It’s difficult to imagine Paul Simon is pushing 70. Maybe that’s because his music has been such a part of the American landscape for so many years, it’s just ingrained into our lives. Another reason Simon might be thought of as forever young is that he’s never stopped exploring new sounds.
“The only interesting thing is the work,” Simon told Rolling Stone.
| Onstage |
| Paul Simon |
| When: 8 p.m. Wednesday |
| Where: DAR Constitution Hall, 1776 D St. NW |
| Details: $53.50 to $123.50; 202-397-SEAT; ticketmaster.com |
That’s not to say that Simon isn’t focused on his wife of 19 years, musician Edie Brickell, his children, or his beloved baseball. Yet Simon makes a point of telling Rolling Stone that he doesn’t often speak of his past and almost never of his family. What’s left, of course, is work and it’s something that Simon pursues as passionately as he did in the 1960s when he and his then best friend Art Garfunkel were Simon and Garfunkel.
If you want the secret as to why Simon has won a multitude of awards and honors, including 12 Grammy Awards, three of which were for Album of the Years (“Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Still Crazy After All These Years,” and “Graceland”), you need look no further than his work ethic and creativity.
During rehearsals for his musical “The Capeman,” Rolling Stone reports that he kept the entire company waiting for 30 minutes while he selected the perfect spot for a gourd player.
The observations of Rolling Stone writer Nicholas Dawidoff surrounding the recording of Simon’s just-released album “So Beautiful or So What,” underscore that Simon’s perfectionism is still completely intact.
Simon is frank about it, comparing his writing style with that of his friend Paul McCartney (who, yes, called Simon and serenaded him with the classic Beatles’ song “When I’m 64,” when Simon hit that milestone.
“He doesn’t think of it in the same way I do,” said Simon. “He wants to capture his impulse. Me, I’m happy to spend a year and a half on a song.”
Still, Simon is almost incredibly modest saying that the music he creates draws back in many ways to his earliest influences including Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers and Bo Diddley. The title of this new album even refers back to Miles Davis’ “So What” and features one of Simon’s favorite Bo Diddley rhythms.
“I never invented anything,” he said.
