paul simon playboy interview

paul simon – 1984 playboy interview small black beetles: the overkill
Playboy: You won a Grammy Award for your next album,
Still Crazy After All These Years. Did you believe that it was
your best work?
Simon: I felt I was defining a real identity. Musically, I was
beginning to put together a kind of New York rock, jazz
influenced, with a certain kind of lyrical sophistication. It
caught a moment in time, 1975 - 1976. Fifty Ways To Leave
Your Lover was a very hip song. which is funny, because it
had a lot to do with my son. I was teaching him about
rhyming. "Slip out the back, Jack / Make a new plan, Stan" -
they came out of rhymes I taught him.
Playboy: You were talking with Garfunkel again by then. In
fact, you recorded My Little Town with him, which was on
Still Crazy and on his solo album, Breakaway.
Simon: It was written originally for him. I said, "Art, I'm
going to write a real nasty song for you, because you're
singing a lot of sweet songs and it'll be good for you to
sing a real nasty song." Then, when I'd actually written it, I
said I'd sing it with him. And he said, "I know you. If you're
going to sing on this, you're going to feel bad it's just on my
record. Why don't we put it out on both of our records?"
And I said, "You're right. Thanks a lot." It was quite an act
of generosity.
Playboy: The song Still Crazy After All These Years seems in
some ways like the quintessential Paul Simon song. Was it
as autobiographical as it seems?
Simon: Yes, it was. I was staying in a Manhattan hotel. I
had left my marriage. I had a 16-month-old son. I was
pretty depressed, just sitting and looking out the window.
That's all I used to do. Just sit and look out the window:
"Now I sit by my window and I watch the cars..."
Playboy: What had gone wrong in the marriage?
Simon: I wasn't ready. I didn't understand what marriage
meant, really. I didn't understand that if things were
uncomfortable or you were unhappy, you could work it
out. I was young. Also, Peggy wasn't a rock-'n'-roll
person, a show-business person. And, of course, I didn't
think I was, either, but I was. That's all I ever was. All my
friends were musicians, actors. And she could be critical.
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