You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>paul</strong> <strong>simon</strong> – 1984 <strong>playboy</strong> <strong>interview</strong> small black beetles: the overkill<br />
to shine" was half a joke, because she was upset one day<br />
when she had found two or three gray hairs on her head.<br />
Playboy: How do you feel about the song today?<br />
Simon: Totally detached. I don't feel that Bridge Over<br />
Troubled Water even belongs to me. When I think about it<br />
now, I think first of an elevator. it makes me laugh - it's nice<br />
to have any song that you write played in an elevator. It's<br />
not as good a feeling, though, as walking down the street<br />
and hearing somebody sing a song of yours. That, I think, is<br />
the best feeling for a songwriter.<br />
Playboy: Do you ever fear that your success - even the fact<br />
that you travel mostly in taxis and limousines - means that<br />
your experiences necessarily differ from those of the<br />
people who buy your records?<br />
Simon: No; I still feel very much in touch with my<br />
background and my childhood. On a certain level, I'm still<br />
thinking, Not bad for a kid from Queens. And so are my<br />
friends, I suspect. Mike Nichols is thinking, Not bad for a<br />
little boy from Berlin, which is where he was born. Lorne is<br />
thinking, Hey, pretty good for a guy from Toronto. Michael<br />
Jackson must think, Pretty damned good for a guy from<br />
Gary, Indiana. you don't forget. Now, Harper Simon - I don't<br />
know if he'll be able to make the statement. he's starting<br />
from a different place.<br />
Playboy: What about Carrie? She had something like<br />
Harper's situation, being the child of famous parent.<br />
Simon: You know what she says? "Most of the movie-stars'<br />
kids I know are fucked up or dead. They killed themselves.<br />
I survived. And that makes me a success in life." She's<br />
right. Of course, she's also a success in her career.<br />
Playboy: Going back again, were you aware as you wrote<br />
Bridge Over Troubled Water that Simon and Garfunkel were<br />
likely to break up?<br />
Simon: Definitely. That's essentially why I wrote So Long,<br />
Frank Lloyd Wright. For most people, it was about Frank<br />
Lloyd Wright. Even Artie didn't know what I was talking<br />
about. But it was directly about us: "So long, Frank Lloyd<br />
Wright." Artie had been an architecture student. "I can't<br />
page 28
Change language