‘Lyrics’ captures Paul Simon’s career
For an iconic songwriter whose words, melodies and rhythms are inextricably linked, a page of lyrics might seem like a chassis in search of an engine. In Paul Simon’s case, it’s almost impossible to read, and not mentally sing, his familiar lines:
And here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know, wo wo wo
Paul Simon’s Lyrics 1964-2008 (Simon & Schuster, $35), out Tuesday, spans his entire career, from Simon & Garfunkel’s 1964 debut album through this year’s unreleased songs Rewrite and Love and Hard Times.
Illustrated with vintage snapshots, album covers and handwritten notes, the chronological Lyrics “follows my natural evolution as a writer,” says Simon, 67. “I’m not somebody who takes a lot of photos. Here are the photos of my life.”
In editing the manuscript for typos, Simon resisted succumbing to nostalgia but found himself retracing the stages of his career.
“My lyrics started to get good when I wrote about something I knew,” he says. “When I was a young songwriter, that’s the least interesting to me. Later on, it gets more complex as characters emerge who are at least partially autobiographical.”
The winner of 12 Grammys and the first Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, Simon is highly regarded for a sterling songbook that has drawn parallels to the work of Irving Berlin and Cole Porter.
His songs can be wise, biting, mournful and romantic. But fans of You Can Call Me Al, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover and Pigs, Sheep and Wolves know he’s also funny.
“People tend to say that my writing is very serious,” Simon says. “Jokes are an essential part, but it’s not often talked about.”
Simon has resumed writing and recording lately, with four completed songs “and a few sketches” that may surface, though he has no firm plans for an album.
“What’s nice about the implosion of the record business is you can find any number of forms to release songs,” he says. “I could make a CD, but I don’t have to.”
After five decades, writing “is intensely enjoyable but also harder, partly because I’m at an age now where every truth seems to contain its opposite,” he says. “That’s a harder construct, lyrically.
“Musically, I don’t want to repeat something I did before. I never think, ‘Time to write another Graceland.’ It would be impossible, anyway.”
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