...a ranking of the tracks on Paul Simon's Graceland, which has been the subject of a surprising amount of debate in my life recently. My sentiment on this fluctuates based on my mood (for example, I am directly contradicting several of the points I made on Sunday when discussing this), but this is pretty much right:
1. Graceland: Simon calls it probably the best song he ever wrote. I wouldn't go that far (although don't ask me which song deserves the title), but it's the best on the album - a rare case, for Simon, of naming the album after the best song.
2. The Boy in the Bubble: Simon has said that he isn't a political songwriter, but that's sometimes not true. Still, his best political writing comes when he personalizes it, as he does here.
3. You Can Call Me Al: I often feel obligated to rank this one lower because it's so damned catchy, and catchiness seems like the mark of a non-brilliant song to me. But the image of a guy, battered by life, who wants a partner primarily to guard him against reality is a great one.
4. Gumboots: Repetitive and almost irritating musically, but the lyrics are top notch, especially the portions that deal with the least romantic marriage proposal in history ("you don't feel you could love me, but I feel you could", "why don't we get together and call ourselves an institute?").
5. I Know What I Know: Wait a minute - don't I know you from the cinematographer's party?
6. All Around the World: Signs of the times - the talk show host as prophet, the abandoned army post, and the belief in the differentness of our fingerprints.
7. Crazy Love Volume II: What the hell is meant by the image of an archangel named "Fat Charlie" filing for divorce? I don't know, and I don't care - it's brilliant, and I won't hear a word spoken against it.
8. That Was Your Mother: An unexpected Zydeco treat on an album of South African-inspired music.
9. Homeless: Probably the most "African" feeling song on the album, this doesn't benefit as much from the fusion of American and African as the earlier songs do.
10. Under African Skies: I have nothing in particular to say about this song.
11. Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes: Long and boring.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
You = establishment. I still think Graceland (the song) is overrated, although it is probably not the worst song on the album as I've previously claimed. I probably did that for effect.
Here are my rankings (keeping in mind that I'm too lazy to rank all of them and that my expertise and taste in music are legendarily small and bad, respectively):
1. I Know What I Know: just brilliant. It's joie de vivre paired with a realistic assessment of how few things are actually under our control. Now that's a healthy attitude towards life - I should know, because it's mine on good days.
2. Gum Boots: Similar joie de vivre, paired with a few inevitable darker sentiments. And the way the words wrap themselves around the verses in unexpected places...
Yeah, I'm stopping here. Those are the two songs that make me love Graceland.
I'm the establishment? Which one of us only bothers to own his most famous and popular album, despite the fact that the next two are better?
Post a Comment