"THERE GOES...RHYMIN' SIMON...'CAUSE HE'S THE BEST...TOTALLY"

I very rarely watch Saturday Night Live, so I was tickled when I happened to turn it on last week and discovered that it was the Paul Simon / Election 2000 episode. I'd made a special point of watching it the first time around, and I made a special point of watching it again, this time armed with a video tape. I think if my parents hear "THERE GOES...RHYMIN' SIMON...'CAUSE HE'S THE BEST...TOTALLY" one more time, they're going to scream...

Anyway, all four of the songs which were played during this SNL sketch are included on this album, which is a 15-year retrospective of Paul Simon's solo work. "I liked it. I really liked it. The problem that I have with it is...I really didn't like it." NO. Scratch that. SNL mode again. I really did like this album; my only complaint is that American Tune, my favorite song from Paul Simon's solo career, is not included. But then, as jedikermit pointed out, this is an album in which Garfunkel's presence is audibly absent. Since Garfunkel was the one who introduced Simon to the Bach melody he would use for the tune of his song, back before they broke up, I guess you could call that a semi-Simon and Garfunkel song.

This album has 16 tracks:

Mother and Child Reunion: This lively tune which has a great beat behind it tells a tale of a woman wishing to be reunited with her mother despite the distance between them. Neat song, and I love the way he came up with the title. He spied it on a menu at a Chinese restaurant (some sort of dish involving chicken and eggs) and decided he was going to have to use that for a song title someday.

Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard: Another very peppy song, with another great beat, this time talking about a couple of guys sneaking behind the school to get high and getting into trouble. There's a picture in my brother's Sesame Street Unpaved book of Simon singing this song with one of the youngsters...I wonder if he altered the words slightly?

Something So Right

St. Judy's Comet: A lullaby written for his son. I actually heard this one first on a Kenny Loggins children's album. At any rate, it's a nice song in which he tries to convince his son to fall asleep (because if he can't even sing his own son to sleep "it would make your famous father look so dumb").

Loves Me Like a Rock: Back to the energetic, percussion-heavy style of the first two tracks. This one is a nice tribute to moms. "My mama, she loves me / she loves me / she gets down on her knees and hugs me / and she loves me like a rock / she loves me like the Rock of Ages". Quite a few religious references in this song as well.

Kodachrome: Yippee! My favorite on the album, second-favorite solo song. It's got a hard edge to it, great guitar work, and it's just plain nifty. I'm surprised I like it so much, since it's even got a vulgarity in it. (About as mild a vulgarity as you can get, though I once read an interview in which Paul Simon claimed this song was groundbreaking because it was the first song containing a vulgarity to run uncensored on the airwaves.) I've tried, though, and I can't come up with anything comparable that would work as a replacement. It's pretty hard to be offended by its use, unless you happen to have been a teacher at Forest Hills High School in the fifties...

Anyway, this is a song about nostalgia, and nothing fuels nostalgia better than a photograph. Kodachrome happens to be a very special kind of Kodak film which causes the colors in the picture to come out looking brighter than life. It's a very cheery format. Around the time Simon wrote the song, Kodak was talking about shelving this type of film. Perhaps in part due to Simon's plea, they didn't. But now, 28 years later, they finally decided to do away with it. (((sigh))) Oh, well. I guess Kodachrome itself will be a part of that nostalgia now.

"Kodachrome / give us such nice bright colors / give us the greens of summer / make me think all the world is a sunny day, oh yeah / I got a Nikon camera / I love to take a photograph / so mama don't take my Kodachrome away."

Have a Good Time

50 Ways to Leave Your Lover: Fun and unique, and, incidentally, the first of the four songs butchered by those guys on SNL. The message is don't sit around stuck in a relationship that you don't want to be in. There are lots of ways to get out of it, so pick one and get going!

"Just slip out the back, Jack / Make a new plan, Stan / Don't try to be coy, Roy / Just listen to me / Hop on the bus, Gus / Don't need to discuss much / Just drop off the key, Lee / And get yourself free."

Still Crazy After All These Years: Probably the most cliched song title of Simon's solo career. By which I mean, turned into a cliche; Simon once said he couldn't believe that it hadn't been a phrase before he made it one. This is a slower, retrospective song which is a nice break from the frantic energy of so many others.

Late in the Evening: And we really needed the break because this one is probably the most energetic song on the album. Sort of a Turn the Page type of "my life as a singer" song. Not really one of my favorites, but it certainly does stand out.

Slip Slidin' Away: Very mellow, about how our goals and dreams seem to slip from our grasp just as we've almost achieved them. (And if Paul Simon ever had a music video in mind for this song, I'm sure it did not involve a couple guys slipping and falling flat on their backs -- sorry, last SNL reference. I promise. I'll be good.) "Slip slidin' away / Slip slidin' away / You know the nearer your destination, the more you're slip slidin' away."

Hearts and Bones: Title track from his early 80s album which focused largely on his rocky and brief marriage to Carrie Fisher. Almost a Simon and Garfunkel album, but Simon changed his mind and erased Garfunkel's vocals from the tracks in mid-production...ouch!

Train in the Distance

Rene and Georgette Magritte with their Dog After the War: To my knowledge, the longest Paul Simon song title. A nice soft song which paints a verbal picture.

Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes: At five and three-fourths minutes, this collaboration with Ladysmith Black Mambazo is the longest track on the album, one of the longest Simon's ever recorded. I'll always remember the first time I heard this song, in my senior English class in high school when my classmate, Ian, played it as part of his presentation on the music of South Africa. A song about class difference, this tune, enhanced by the African singers, is reminiscent of The Boxer in the way that it repeats a musical phrase over and over.

You Can Call Me Al: One of Paul Simon's most famous solo songs, made so in part by his collaboration with Chevy Chase for a humorous music video. (Ooops, was that on SNL? Well, if it was, it's not where I saw it, so I'm pleading the fifth.) "If you'll be my bodyguard / I can be your long-lost pal / You can call me Betty / Betty, when you call me / You can call me Al."

Well, I guess that about does it. I've been meaning to review a Paul Simon album for quite some time, as I have the unfortunate habit of skimping on Simon and gushing over Garfunkel. Oh, well, we all have our favorites. Paul Simon is a genius, though, then and now. His ability to manipulate words into lyrics makes a wannabe poet like me cringe with feelings of unworthiness. This album is a great introduction to Simon's solo work, which spans across decades and dozens of songs. What can I say? His induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was well deserved.