Says Kyle Gordon, interviewed in Vulture at '"Everyone Was Laughing at Me the Entire Time. It Was Awesome.'"
I highly recommend "Under African Skies" "Mr. Jambo":
July 21, 2026
"Obviously, Paul Simon’s Graceland is a huge influence on this. I do genre parody..."
"... and this is definitely mostly Graceland.... It’s a stunning masterpiece. But the lyrics are essentially him singing over Ladysmith Black Mambazo and then singing about how he’s depressed because he got divorced from Princess Leia and he’s awkward at Upper West Side parties. It was sort of loosely influenced by that, but he has these elliptical kind of lyrics; they’re hard to pin down sometimes. So a lot of the influence came from the visuals of the 'Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes' video and his performances with Ladysmith Black Mambazo on Saturday Night Live. There were a lot of 'a dorky white guy in front of an African choir' images. And I was definitely influenced by Talking Heads and Peter Gabriel...."
"Well, I couldn’t speak his language and I couldn’t understand a word / But I knew his meaning was what I decided I had heard."
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49 comments:
Stuff that doesn't age well.
I would still love to see James Brown backed by a Klezmer band.
It is a terrific album.
Paul Simon has soul. Look at that dancing!
I never warmed up to Graceland, but I can tell you There Goes Rhymin’ Simon is one of a handful of albums where every song is a masterpiece.
Paul Simon's best song musically and lyrically is Trailways Bus from "Capeman."
Interview with Imus about it.
I think Paul Simon is constantly underrated as one of a few truly American musical prodigies.
Gordon's song is pretty funny. The Suit and Tie is a nice touch.
You have to wonder why there's not more satire directed at Simon and Garfunkle because its an easy target.
What Aggie said
I love the African bass parts on tunes like this - really bubbly and happy!
He's also satirizing "under african skies".
Not really a big Paul simon fan. Went on Youtube and was shocked at how popular he is. Something called "You call me Al" has 150 million views!
Two songs I like from Simon are oldies: Cecilia and Scarborough Fair.
Kyle Gordon is hilarious. I liked his Every British Rapper in the 2000's take.
Paul Simon's greatest hits is on my thumb drive in my car.
I do love their songs.
Old men
Sat on their park bench
Like bookends...
I'm in a room with my mother. It's the early Seventies; I'm a child. The wall-to-wall carpet is pristine, but she is vacuuming it over and over, listening to Simon and Garfunkel. She smokes as she vacuums, as the light slowly leaves the room, and the smoke becomes more visible than light.
His lyrics are more accessible than those of Dylan. Sometimes that's an advantage. Well occasionally.......Carrie Fisher, in her show, complained about how he never memorialized her with a great song. I can see how that's a legitimate complaint.
Like Dylan, Simon didn't want to get pigeonholed as a "folkie." In "A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs" Andrew Hickey talks about how Simon was doing all sorts of rock styles trying to make it, and somehow got paired up with Garfunkel during a studio session, and did some folkie stuff which caught on. Garfunkel was a math nerd and rather odd, and Simon was trying to ditch him but couldn't because they were so successful. Eventually he did, obviously, but not before their huge early success.
The Rhythm of the Saints is the great album. Graceland is okay…they can fuck also fuck right off with the racism accounting, too…
I discovered Ladysmith Black Mambazo in a taxi in Lusaka in 1985. The driver was playing this incredible music on his cassette player and I asked him what it was. "Ladysmith Black Mambazo," he said. Couldn't find an LBM cassette in Lusaka but when I got to Bulawayo I found it and bought it. Was staying with some Rhodies (White) there and asked them if I could play it on their stereo. When I did, they said, "Why are you listening to that Munt stuff?"
When I got back to the States in June '86 I played it for all my friends. They were equally puzzled by why I liked it. You know, just a bunch of weird African noise, etc. Three months later Paul Simon released "Graceland" featuring that same "noise" of Ladysmith Black Mambazo's - Yep, every one of those friends raved about how fantastic they were...
Paul Simon is cultural appropriation, even [shudder] minstrelsy. That makes Kyle Gordon cultural appropriation squared or [shudder] metaminstrelsy.
Many people throughout the world joined a stringent boycott of everything South African as a way to punish the apartheid regime. Simon was criticized bitterly for daring to go to the country and work with Lady Smith Mambazo. His retort was they were global-scale talent and deserved to get paid.
(That summary glosses over a lot of things.)
https://www.biography.com/musicians/paul-simon-graceland-inspiration-south-africa
“I highly recommend "Under African Skies" "Mr. Jambo"”
I guess singing clowns who aren’t funny and can’t sing aren’t really my thing. And claiming he was influenced by Paul Simon is an insult to Simon.
*** The Rhythm of the Saints is the great album. Graceland is okay…***
Two great albums, the best solo work Simon ever did without Art Garfunkel, in my view.
***they can fuck also fuck right off with the racism accounting, too…***
I recall an interview with Joseph Shabalala where a supercilious white NPR type asked him if he and the band felt "exploited" by Paul Simon. In his jolly, kind, deeply religious Christian way, Shabalala told him in so many words to go fuck himself, they loved Simon, were grateful for the doors he opened for them, and they weren't going to be diversity donkeys for moral-preening white leftists to ride.
Racism accounting, heh heh. I also like "racism archaeology".
"Donald Trump just released a new policy on Canadian tariffs! Go through it and give me a 1200 word article on why it's racist!"
Simon in Graceland "appropriated" (and brought recognition to) lots of underappreciated musical styles, including Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Zydeco ("That Was Your Mother"), as well as earlier stuff like "Mother and Child Reunion" (Reggae/Ska), and all sorts of Latin, Caribbean and South American stuff. He deserves immense credit for blending those influences into his "rock" songs and bringing this music to American ears. It was very hard to hear anything like that on mainstream popular radio.
I too rate ROTS higher than Graceland.
I had never heard of Kyle Gordon (Racing driver? Baseball player?) until today, that I know of.
Weird Al can sleep soundly.
I was in high school when S&G became popular. Everyone loved them. I never bought a Simon album until Graceland. But I was into ska and reggae by then. Still love the songs. Great post.
Kyle Gordon is funny in very small doses.
Graceland is a good album. Turns 40 this summer. I prefer Simon’s use of African music to Peter Gabriel’s.
It's a shame that Graceland has been effectively canceled. I was in college when it was released, and it was a huge album, bringing a lot of attention to different types of music and musicians than most Americans otherwise would have heard.
I also remember being amused at the reaction of the campus activists. At the time, the activist crew was busy building a South African shantytown on the central plaza in front of the university president's office. My recollection is that most of the politically correct students loved the album and played it non-stop, while the hardcore activists (generally wealthy and white) were furious that Paul Simon dared to engage with South African artists instead of boycotting them.
As an aside, the first time I was hissed at by college classmates was when I innocently asked if it were possible that constructive engagement with South Africa might lead to a quicker, more peaceful, more economically positive outcome for its citizens than divestment and boycotting it. I honestly did not have a position on the question at the time, but I quickly learned from the reaction of my fellow students and the professor that it was not permissible to ask such a question, especially in a political science class.
Graceland is a masterpiece and Simon did Africa better than Peter Gabriel AND Billy Joel, but it's ok to poke fun. I laughed at the video.
I mean listen to that bass line! Even in the parody, it's fantastic
Saw Paul Simon earlier this year. He is old and frail, and his voice is weak.
Do they still use the words "cool" or "hip" in 2026? Because if they do, Paul Simon is the opposite of that. And he never was "Cool" or "hip" even in the 1960s.
He was always for dweebs. If you took Bob Dylan and combined him with Rogers and Hammerstein and threw in some Paul Anka - you get Paul Simon.
I've loved Paul Simon's music since the 60s when he was still with Garfunkel. But by the 70s I realized that he might as well be singing in African or just plain gibberish for all the sense it made. But is was beautiful gibberish with beautiful music.
I love the Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints albums and still play them from time to time.
John Henry
I read most of a fantastic book last year called "And the Roots and Rhythm Remain" which is a line from one of the songs on the Graceland album. The book is by Joe Boyd.
I think it is about roots music. A chapter each on music of Jamaica, Cuba, Romania Africa and stops in between. Quite a good discussion of the Ladysmith Black Mambaza, Miriam Makeba and others. It got me listening to Makeba who I'd heard of but never heard. Very clicky.
The chapters each focus on a different type, but all similar genre, of music from origin to present day.
I got about 2/3 through then got sidetracked. I think finishing it will be my next book.
John Henry
I loved the video and the music. I kept imagining a punch line where he sings "Love is in the valley" and he wanders joyfully into the valley where an elephant caresses him with their toes. (Classical reference)
It was still great even without the punchline.
John Henry
Book's title comes from Simon's "Under African Skies"
John Henry
Simon brought a number of great African musicians to the forefront of America, as well as African music itself. The albums Graceland, The Rhythm of the Saints, and other songs on other albums (such as Dazzling Blue on So Beautiful or So What) all featured that sound. It was not a photo-op for him. It was a years long love of other music, particularly that music.
Just the greatest songwriter of our time. Even when considering Bob Dylan.
Tina,
I think James Brown and Klezmer would be terrific!
Since that is not gonna happen, how about a hot Puerto Rican fiddler rocking the bejabbers out of Orange Blossom Special with the Klezmer Company Orchestra.
I'll bet I've listened to it 100 times and it never gets old.
https://youtu.be/DSphxkTLIoQ?si=TQIWg-H-U3k3K4Sh
John Henry
Posting this the same day as the white supremacy questions by Rep. Gill gives me a sensible chuckle. Racism is dead in the US, at least as a charge meant to censor opposing political opinions.
Graceland is an outstanding album, as is Simon, an artist. The bass always reminds me of Jaco Pastorius, the crazy bastard.
I've read that Mark Levin and Mike Huckabee love Paul Simon. And Mitt Romney. So, the current love for Paul Simon isn't surprising.
It's pretty obvious that Paul Simon is an AIPAC plot.
In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon
directed by Alex Gibney
Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, John Lennon--what was it about the 1960s that produced such great singer songwriters? The music hasn't dimmed in time. Aren't we lucky?
Heh. My only regret about going to Africa is that I did not go as a younger man. Also, possibly not pushing my romantic interest in Doris Likwelile, who might be the most breathtakingly beautiful woman I ever stood next to. But my interest in African music dates back to the movie "Zulu", which in addition to have what my Dad termed the most realistic version of infantry combat he had seen, had the incredible Zulu voices. On my I-tunes is a great collection of 60'-70's African pop (Golden Afrique Vols 1-3) which I would recommend to the curious. The African horns on the version of "Mra" in Vol 3 make it all worthwhile.
Mid 80's celebrity "work done". Tight facelift but still no botox.
His wife Edie Brickell's song. "I'm not aware of too many things. I know it looks like I pee when I sing."
https://youtu.be/tDl3bdE3YQA?is=jjBat4pczjZcK1EY
That sounds great, John Henry. I do think James Brown and Klezmer musicians would bring the house down. Maybe someone technical can invent it.
It's a great album. Why is Paul Simon being attacked for making a 100 million Americans care about African music?
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