SONGS OF THE ASKING – Paul Simon & STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS (1975):

[email protected] September 13, 2022

On the face of it, aside from both being released within a fortnight of each other in October 1975, outwardly there would appear little to connect ‘The Who By Numbers‘ and ‘STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS‘ the third in a trio of excellent solo albums made since 1972 by Paul Simon.

Closer inspection, however, reveals the artists directing the narrative of these two compelling releases are both gripped by a sense of disillusionment, despair even. Musically it manifests in different ways, Pete Townshend expressing his conflicted state of mind on being a rock star at thirty years of age through that venerable old war horse known as The Who – Simon, as was his want, adopting a variety of styles to reflect on divorce and voice general disenchantment.

Townshend and Simon convey their fears and frustrations through lyrics that are intriguing, occasionally obscure and on occasion, in the case of Townshend, downright irascible.

If Simon’s ruminations can be heard as bitter/sweet, those of his counterpart are often bitter/caustic and while the range of emotions are not exactly sobbing Peter to dismay Paul, both were lauded for these exercises in exorcising personal demons. In their review of ‘The Who By Numbers‘ UK rock weekly the New Musical Express described Townshend as ‘the thinking man’s rock musician, rock-music’s thinking man‘ – while for his efforts Simon won two Grammy awards, one of which was for best album.

Rarely has recognition in the form of a Grammy been so richly deserved. ‘Still Crazy After All These Years‘ is one of the most tasteful rock records ever made. An eclectic mix of forms and fusions, New Yorker Simon utilises jazz, gospel, folk, rock and torch song balladry to emphasise his undoubted prowess as a wordsmith.

There are times when the instrumentation is delicate in conveying the required mood, yet at others, such as the rousing and lyrically sublime ‘My Little Town‘ Simon sounds on a road Bob Seger would soon travel – ironically with the same musicians from the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.

Since parting from Art Garfunkel in 1971, (as a duo Simon & Garfunkel had conquered the world in the previous five years, the introspective folk/gospel ballads of Simon a near-perfect vehicle for the airy voice of Garfunkel), Paul Simon had released two magnificent LP’s under his own name – a 1972 self-titled debut and ‘There Goes Rhymin’ Simon‘ (1973), each a triumph for melodic diversity and sharp lyrical expressionism (in 1974 there had also been an impressive live set entitled ‘Live Rhymin‘).

In contrast to the grand, but sweetly textured production of Simon & Garfunkel records, his early 70s solo albums had also been notable for their stripped back sound and more personal approach to lyric writing. If in part it was a reaction to keeping the customer satisfied through the Simon & Garfunkel years he need not have worried – and while they did not attain sales figures reached by the duo, both records in critical and commercial terms were resounding triumphs in their own right.

For the sessions that would yield his next album Simon once again gathered an enviable crew of New York-based musicians, their number including Tony Levin (bass), Hugh McCracken (guitar), Ralph MacDonald (percussion), Michael Brecker (saxophone), David Sanborn (saxophone) and for the first time on a Paul Simon LP drummer extraordinaire Steve Gadd, whose contribution, particularly to the hit single ‘50 Ways to Leave Your Lover’, would go down as a landmark performance in the annals of rock percussion.

Long time control panel cohort Phil Ramone was along to provide production assistance, Simon also choosing to record two tracks with the Muscle Shoals, who make their inimitable presence felt on the opening title track and ‘My Little Town‘ – which despite the brilliant ensemble playing generated attention for being a Simon & Garfunkel reunion, old pal Art adding pristine harmony vocals to what was already a nigh-on perfectly constructed piece.

Unusually for a Simon composition he refrains from playing acoustic guitar on the poignant title cut. Containing no guitar accompaniment of any description, the song is built upon the electric piano of Muscle Shoals ace Barry Beckett, a dense string and woodwind arrangement supplemented by a luscious tenor sax break performed by Brecker.

In the first verse Simon describes meeting a former love on the street and how they spent an evening drinking beer and reminiscing. By the second, however, he is reflecting on his current state of mind:

‘I’m not the kind of man who tends to socialize/I seem to lean on old familiar ways/And I ain’t no fool for love songs/That whisper in my ears/Still crazy after all these years.‘

Thirty-three years old as the 70s reaches its halfway point, on his previous (studio) album Simon had given a compelling, if darkly pessimistic state of the nation address on the magnificent ‘American Tune‘ (‘I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered/I don’t have a friend who feels at ease/I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered/Or driven to its knees’), but now appears to have moved from widespread concerns to personal anxiety:

‘Now I sit by my window and I watch the cars/I fear I’ll do some damage one fine day/But I would not be convicted by a jury of my peers.’

In returning to finish the song by asserting ‘Still crazy after all these years,’ with a shrug of his shoulders Simon seems to be saying it is the one thing he has discovered about himself despite being over thirty.

Of similar musical structure, ‘You’re Kind‘ – a song where Simon, McCracken and Joe Beck trade gentle guitar lines – finds the composer reflecting on a relationship that began high on hope but ultimately floundered in the nitty-gritty (‘I’m gonna leave you now/And here’s the reason why/I like to sleep with the window open/And you keep the window closed/So goodbye‘).

Like the background horn arrangement, the piece is subtle and understated, the theme of romance being unsustainable explored to an even more resonant effect on ‘I Do It For Your Love‘ – an opening couplet of ‘We were married on a rainy day/The sky was yellow and the grass was gray/We signed the papers and we drove away,’ sounding direct reference to the marriage he has just seen come to an end.

If the gentle, easy flowing melody has McCartney-like overtones, the lyrics have the wistful bite Simon brings to the very best of his work (‘The rooms were musty and the pipes were old/All that winter we shared a cold/Drank all the orange juice that we could hold‘). The interweaving sound of saxophone and accordion during the bridge eventually give way to a forlorn conclusion as Simon observes a relationship in ruins:

‘The sting of reason, the splash of tears/The northern and the southern hemisphere/Love emerges and it disappears/I do it for your love.’

Simon takes a darkly ironic view of his failed marriage in ‘50 Ways to Leave Your Lover‘, the wry chorus and conversational verses played out alternatively between moments of midtempo melodicism and humour in the face of adversity.

At the outset Simon is offered advice and assistance in coping with his fragile emotions, ‘“The problem is all inside your head”, she said to me/The answer is easy if you take it logically/I’d like to help you in your struggle to be free/There must be fifty ways to leave your lover.’

The change of emphasis is accentuated by methods of bringing matters to a conclusion (‘You just slip out the back, Jack/Make a new plan, Stan/You don’t need to be coy, Roy/Just get yourself free‘), for which Simon is joined by a female harmony chorus of Patti Austin, Pheobe Snow and Valerie Simpson. At the beginning, middle and end Gadd hits the spot with some remarkably rhythmic drumming that even the great Charlie Watts would have found hard to improve on.

With his jazz band background Gadd also finds himself right at home on ‘Have a Good Time‘ – doleful irony being replaced by weary, but witty cynicism as Simon declares himself at odds with the way things are:

‘Yesterday it was my birthday/I hung one more year on the line/I should be depressed/My life’s a mess/But
I’m having a good time.’

As the song unfolds amidst its jazz-infused inflections, Simon ignores his own advice (‘I should go to bed but a voice in my head/Says, “Ah, what the Hell”), so the focus shifts from the personal to the political, ‘Maybe I’m laughing my way to disaster/Maybe my race has been run/Maybe I’m blind to the fate of mankind/But what can be done?‘

But all looking out on the world does is make him more sarcastic, Randy Newman not the only songwriter prepared to take his fellow countryman to task for their apparent apathy toward politics in mid-70s America, Simon weighing in with:

‘So God bless the goods we was given/And God bless the U. S. of A./And God bless our standard of livin’/
Let’s keep it that way/And we’ll all have a good time.’

For an album where the arrangements are so tight and defined, the wailing sax break of Phil Woods that takes the song through to fade seems completely out of place on such a structured record – but works perfectly in depicting the sense of antipathy Simon wants to express.

In contrast ‘Some Folks Lives Roll Easy‘ is a plea to a higher power for guidance through his current travails. With electric piano to the fore, the deft string arrangement and lilting saxophone decorate the backdrop against which Simon asks for assistance in playing the hand he has been dealt:

‘And here I am, Lord/I’m knockin’ at Your place of business/I know, I ain’t got no business here/But You said if I ever got so low/I was busted/You could be trusted.’

The gospel blues of ‘Gone at Last‘ that opens side two is effectively a duet with Pheobe Snow, she and Simon taking turns at narrating the tale of somebody adrift in the world (‘But that boy looked so dejected/
He just grabbed my sympathy/Sweet little soul now, what’s your problem? /Tell me why you’re so downcast’) – the harmonies of the Jessy Dixon singers (who had also been heard on ‘Live Rhymin‘) and Latin-based drum track taking the song into territory Simon had previously inhabited on ‘Loves Me Like a Rock‘ from ‘There Goes Rhymin’ Simon‘.

Side one closer ‘Night Game‘ is a somewhat vague piece that is either straightforward recounting of a baseball game where the pitcher dies in the course of the fixture or as some have suggested a metaphor for mortality. The hushed tone of the vocal and sparse instrumentation – only Simon (acoustic guitar) and Levin (bass) appear all through the track – maintain the feeling of solemnity, the composer obscure but overtly poetic when softly singing:

‘Then the night turned cold/Colder than the moon/The stars were white as bones.’

At times the closing piano ballad ‘Silent Eyes‘ is even harder to pin down, Simon thought to be evoking his Jewish heritage in what appears a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the city referenced three times in the verses. On citing the notion of being halfway there, he declares, ‘And we shall all be called as witnesses/
Each and every one/To stand before the eyes of God/And speak what was done,’ although whose are the silent eyes remains unclear – the lyrics suggest they are those of God, but such is the ambiguity they could also belong to the pilgrim.

Far more straightforward in its intentions, ‘My Little Town‘ is a quite brilliant coming of age depiction of living in such a place. Simon has denied the song is autobiographical, once revealing it was written for Garfunkel to counterbalance what he felt was the saccharine material his former partner had taken to recording. (Garfunkel included a rendition of ‘My Little Town‘ on his ‘Breakaway‘ album that also appeared in October 1975).

For someone growing up in a little town, passages such as ‘Comin’ home after school/Flyin’ my bike past the gates of the factories/My mom doin’ the laundry/Hangin’ our shirts in the dirty breeze’ abound with resonance but are so universal few would fail to connect them with where they are from.

Behind the affecting vocals of Paul and Art the Muscle Shoals do them proud, the melody built on the sterling keyboard work of Beckett. The top draw sessioneers know exactly when to come on strong and then back off, leaving Simon and Garfunkel space aplenty to harmonize through the most telling passage of the lyric:

‘In my little town/I never meant nothin’ I was just my father’s son/Savin’ my money/Dreamin’ of glory/Twitchin’ like a finger on the trigger of a gun.’

In deciding the future lies elsewhere they make the assertion ‘Leaving nothing but the dead and dying back in my little town‘ Simon anything but sentimental in relation to how lives move on, this closing refrain heard over the arrival of a blaring horn section. Rock music has rarely sounded so sophisticated yet so sumptuous at the same time.

On release ‘Still Crazy After All These Years‘ received a rapturous welcome from the music press. In England the NME described Simon as being in ‘the full flood of his creative powers‘ while Dave Marsh in Rolling Stone said it was ‘the most mature and cohesive album Simon has ever made with his songwriting attaining its highest level of sophistication yet.’

The glowing critical reception was matched by an equally strong commercial performance resulting in his first US number one album as a solo artist, while also climbing to number five on the UK charts. When the Grammy awards came around five months later, the laurels went to Simon for ‘Best Male Vocal Performance‘ (the title track) and for an album that was unfailingly cultured and engaging.

After addressing their personal dilemmas with such candour in late 1975, it would be three years before Townshend recorded with The Who again, five elapsing before Simon next produced a batch of new songs.

Back in October 1975 Townshend and his West London chums began their first UK tour in two years, time between shows punctuated by the unruly offstage behaviour of their madcap drummer – Keith Moon the literal embodiment of still crazy after all these years.

PAUL SIMON – STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS (Released October 25 1975):

Still Crazy After All These Years/My Little Town/I Do It For Your Love/50 Ways to Leave Your Lover/Night Game/ Gone at Last/Some Folks Lives Roll Easy/Have a Good Time/You’re Kind/Silent Eyes;

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NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE‘ – an acclaimed thriller now available in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle book.