Jump to content

Recommended Posts

This documentary was the first time I had seen Art contribute as well. I'd seen lots of documentaries where he was absent. It seems they are friends again. They spoke in praise of each other.


It was interesting also that Bridge over Troubled Water was played against a background video of the funerals of JFK, Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and was once taken off the TV schedule as it was considered to be a protest song - something Paul Simon says he looks back on and is now quite proud of.

BBC4 Saturday Night, about 11:20pm. Man In Chair, with several guitars behind him (or his own modern art, or a mixing desk) ponders modestly on his lost genius. It could be Brian, or Paul, or the one off of Fleetwood, or perhaps the Genesis* guy on his houseboat.


"And then we really needed another verse because it was too short and we didn't have another verse and we only had another 15 minutes of studio time because of the unions in those days so I just wrote one out there and then in my head as I walked from the little boy's room to the mixing desk and even though it didn't fit the rest of the lyric it just sounded so right and Art/Mick/John/Stevie really got it first time for once and now of course that's the verse that everyone remembers but it wasn't even in the song when I wrote it."


I do like those programmes, though.


* Actually not Genesis, I'm thinking of David Gilmour, aren't I?

I like the old 'we set the drums up inside a tin bath in the elevator, halfway between floors 4 and 5' routine, but it has to come from the mouths of bald, old men with nicotine fingers and Reactolite sunglasses.


Someone from Radiohead explaining how they dangled a customised one-off microphone wrapped in vintage crinoline down a disused well to obtain an incredible and unique reverb has none of that charm.

"Anyway, accusing Paul Simon of plagiarism is as ridiculous as me claiming that Julien Temple nicked my book's title for his London documentary"


Paul Simon did nick Scarborough Fair by copyrighting what was an established UK folk song ! I think Martin Carthy can back that one up.

He's definitley the control type. Having said that I really like his music. But where would he be/have gotten to without Bridge over Troubled Water, who knows.


On one bit of old footage shown last night they were singing it and he shouted at the producer/sound man - "where's my mic, whats happened to my microphone", implying it was turned down. He realised it was on and backtracked, whilst the sound man and Art did nervous twitches, they were obviously scared of him.


He seemed to have a chip on his shoulder about the song that made him.


Having said that he's contributed a lot of good music over the years that I have enjoyed and I don't really care what type of person he is, its not like he's in our lives.

Bit he said, she said that Myth of Fingerprints story, isn't it?


I'm probably biased, though. And I do agree that since we choose our heroes for their uniqueness, their genius, their extraordinary talent it might be a bit much to hope that they might be warm, rounded, ethically sound people too.


Not sure I'll ever get over Gerald Durrell though.


Edited for punk, puncshoe, punctuateness, too many full stops.

The Boxer is another favourite of mine.


There was a documentary about the 25th anniversary of Graceland in which some black South Africans told Paul Simon that they'd been angered when he made it because it ignored the international cultural boycott against the apartheid regime. He seemed genuinely upset about it and I got the impression it had never dawned on him, he just liked the music and wanted to make an album with these musicians.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Just astonishing - how do they do it? Well done for being so on the ball. 
    • Shocking - so fast. Machines can have a false device for inserting your card into and then they retain it. Your bank should return your money 
    • FYI East Dulwich neighbours: I was in the middle of a cash withdrawl at the cashpoint at the Tesco Express on ED road (the one next to the Esso petrol station) when a man appeared beside me waving his hands over the screen and saying not to use it because it had just taken his card. He then dissapeared and I cancelled the withdrawl. No card was returned. It took me literally 30 seconds (max) to realise something wasn't right and 'freeze' the card on my mobile/banking app. I immediately got a txt message from my bank saying a transaction had just been declined, and then another. I logged in to app and £251 had already been taken. This all happened increadibly quickly - the whole incident from first encounter to money being taken and me freezing card was probably around 3 minutes. The guy must have somehow seen me put my PIN number in. It's possible there was some kind of card skmming involved, but I don't know for sure. The man was around 5ft 6/7, black and wearing a covid-type face mask. I don't remember what clothes he was wearing. I got the feeling (mainly from his voice and eyes) that he wasn't young - maybe mid-30s to mid-40s (but I can't be sure). Obviously I repoted to police. 
    • It would be incredible if the community supported small businesses rather than a chain (Gail's being a very large chain).   Sadly, consumers don't realise their power - as you can see also by the number of coffee cups etc that are still being bought and contribute to landfill - it' not hard to be responsible, just inconvenient.
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...