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Grace and Loony-C
Oct. 22nd, 2011 01:59 pmThere were assorted mentions last week about October 13th being Paul Simon's 70th birthday. My thoughts of (and, however remotely, to) him on that occasion are fond but random: of how much my late sister loved his music; of Eleanor and I seeing him and Artie on their 2004 reunion swing through Buffalo, and of him singing "Still Crazy" in a turkey suit on an early Saturday Night Live episode (a still of which was displayed at the Arena almost 30-odd years later).
Even closer to heart, though, was hearing, among those mentions, that this 70th year of Paul is also the 25th anniversary of Graceland. He really hadn't had much success since the Still Crazy days of nearly a decade earlier, and this album was a breakthrough both commercially and artistically. The nice Jewish boy from Kew Gardens, Queens reached out to African and Latino influences in making a truly special gift of music to the world. The liner notes were written in May of 1986, the month I first dated Eleanor. A bit over a year later, we were on our honeymoon, which included a way-too-whirlwindy auto trip north of London, and us with nothing to listen to in the car. We found a record shop somewhere near Stoke, where the owner, the self-proclaimed "Loony Lonnie," sold us our cassette of the thing, for I think 8 quid (the sticker's still on the side of the box, but inks as well as memories fade). Somehow, though, we'd never managed to pick up a CD of the album.
Today's errands, which also included arthitis meds for the dog and a flu shot for me, remedied that. All the more remarkably, since our main library had mis-catalogued it and I came within a hair of giving up before it just stared out at me from the front row of the "Popular" (as opposed to "Rock") rack of CDs.
Y'all know "You Can Call Me Al," but here are a few of my other favourites:
Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes- this one also has an SNL connection, as Paul had hosted the show again in 1986 with Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the Soweto Rythym Section as the musical guest and that led to this one being added to the tracks on the album.
Under African Skies- duet with Linda Ronstadt and described in the notes as a "Zulu walking rhythm."
and All Around The World Or The Myth of Fingerprints, Paul here backed by Los Lobos and ending the album with this amazement.
This now rests between a bunch of old S&G stuff and Rhythm and You're the One which have come since. A hole in the wall well-filled:)
Even closer to heart, though, was hearing, among those mentions, that this 70th year of Paul is also the 25th anniversary of Graceland. He really hadn't had much success since the Still Crazy days of nearly a decade earlier, and this album was a breakthrough both commercially and artistically. The nice Jewish boy from Kew Gardens, Queens reached out to African and Latino influences in making a truly special gift of music to the world. The liner notes were written in May of 1986, the month I first dated Eleanor. A bit over a year later, we were on our honeymoon, which included a way-too-whirlwindy auto trip north of London, and us with nothing to listen to in the car. We found a record shop somewhere near Stoke, where the owner, the self-proclaimed "Loony Lonnie," sold us our cassette of the thing, for I think 8 quid (the sticker's still on the side of the box, but inks as well as memories fade). Somehow, though, we'd never managed to pick up a CD of the album.
Today's errands, which also included arthitis meds for the dog and a flu shot for me, remedied that. All the more remarkably, since our main library had mis-catalogued it and I came within a hair of giving up before it just stared out at me from the front row of the "Popular" (as opposed to "Rock") rack of CDs.
Y'all know "You Can Call Me Al," but here are a few of my other favourites:
Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes- this one also has an SNL connection, as Paul had hosted the show again in 1986 with Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the Soweto Rythym Section as the musical guest and that led to this one being added to the tracks on the album.
Under African Skies- duet with Linda Ronstadt and described in the notes as a "Zulu walking rhythm."
and All Around The World Or The Myth of Fingerprints, Paul here backed by Los Lobos and ending the album with this amazement.
This now rests between a bunch of old S&G stuff and Rhythm and You're the One which have come since. A hole in the wall well-filled:)
