Paul Simon- Graceland

Groundbreaking. Saw his Graceland concert in Lafayette with the African musicians.
Unforgettable.

Definitely one of my favorite albums.

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It’s a great album. Yeah, Paul ripped off Los Lobos and he was a dick for doing that. But it’s still a great album.

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Thanks for mentioning this. The story is pretty appalling and I certainly believe Los Lobos's version of what happened:

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/los-lobos-steve-berlin-labels-paul-simon-a-jerk-alleges-graceland-snub/

The entire album may indeed be great, but don't you think that the "You Can Call Me Al" song is wildly overrated? The musicianship is great but the lyrics are not very deep or inspiring...just seems like 80's puff. Perhaps that opinion is influenced by the silly video with Chevy Chase.

One of the better albums in human history. Top 20 in most people’s catalog

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It seems to be a pattern

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yes
the songwriting credits on graceland were slipshod at best, fraudulent at worst. great album though

One of my all time favorite albums. Perfect musicianship and lyrics, and very nice harmonies with Linda Ronsadt on "Under African Skies."

And yes, Paul Simon has a well-documented history of 1) being a dick and 2) being full of himself and being weird about song credits.

I saw him as a kid in Lafayette in 1991, I believe, after he did Rhythm of the Saints, also an excellent album.

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he entire album may indeed be great, but don't you think that the "You Can Call Me Al" song is wildly overrated? The musicianship is great but the lyrics are not very deep or inspiring

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Completely disagree.


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"
Bonedigger, Bonedigger
Dogs in the moonlight
Far away in my well-lit door
Mr. Beerbelly, Beerbelly
Get these mutts away from me
You know, I don't find this stuff amusing anymore


A man walks down the street
He says, "Why am I short of attention?
Got a short little span of attention
And, whoa, my nights are so long
Where's my wife and family?
What if I die here?
Who'll be my role model
Now that my role model is gone, gone?"
He ducked back down the alley
With some roly-poly little bat-faced girl
All along, along
There were incidents and accidents
There were hints and allegations


A man walks down the street
It's a street in a strange world
Maybe it's the third world
Maybe it's his first time around
Doesn't speak the language
He holds no currency
He is a foreign man
He is surrounded by the sound, the sound
Cattle in the marketplace
Scatterings and orphanages
He looks around, around
He sees angels in the architecture
Spinning in infinity
He says, "Amen and Hallelujah!"

Interesting that we can both rely on your post to support our positions. Guess that’s what “makes the world go ‘round”

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One of the better albums in human history. Top 20 in most people’s catalog

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I strongly value your opinion on music. I've always known ABOUT graceland and the reputation has, but never actually heard it. So after reading this thread I checked it out from the library yesterday and listened to it. Maybe my tastes are awful or maybe whatever genre you'd classify this as just isn't my bag, but I didn't really "get it", I guess. I won't say it sucked or was bad, but it was just remarkably bland and boring to me. I think there was one song that I would consider putting on my ipod (can't even remember which one now) but the rest was just blah and at the end I was glad it was over so that I could go ahead and return it.

So I guess what I'm ultimately asking is, can you help me understand from a musical or societal perspective what it is about this album that makes it so universally acclaimed?

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can you help me understand from a musical or societal perspective what it is about this album that makes it so universally acclaimed

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I think a big part of the societal piece is that the album was done while apartheid was still the law of the land in South Africa. There was some controversy about Paul going to Johannesburg because of the boycott. I want to sat he talked to Quincy Jones and maybe Harry Belefonte while at the recording session for We Are the World, told them his plan, and they said go for it.

However, what he did was he went and recorded with the black musicians, and recorded their musical style. This would somewhat be comparable to an American artist going to Havana and recording with Buena Vista Social Club. He wasn't bending their style to his, but incorporating their style and rhythm into his work.

Musically, he was introducing a large part of American listeners to musical styles they had never heard before. Not only did he include African roots music, he also pulled in zydeco, which wasn't something the average American pop/rock listener was going to be familiar with.

I wouldn't count it in my top 20, or even top 50 or maybe even 100 albums. I like the national steel work on Graceland, and the nostalgia factor of Call Me Al because of the video. But I do think it was a unique album for its time. A couple of years later when Jimmy Buffett released Hot Water, he covered Great Heart by Johnny Clegg, who Simon listed as an influence in the Graceland liner notes.