I would have been so inclined in that direction. So for me it was a chance to break out and gamble a little bit … The breakup had to do with a natural drifting apart as we got older and the separate lives that were more individual. We weren't so consumed with recording and performing. We had other activities … there was no great pressure to stay together other than money, which exerted very little influence upon us. … We didn't need the money.
Mother and Child Reunion
Song lyrics, Paul Simon (1972)
Context: No I would not give you false hope
On this strange and mournful day
But the mother and child reunion
Is only a motion away,
Oh, little darling of mine
I can't for the life of me
Remember a sadder day
I know they say let it be
But it just don't work out that way...
“I am walking up the face of the mountain. Counting every step I climb.”
"That's Me"
Song lyrics, Surprise (2006)
Context: I am walking up the face of the mountain. Counting every step I climb. Remembering the names of the constellations. Forgotten is a long, long time.
“So you start with an impulse and go to what your ear likes.”
Interview with Tony Schwartz in Playboy (February 1984) p. 166
Context: I write from instinct, from inexplicable sparkle. I don't know why I'm writing what I'm writing. Usually, I sit and I let my hands wander on my guitar. And I sing anything. I play anything. And I wait till I come across a pleasing accident. Then I start to develop it. Once you take a piece of musical information, there are certain implications that it automatically contains — the implication of that phrase elongated, contracted, or inverted or in another time signature. So you start with an impulse and go to what your ear likes.
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
Song lyrics, Still Crazy After All These Years (1975)
Context: She said, why don't we both just sleep on it tonight
And I believe, in the morning you'll begin to see the light
And then she kissed me and I realized she probably was right
There must be fifty ways to leave your lover, fifty ways to leave your lover
As quoted in "Paul Simon's Workshop at the Guitar Study Center" by Richard Albero and Fred Styles in Guitar Player (April 1975), p. 21
Context: I didn't want to repeat the same notes in the second verse that I used in the first, so I wrote out all the notes of the song and all the notes that were missing in the scale, given that there are twelve notes from octave to octave. All those notes that weren't in the scale were the ones I wanted in for the next verse. The listener isn't aware that they are new notes, but the sound is pleasing to the ear. I change the key, and somehow it's fresh because you haven't heard those notes before.
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
Song lyrics, Paul Simon (1972)
Context: I'm on my way, I don't know where I'm goin',
I'm on my way, I'm takin' my time, but I don't know where.
Goodbye to Rosie, the Queen of Corona
See you, me and Julio down by the schoolyard.
“These are the days of miracle and wonder,
This is the long distance call”
The Boy In The Bubble
Song lyrics, Graceland (1986)
Context: These are the days of miracle and wonder,
This is the long distance call,
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo,
The way we look to us all,
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky,
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry, baby, don't cry, don't cry.
“We don't mean to mess things up,
But mess them up we do.”
Everything About It Is a Love Song
Song lyrics, Surprise (2006)
Context: We don't mean to mess things up,
But mess them up we do.
And then it's "Oh, I'm sorry."
Here's a smiling photograph
Of love when it was new.
At a birthday party.
Make a wish and close your eyes:
Surprise, surprise, surprise.
“I want to rid my heart of envy
And cleanse my soul of rage
Before I'm through.”
Wartime Prayers
Song lyrics, Surprise (2006)
Context: Because you cannot walk with the holy,
If you're just a halfway decent man.
But I don't pretend that I'm a mastermind
With a genius marketing plan.I'm trying to tap into some wisdom,
Even a little drop would do.
I want to rid my heart of envy
And cleanse my soul of rage
Before I'm through.
“I want a shot at redemption
Don’t want to end up a cartoon
In a cartoon graveyard.”
You Can Call Me Al
Song lyrics, Graceland (1986)
Context: A man walks down the street
He says why am I soft in the middle now
Why am I soft in the middle
The rest of my life is so hard
I need a photo opportunity
I want a shot at redemption
Don’t want to end up a cartoon
In a cartoon graveyard.
“And sometimes even music
Cannot substitute for tears.”
The Cool, Cool River
Song lyrics, The Rhythm of the Saints (1990)
“I am a rock.
I am an island.
And a rock feels no pain.
And an island never cries.”
I Am a Rock
Song lyrics, Sounds of Silence (1966)
Source: Lyrics 1964-2008
Context: I am shielded in my armor
Hiding in my room safe within my womb
I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock.
I am an island.
And a rock feels no pain.
And an island never cries.