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Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon
What happens when Paul Simon, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in music history, and Malcolm Gladwell, the best-selling author, sit down together, with a tape recorder and a guitar?
Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon is part memoir, part investigation, and unlike any creative portrait you’ve ever heard before. Recorded over a series of 30 hours of conversation between Simon, Gladwell, and Gladwell’s oldest friend and co-writer, journalist and Broken Record podcast co-host Bruce Headlam, the conversation flows from Simon’s music, to his childhood in Queens, NY, to his frequent collaborators including Art Garfunkel and the nature of creativity itself. Gladwell and Headlam traveled from the mountains of Hawaii to Simon’s own backyard studio to record an artist they’ve idolized since childhood.
Woven throughout the audiobook is distinctive commentary about Simon’s songwriting alongside archival audio footage and never-before-heard live studio versions and original recordings of beloved hits including “The Boxer", “The Sound of Silence", and “Graceland”. Between conversations, Gladwell deploys his signature blend of historical research and social science in an attempt to understand how a boy from 1940s Queens conjured near-perfect songs over an incredible 65-year career. Along the way, he gathers reflections on Simon’s particular genius from the likes of Sting, Herbie Hancock, Renee Fleming, Jeff Tweedy, Aaron Lindsey, and Roseanne Cash.
The result is an intimate audio biography of one of America’s most popular songwriters. Brimming with music and conversation, Miracle and Wonder is a window into Simon’s legendary career, what it means to be alive as an artist, and how to create work that endures.
Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon is part memoir, part investigation, and unlike any creative portrait you’ve ever heard before. Recorded over a series of 30 hours of conversation between Simon, Gladwell, and Gladwell’s oldest friend and co-writer, journalist and Broken Record podcast co-host Bruce Headlam, the conversation flows from Simon’s music, to his childhood in Queens, NY, to his frequent collaborators including Art Garfunkel and the nature of creativity itself. Gladwell and Headlam traveled from the mountains of Hawaii to Simon’s own backyard studio to record an artist they’ve idolized since childhood.
Woven throughout the audiobook is distinctive commentary about Simon’s songwriting alongside archival audio footage and never-before-heard live studio versions and original recordings of beloved hits including “The Boxer", “The Sound of Silence", and “Graceland”. Between conversations, Gladwell deploys his signature blend of historical research and social science in an attempt to understand how a boy from 1940s Queens conjured near-perfect songs over an incredible 65-year career. Along the way, he gathers reflections on Simon’s particular genius from the likes of Sting, Herbie Hancock, Renee Fleming, Jeff Tweedy, Aaron Lindsey, and Roseanne Cash.
The result is an intimate audio biography of one of America’s most popular songwriters. Brimming with music and conversation, Miracle and Wonder is a window into Simon’s legendary career, what it means to be alive as an artist, and how to create work that endures.
Audiobook
Published November 16, 2021
About the author
Malcolm Gladwell
64 books35.9k followersMalcolm Gladwell is the author of five New York Times bestsellers—The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath. He is also the co-founder of Pushkin Industries, an audio content company that produces the podcasts Revisionist History, which reconsiders things both overlooked and misunderstood, and Broken Record, where he, Rick Rubin, and Bruce Headlam interview musicians across a wide range of genres. Gladwell has been included in the TIME 100 Most Influential People list and touted as one of Foreign Policy's Top Global Thinkers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 774 reviews
November 18, 2021
This deserves 6 out of 5 stars. What a treat to listen to someone I have long admired and to have that admiration grow. Paul Simon is a treasure, and Malcolm Gladwell and his team do an awesome job teasing out details that fans and others will enjoy immensely.
June 28, 2022
Being an admirer of the body of work of Malcolm Gladwell and the same being true of Paul Simon’s long career, I jumped at the chance to read the audiobook Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon by Malcolm Gladwell. This is a master class in songwriting, with a songwriter who has been doing this for 65 years. The book feels like a podcast that never ends. Gladwell’s research of his subject enhances the informal interviews. The conversations are interspersed with many off-the-cuff Simon songs, not just played for enjoyment but also with a story for each one, of how the songs came to be written and also what they mean to the songwriter. It is a window into the man himself, who is well-known for being very private. This audiobook is pure pleasure and I wished it would never end. Highly recommended.
January 16, 2022
I have listened to and loved Paul Simons music for a long time. I also admire Gladwell, so listening to this was a win win. This not only met my expectations but surpassed them mightily. Gladwell does a terrific job interviewing, talking with Simon. How he comes up with the ideas for his songs, so some history there as some are tied to events or tragedies that happened here and in the case of Graceland, South Africa. My hubby and I were fortunate to see Simon perform his Graceland at the Civic Opera House in Chicago. It was outstanding.
Simon is a seeker of sounds, traveling far and wide to satisfy his curiousity and to make something totally original. He is a perfectionist and an artist to the core. Few personal facts are revealed, it's all about the sounds, the music.
Simon is a seeker of sounds, traveling far and wide to satisfy his curiousity and to make something totally original. He is a perfectionist and an artist to the core. Few personal facts are revealed, it's all about the sounds, the music.
January 16, 2022
As another reviewer noted, this is more like a long episode of a great podcast than it is a book. Not that I’m complaining. In the relatively short space of six hours, Gladwell and Headlam provide the listener with a surprisingly satisfying examination of Simon’s career in music. At first I was afraid that the format—with frequent interjections and analysis from Gladwell—would drown out the melody, so to speak. But Gladwell’s interrogatory, probing style complements Simon’s heady music wonderfully, and the result is a thrilling investigation of a great artist’s work.
I have liked Simon’s music for years; but I came away from this book almost in awe of the man. In addition to his musical talent, he is just so endlessly curious—exploring new sounds, new styles, new instruments throughout his very long career, and constantly growing in a way that most other pop songwriters, even very good ones, do not. As it happens, I recently finished a book about Paul McCartney, a brilliant songwriter who arguably peaked in his twenties. While McCartney basically had his style set in stone by the age of thirty, Simon kept challenging himself to expand, producing much of his freshest work in his forties and beyond. That is a rare accomplishment in the world of pop music.
With frequent clips from Simon’s music, and interviews with collaborators and admirers, and of course of Simon himself, this audiobook packs a lot of aesthetic and intellectual pleasure into a small package—much like Simon’s songs.
I have liked Simon’s music for years; but I came away from this book almost in awe of the man. In addition to his musical talent, he is just so endlessly curious—exploring new sounds, new styles, new instruments throughout his very long career, and constantly growing in a way that most other pop songwriters, even very good ones, do not. As it happens, I recently finished a book about Paul McCartney, a brilliant songwriter who arguably peaked in his twenties. While McCartney basically had his style set in stone by the age of thirty, Simon kept challenging himself to expand, producing much of his freshest work in his forties and beyond. That is a rare accomplishment in the world of pop music.
With frequent clips from Simon’s music, and interviews with collaborators and admirers, and of course of Simon himself, this audiobook packs a lot of aesthetic and intellectual pleasure into a small package—much like Simon’s songs.
November 4, 2023
This is a truly remarkable audio book. Gladwell said, in a recent interview, that topics and stories of certain people are best told in audio. He was right. 'Miracle and Wonder' will appeal to two groups in addition to Simon fans: First, those serious about music. The technical detail of Simon's writing and song construction is way beyond the pedestrian. Second, those interested in the major contributors to music and culture in the second half of the 20th Century. Simon has always given good interviews. He's willing to dissect songs and is candid about his strengths and shortcomings. The beauty of this work, is that it is not one brief interview. The breadth and depth of the book drawn from dozens of hours is remarkable. A reviewer once said of 'Graceland', 'I didn't want it to end'. That's how I felt about this book. I didn't want it to end. Of course, I don't want Simon's music to end. Fortunately, now we know, it won't.
November 24, 2021
When I was little, my big brothers used to taunt me by singing, "Just drop off the key, Lee." I heard it as my name (Keely), and I didn't like it. I let my brothers know it, too, which of course only made them sing that line over and over again. So, my early experience with Paul Simon wasn't the best. Fortunately, with time and continued exposure, I got over it. Eventually, I even gained a healthy appreciation for Simon's music--including "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover."
In any event, since this summer, I've been listening to a fifty-cent CD copy of Simon's greatest hits on repeat in my car, so I was primed and ready for Miracle and Wonder. In this immersive audiobook, Gladwell and Headlam consider Simon's half-century-plus music career, weaving together music, retrospective, commentary, and snippets of interviews with Simon himself. The result is actually less like an audiobook and more like bingeing a whole season of a high-quality podcast with great production values. Along the way, they examine Simon's ever evolving creativity and his drive to draw from diverse musical traditions in order to imagine something entirely new.
This was a delight. In fact, I'll probably listen to it again at some point. It's short (under six hours), so I was glad there was time for consideration of my favorite Paul Simon song, "Late in the Evening," and my favorite album, Rhythm of the Saints. I was also fascinated by the authors' consideration of the identity aspects of Simon's combining of musical traditions. Nowadays, we tend to expect artists to stay in their lane--to step out would be inauthentic. But I agree with Gladwell's and Headlam's conclusion: Simon's musical ear led him all over the map, and nothing could have been more authentic than for him to follow it.
Thank goodness he did.
In any event, since this summer, I've been listening to a fifty-cent CD copy of Simon's greatest hits on repeat in my car, so I was primed and ready for Miracle and Wonder. In this immersive audiobook, Gladwell and Headlam consider Simon's half-century-plus music career, weaving together music, retrospective, commentary, and snippets of interviews with Simon himself. The result is actually less like an audiobook and more like bingeing a whole season of a high-quality podcast with great production values. Along the way, they examine Simon's ever evolving creativity and his drive to draw from diverse musical traditions in order to imagine something entirely new.
This was a delight. In fact, I'll probably listen to it again at some point. It's short (under six hours), so I was glad there was time for consideration of my favorite Paul Simon song, "Late in the Evening," and my favorite album, Rhythm of the Saints. I was also fascinated by the authors' consideration of the identity aspects of Simon's combining of musical traditions. Nowadays, we tend to expect artists to stay in their lane--to step out would be inauthentic. But I agree with Gladwell's and Headlam's conclusion: Simon's musical ear led him all over the map, and nothing could have been more authentic than for him to follow it.
Thank goodness he did.
December 18, 2021
As a musician and songwriter since the 1960s, I have always admired Paul Simon. Not that one has to understand music theory to appreciate this fascinating book, but it certainly helps.
I rate it as 6 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A definite read for musicians. And an amazing insight into the mind of Simon.
I rate it as 6 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A definite read for musicians. And an amazing insight into the mind of Simon.
December 23, 2021
I have to be honest, I didn’t listen to this audiobook because I was a Paul Simon fan. I didn’t even know who he was. I only have vague recollections of my parents mentioning Simon and Garfunkel when I was a kid. I decided to listen to this book because I’m a Malcolm Gladwell fan. But as Gladwell says at the beginning “If you don’t know a lot about Paul Simon, you’re in for a real treat.” He was right.
This was an incredibly fascinating book! It’s more like a giant podcast, with conversations and clips of his songs scattered throughout. The depth, meaning, and life behind the words of these songs (most of which I’d never heard before) completely amazed me. Whether or not you’re a fan of Paul Simon’s style(s) of music, you can’t help but admire his lyrical brilliance and emotional profundity.
This book is like a guidebook, or the code that explains the genius behind the music, a genius that could be hidden in plain sight if you’re not looking for it.
Another lovely example of the Imago Dei shining forth creatively through the life of a special individual.
This was an incredibly fascinating book! It’s more like a giant podcast, with conversations and clips of his songs scattered throughout. The depth, meaning, and life behind the words of these songs (most of which I’d never heard before) completely amazed me. Whether or not you’re a fan of Paul Simon’s style(s) of music, you can’t help but admire his lyrical brilliance and emotional profundity.
This book is like a guidebook, or the code that explains the genius behind the music, a genius that could be hidden in plain sight if you’re not looking for it.
Another lovely example of the Imago Dei shining forth creatively through the life of a special individual.
Read
January 15, 2022Miracle and Wonder is a fascinating audio exploration of creativity revealed through six months of conversations between Paul Simon and Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell is, of course, interested in how minds work, and Paul Simon serves as both metaphor and microcosm of larger concepts that Gladwell has written about so well in previous works, including genius, artist, and longevity. This is somewhat reminiscent of the Barack Obama-Bruce Springsteen Renegades collaboration as Gladwell prods Simon to explain the sometimes ineffable processes involved in songwriting. This is not just a portrait of Paul Simon but an enlightening, entertaining study of the psychological and artistic processes involved in a long, productive artistic career.
December 3, 2021
This was a joyful listen. I enjoyed it tremendously. So much fun to hear Simon discuss his work and remember SO MUCH of the detail of writing it. He has an amazing memory and can tell you the name of every collaborator, every contributor, and every (conscious) influence of his music. Totally fascinating. Gladwell frames it beautifully, as he always does, and gets some great conversations going throughout.
November 29, 2021
4.5. If you have any love or admiration for Paul Simon's work, there is a lot to enjoy here. It's less of a book and more of a 6-hour audio documentary. Malcolm Gladwell did gild the lily a little too much, but it's still a wonderful experience for Paul Simon fans.
May 30, 2023
‘Bridge over Troubled Water’ and ‘Graceland’ are two of my all-time favourite albums, so I was keen to listen to this audiobook about Paul Simon and his music and his creative process. It was a real joy to listen too, and made me realise that I had somehow missed much of his output after ‘Graceland’. I am starting to put that to rights – listening today to ‘The Rhythm of the Saints’ for the first time – and loving it.
It was fascinating to hear Paul Simon’s stories about his evolving music styles, peppered with him playing songs he was talking about. The interviewers did an amazing job of drawing out so much information.
This book has to be listened to – the music is essential to it, and so much would be lost in hardcopy.
Highly recommended
It was fascinating to hear Paul Simon’s stories about his evolving music styles, peppered with him playing songs he was talking about. The interviewers did an amazing job of drawing out so much information.
This book has to be listened to – the music is essential to it, and so much would be lost in hardcopy.
Highly recommended
January 7, 2022
Wow, what an awesome production! And the premise - fabulous! Probably helps that Paul Simon is a very interesting and talented guy, and so is Malcolm Gladwell. I was happy to find this "book" in GoodReads - it is so much MORE than a book!!! Talking about music and including music as illustration was a brilliant idea. And, just free form interviews which later are assembled into this beautiful piece, well, it seems exactly like how Paul describes his own creative process for music. Bravo!!!
January 2, 2022
Miracle and Wonder is something completely new. Given the extensive use of music, it could not be a regular book. Its incorporation of multiple interviewers and interviewees, archival audio, and previously-released as well as "live" musical performances make it unlike any other audio book I've heard. Editing it into multiple podcast episodes would have sacrificed coherence.
It is also not a standard biography of Paul Simon's life--it is more a biography and exploration of musical genius. I have read many biographies of creative geniuses (Louis Armstrong, Bob Dylan, Charlie Chaplin, Franz Kafka, P. G. Wodehouse, etc.) and have never come away feeling like there was a good explanation for the magic of creating art. Miracle and Wonder is an investigation into Paul Simon's creative process, and comes closer than anything else I've encountered to explaining where great art comes from--an unusual accomplishment.
To reassure those hesitant to dive into this because of familiarity with the two central protagonists: Malcolm Gladwell is much less annoying than he usually is, and Paul Simon, getting the chance to talk about music rather than himself, is less prickly than he can sometimes be in interviews. Whether you consider Miracle and Wonder to be a book, audio book, or extended podcast, it is a nearly perfect creation; and the best thing I've added to Goodreads all year. I only wish it had been twice as long.
It is also not a standard biography of Paul Simon's life--it is more a biography and exploration of musical genius. I have read many biographies of creative geniuses (Louis Armstrong, Bob Dylan, Charlie Chaplin, Franz Kafka, P. G. Wodehouse, etc.) and have never come away feeling like there was a good explanation for the magic of creating art. Miracle and Wonder is an investigation into Paul Simon's creative process, and comes closer than anything else I've encountered to explaining where great art comes from--an unusual accomplishment.
To reassure those hesitant to dive into this because of familiarity with the two central protagonists: Malcolm Gladwell is much less annoying than he usually is, and Paul Simon, getting the chance to talk about music rather than himself, is less prickly than he can sometimes be in interviews. Whether you consider Miracle and Wonder to be a book, audio book, or extended podcast, it is a nearly perfect creation; and the best thing I've added to Goodreads all year. I only wish it had been twice as long.
August 21, 2022
Yet another glimpse into a musical legend, THIS time a favorite of mine, my desert island artist. I’ve always thought of Paul Simon as both a poet and a musician.
If you enjoy studies of genius and experimentation, please listen to this audio biography by Malcolm Gladwell who claims that it’s NOT a biography but a musical biography. A discussion of his songwriting, his craft, an examination of the sources of his extraordinary creativity.
(After recording with some other musicians he didn’t reallly get anything from it) It’s just a piece of information. A big part of my thinking is trial and error. It’s all trial and error and there’s no reason to be upset about the errors. It’s part of the trial and error and there’s gonna be more error than there are successes so when they come, you just put it away as a piece of information.
Paul Simon isn’t a conceptual innovator. He doesn’t embark on long journeys with his destination already in sight. He just embarks on long journeys and hopes for the best. He’s an experimentalist. And as Galen says for the experimentalist, the production of the work Is a process of searching.
What makes you stuck? (Dick Cavet asked) Well, everywhere I went let me to where I didn’t wanna be, so I was stuck.
Stuck is usually a crisis for an artist. …. but for Simon it’s a completely ordinary part of the process. A small price you pay for starting things Without knowing where they’ll end.
Lie la lie. It was just a space holder in The Boxer. But he never got around to writing lyrics and in the end it was a good thing. It takes you back to a deep truth about songwriting which is that we love to sing nonsensical sounds. That’s just a deep human pleasure. … and there’s a communal atmosphere that it evokes what I’m singing at in front of a large crowd and that is what makes it anthemic. When you get a lot of people singing together, it’s a very powerful feeling.
(For a while) I endeavored to put every note in the chromatic scale into the song. … it was just an exercise to see could I get these fresh notes Into a song, you know? (Like I’ll never worry, who should I? In the bridge).
Experimental innovators like Simon and cezanne perfectionists and he defines perfectionist as those who are constantly seeking I never finding. The perfectionist can never have self satisfaction, not at least until the very end. But, on the other hand, the perfectionist has motivation to keep going even after others have stopped.
The creative bond between Paul Simon and Roy Halley is a search for magic, not songs. The magic they need is a sound, a perfect combination Voice, instruments, color, tone, ambience . When you make a sound, when you get the sound right, for some people they open up And are available to be touched emotionally. And if what you have to say then also does that, that’s when people fall in love with the song and to a song.
The search for the irritant, the beautiful discrepant sound, that captures a listeners ear is part of Simon’s craft.
One of my mothers statements was, she said, you have a nice voice, Paul, but Arthur has a fine voice.
I’ve always thought that memory, this kind of perfect, exacting memory is the most overlooked part of true expertise. Russell and James are two of the greatest basketball players ever, in part because of that total recall. It is what allows them to get better. Each moment, situation on the court is not lost, It’s added to an archive of similar moments that can be accessed and processed and analyzed so that the next time they face that same situation, it’s familiar to them. People always say of great athletes that they have a sixth sense for what happens on the field or court. But it’s not a Sixth sense. It’s memory.
I seem to have a very exact memory of things that I heard, liked and disliked, but very exact. Simon‘s memory serves in the cause of taste, It reminds him what he likes. His memory was of the emotion associated with a particular sound. And songwriting on one level for him seemed to be the rearrangement and reconstruction of those pleasurable sounds. He hears mystery train and wants something like that for late in the evening. He hears Bo Diddley as a 14-year-old and the memory of the feeling, Remember, of the rhythm coming over me Sets him on a lifelong quest to re-create that sound.
(Stephen Sondheim never liked the lyrics to Maria. He just didn’t think that character was in character to sing like that. he wouldn’t express himself that way). This is a function of memory as the engine of taste. The voice in your head that reminds you what’s not right. The songwriter, sometimes you get it right in your head about what’s going on. Sometimes you don’t know what’s going on and it’s right. Most of the time you don’t know what’s going on and it’s wrong.
Simon‘s Maria is homeward bound, one of the most beloved songs in his cannon. It’s a terrible arrangement, terrible drum thing.
The ability to look objectively at one of your most popular songs and say it’s not quite right is what taste is. Taste is the combination of memory and judgment. And if you’ve been making deposits into your memory bank for decades, Each of which is labeled, Analyzed, digested, and attached to the appropriate emotion, Then how good is your taste at that point? Good enough to get you to Graceland.
What did you talk about, I asked him. We’re musicians. Meaning music bridges all manner of social and cultural barriers. It’s universal. Rhythms come to North America from Africa hundreds of years ago with the slave trade, get transformed in their new environment into R&B and Gospel and doo-wop and a hundred other things and then get refracted back to Africa. A musical jetstream encircling the earth, around and Round. And he gets caught up in that stream as a kid and plunged in again years later as an adult and he can tell , “I’ve been here before.” He heard a South African record that reminded him of a feeling he’d had while listening to an entirely different record almost 30 years before. And he liked that feeling. That’s where Graceland began. With a memory of a feeling.
Graceland has persisted as one of the greatest albums of the era because that’s what became clear as a controversy faded: that the purpose of art is to bring Joy to darkness, To find truth through imagination.
(rhythm of the Saints is 9/8 groove but they that came out of Cameroon, A warrior rhythm.) There’s a different approach when your right to that rhythm you stay in the narrower range of notes. When you write that way, the lyrics have to contain information as opposed to imagery. When you start to write a picture, The intervals become larger. It puts you more into what we think of as Melody. So because the power of that 9/8 is, you’re so taken with what’s going on rhythmically, there’s no Choice to me as a songwriter but to hang on and tell this compelling story. Paul is saying that even the lyrics have to change when writing to this rhythm. When you say information, what exactly do you mean by that?
Moves like a fist through traffic
Anger and no one can heal it
Shoves a little bump into the momentum
It's just a little lump
It’s all these different fast thoughts that you have.
I’m writing songs that make a story out of those thoughts. Those thoughts… They are not linear so when you’re telling a story and what’s going on isn’t linear you’re really asking quite a lot of the listener to make sense of what you are doing.
Simon’s later albums demand to be listened to over and over again, The way a child watches and re-watches a movie or reads and rereads a book because there convinced that the story will only fully emerge in the retelling. It takes a certain kind of courage to make that kind of art.
I have no anxiety about running out of ideas. I think, another idea? OK, here’s another idea.
Here’s a great soprano Renée Fleming talking some more about love in hard times from Paul Simon‘s 2011 album so beautiful, So what? I don’t remember how I found the song but I connect with love and hard Times Contrast between something Beautiful and something always disappointing which love often is.
What’s going on is going on deep below your consciousness. You’re trying to make a seed breakthrough The crust of the soil and have a leaf but it’s not ready. It’s doing whatever A seat is doing way down there, getting ready to do it, and that’s what is going on. Writers block is essentially the critic in your head saying that’s no good. Before it even gets anywhere. This voice that’s so critical, that you believe because it’s your voice, Gets in the way of problem-solving on a real level. that voice doesn’t have any more insight than some people who have the opposite they have the voice that tells them they are a genius.
I’m very wary of compliments because they are a distraction. Until you get to the point where you say I’m finished, you can give me all a compliments you want then but while I’m making something, I don’t wanna hear it. Cause I’m not gonna be able to function On solving the problem.
In order for a problem to be something you want to solve, it has to be interesting which means you don’t know the answer to the problem. That’s why you’re interested and you wonder, what’s the answer to that And what does that mean and how do you get there and how do you make yourself feel that chemical high that you feel when you make something that you like? And we don’t really know the answer to that. Something goes on in the brain and you get a really big reward when you make something that you like. Some people call up flow Or in the zone. In a period of time when things seem to come through you effortlessly, and you don’t know why, And that’s happened to me many times In my life starting with the early The sound of silence. It was beyond what I was capable of writing at that point. Same with Bridge over troubled water. But it’s the mystery of why that happens. The reward is so great that you want that for the rest of your life.
(Seven songs) The universe vibrates to a tone. It’s 36 octaves below middle C. And it’s a B-flat/a sharp. To move into the spiritual realm, that’s God’s tone. That song is God‘s song. It’s an a sharp, it rhymes with sacred Harp.
Is this piece a eulogy for your father? Ah, I never thought of that. When I start to write, I don’t know where the songs are going or what they are about So I wouldn’t think, I should really write a eulogy for my father‘s 25th, But as you say it I think hmmm, that could be a sub text I’m not aware of. But the thing about the subjects that you’re not aware of Is that it’s good that you’re not aware of it. It’s probably meant to be not some thing that you are aware of.
He wanted the harshness of the truth to be softened with understanding. That’s the thread that I thought I was seeing in his music. That line about having some tenderness beneath your honesty is …you’re writing about your own music. I feel like that’s your musical sensibility.
When I begin most songs, they’re very negative. Or they’re angry. But I slowly peel that away.
His precision, his exactitude, His compulsion to think through and explain every step Was his attempt to soften the harshness of the world. To give us a reason to go on in spite of everything. It was his way of standing up for all of us.
He came in and talked and played and provided us with a model of what it means to be alive as an artist, To persist, to create work that lasts, To write songs that people listen to and then say, when I thought about all this to my amazement I started to cry. Paul Simon is a master craftsman but that description doesn’t do him justice. Because behind that craft, there’s intention, heart, an ability to move us where we need to be moved. Is that with genius is? I think so.
If you enjoy studies of genius and experimentation, please listen to this audio biography by Malcolm Gladwell who claims that it’s NOT a biography but a musical biography. A discussion of his songwriting, his craft, an examination of the sources of his extraordinary creativity.
(After recording with some other musicians he didn’t reallly get anything from it) It’s just a piece of information. A big part of my thinking is trial and error. It’s all trial and error and there’s no reason to be upset about the errors. It’s part of the trial and error and there’s gonna be more error than there are successes so when they come, you just put it away as a piece of information.
Paul Simon isn’t a conceptual innovator. He doesn’t embark on long journeys with his destination already in sight. He just embarks on long journeys and hopes for the best. He’s an experimentalist. And as Galen says for the experimentalist, the production of the work Is a process of searching.
What makes you stuck? (Dick Cavet asked) Well, everywhere I went let me to where I didn’t wanna be, so I was stuck.
Stuck is usually a crisis for an artist. …. but for Simon it’s a completely ordinary part of the process. A small price you pay for starting things Without knowing where they’ll end.
Lie la lie. It was just a space holder in The Boxer. But he never got around to writing lyrics and in the end it was a good thing. It takes you back to a deep truth about songwriting which is that we love to sing nonsensical sounds. That’s just a deep human pleasure. … and there’s a communal atmosphere that it evokes what I’m singing at in front of a large crowd and that is what makes it anthemic. When you get a lot of people singing together, it’s a very powerful feeling.
(For a while) I endeavored to put every note in the chromatic scale into the song. … it was just an exercise to see could I get these fresh notes Into a song, you know? (Like I’ll never worry, who should I? In the bridge).
Experimental innovators like Simon and cezanne perfectionists and he defines perfectionist as those who are constantly seeking I never finding. The perfectionist can never have self satisfaction, not at least until the very end. But, on the other hand, the perfectionist has motivation to keep going even after others have stopped.
The creative bond between Paul Simon and Roy Halley is a search for magic, not songs. The magic they need is a sound, a perfect combination Voice, instruments, color, tone, ambience . When you make a sound, when you get the sound right, for some people they open up And are available to be touched emotionally. And if what you have to say then also does that, that’s when people fall in love with the song and to a song.
The search for the irritant, the beautiful discrepant sound, that captures a listeners ear is part of Simon’s craft.
One of my mothers statements was, she said, you have a nice voice, Paul, but Arthur has a fine voice.
I’ve always thought that memory, this kind of perfect, exacting memory is the most overlooked part of true expertise. Russell and James are two of the greatest basketball players ever, in part because of that total recall. It is what allows them to get better. Each moment, situation on the court is not lost, It’s added to an archive of similar moments that can be accessed and processed and analyzed so that the next time they face that same situation, it’s familiar to them. People always say of great athletes that they have a sixth sense for what happens on the field or court. But it’s not a Sixth sense. It’s memory.
I seem to have a very exact memory of things that I heard, liked and disliked, but very exact. Simon‘s memory serves in the cause of taste, It reminds him what he likes. His memory was of the emotion associated with a particular sound. And songwriting on one level for him seemed to be the rearrangement and reconstruction of those pleasurable sounds. He hears mystery train and wants something like that for late in the evening. He hears Bo Diddley as a 14-year-old and the memory of the feeling, Remember, of the rhythm coming over me Sets him on a lifelong quest to re-create that sound.
(Stephen Sondheim never liked the lyrics to Maria. He just didn’t think that character was in character to sing like that. he wouldn’t express himself that way). This is a function of memory as the engine of taste. The voice in your head that reminds you what’s not right. The songwriter, sometimes you get it right in your head about what’s going on. Sometimes you don’t know what’s going on and it’s right. Most of the time you don’t know what’s going on and it’s wrong.
Simon‘s Maria is homeward bound, one of the most beloved songs in his cannon. It’s a terrible arrangement, terrible drum thing.
The ability to look objectively at one of your most popular songs and say it’s not quite right is what taste is. Taste is the combination of memory and judgment. And if you’ve been making deposits into your memory bank for decades, Each of which is labeled, Analyzed, digested, and attached to the appropriate emotion, Then how good is your taste at that point? Good enough to get you to Graceland.
What did you talk about, I asked him. We’re musicians. Meaning music bridges all manner of social and cultural barriers. It’s universal. Rhythms come to North America from Africa hundreds of years ago with the slave trade, get transformed in their new environment into R&B and Gospel and doo-wop and a hundred other things and then get refracted back to Africa. A musical jetstream encircling the earth, around and Round. And he gets caught up in that stream as a kid and plunged in again years later as an adult and he can tell , “I’ve been here before.” He heard a South African record that reminded him of a feeling he’d had while listening to an entirely different record almost 30 years before. And he liked that feeling. That’s where Graceland began. With a memory of a feeling.
Graceland has persisted as one of the greatest albums of the era because that’s what became clear as a controversy faded: that the purpose of art is to bring Joy to darkness, To find truth through imagination.
(rhythm of the Saints is 9/8 groove but they that came out of Cameroon, A warrior rhythm.) There’s a different approach when your right to that rhythm you stay in the narrower range of notes. When you write that way, the lyrics have to contain information as opposed to imagery. When you start to write a picture, The intervals become larger. It puts you more into what we think of as Melody. So because the power of that 9/8 is, you’re so taken with what’s going on rhythmically, there’s no Choice to me as a songwriter but to hang on and tell this compelling story. Paul is saying that even the lyrics have to change when writing to this rhythm. When you say information, what exactly do you mean by that?
Moves like a fist through traffic
Anger and no one can heal it
Shoves a little bump into the momentum
It's just a little lump
It’s all these different fast thoughts that you have.
I’m writing songs that make a story out of those thoughts. Those thoughts… They are not linear so when you’re telling a story and what’s going on isn’t linear you’re really asking quite a lot of the listener to make sense of what you are doing.
Simon’s later albums demand to be listened to over and over again, The way a child watches and re-watches a movie or reads and rereads a book because there convinced that the story will only fully emerge in the retelling. It takes a certain kind of courage to make that kind of art.
I have no anxiety about running out of ideas. I think, another idea? OK, here’s another idea.
Here’s a great soprano Renée Fleming talking some more about love in hard times from Paul Simon‘s 2011 album so beautiful, So what? I don’t remember how I found the song but I connect with love and hard Times Contrast between something Beautiful and something always disappointing which love often is.
What’s going on is going on deep below your consciousness. You’re trying to make a seed breakthrough The crust of the soil and have a leaf but it’s not ready. It’s doing whatever A seat is doing way down there, getting ready to do it, and that’s what is going on. Writers block is essentially the critic in your head saying that’s no good. Before it even gets anywhere. This voice that’s so critical, that you believe because it’s your voice, Gets in the way of problem-solving on a real level. that voice doesn’t have any more insight than some people who have the opposite they have the voice that tells them they are a genius.
I’m very wary of compliments because they are a distraction. Until you get to the point where you say I’m finished, you can give me all a compliments you want then but while I’m making something, I don’t wanna hear it. Cause I’m not gonna be able to function On solving the problem.
In order for a problem to be something you want to solve, it has to be interesting which means you don’t know the answer to the problem. That’s why you’re interested and you wonder, what’s the answer to that And what does that mean and how do you get there and how do you make yourself feel that chemical high that you feel when you make something that you like? And we don’t really know the answer to that. Something goes on in the brain and you get a really big reward when you make something that you like. Some people call up flow Or in the zone. In a period of time when things seem to come through you effortlessly, and you don’t know why, And that’s happened to me many times In my life starting with the early The sound of silence. It was beyond what I was capable of writing at that point. Same with Bridge over troubled water. But it’s the mystery of why that happens. The reward is so great that you want that for the rest of your life.
(Seven songs) The universe vibrates to a tone. It’s 36 octaves below middle C. And it’s a B-flat/a sharp. To move into the spiritual realm, that’s God’s tone. That song is God‘s song. It’s an a sharp, it rhymes with sacred Harp.
Is this piece a eulogy for your father? Ah, I never thought of that. When I start to write, I don’t know where the songs are going or what they are about So I wouldn’t think, I should really write a eulogy for my father‘s 25th, But as you say it I think hmmm, that could be a sub text I’m not aware of. But the thing about the subjects that you’re not aware of Is that it’s good that you’re not aware of it. It’s probably meant to be not some thing that you are aware of.
He wanted the harshness of the truth to be softened with understanding. That’s the thread that I thought I was seeing in his music. That line about having some tenderness beneath your honesty is …you’re writing about your own music. I feel like that’s your musical sensibility.
When I begin most songs, they’re very negative. Or they’re angry. But I slowly peel that away.
His precision, his exactitude, His compulsion to think through and explain every step Was his attempt to soften the harshness of the world. To give us a reason to go on in spite of everything. It was his way of standing up for all of us.
He came in and talked and played and provided us with a model of what it means to be alive as an artist, To persist, to create work that lasts, To write songs that people listen to and then say, when I thought about all this to my amazement I started to cry. Paul Simon is a master craftsman but that description doesn’t do him justice. Because behind that craft, there’s intention, heart, an ability to move us where we need to be moved. Is that with genius is? I think so.
February 19, 2024
This felt more like a podcast than an audiobook, but it was excellent. It's basically an edited series of interviews, where Paul Simon talks about his creative process and stories behind the songs. I found Paul Simon to be a fascinating man, and Malcolm Gladwell is one of my favorite storytellers. I went into this book as a fan of a few Paul Simon songs but mostly pretty lukewarm about the artist himself. I came away as a fan of the man and with a greater appreciation for both the songs I've always loved and also the ones I wasn't as familiar with.
May 15, 2022
For a fan of Paul Simon this audiobook is a must listen and likely to get 5 stars. If you think you might be familiar with some of his music, you won’t be sorry giving it a listen. His music has crossed so many decades it might be surprising how many you remember. Malcolm Gladwell is his fantastic interviewing self bringing details of the musical and poetic genius of Paul Simon to life. Enjoyed this far more than I expected, hope you will too.
November 28, 2021
“Honesty with an undercurrent of tenderness” is how Malcolm Gladwell describes Paul Simon’s lyrics at one point. It is these little moments of insight that bring a new view to familiar songs, many of which I have grown up with and have been part of the fabric of life for many years.
There is so much to be reminded of here. I love the songs that are conversations and often start in the middle of conversations, I love the juxtaposition of the epic with the minutiae of small, well-observed details in many of his songs (America, American Tune).
He was one of the first artists to put world music on the world stage (and at times has been vilified for it but was purely following his ear; it was his search for authenticity that led him to record elsewhere, whether Jamaica or Johannesburg or Graceland).
Not only is his musical breadth pretty much unchallenged by any other artist or composer I can think of, but the lyrics he wrote have a timeless quality (American Tune was about Vietnam but I’ve heard him sing it on stage in the Trump era with a different undertone again and even more recently during Covid: “I can’t help it, I wonder, what’s gone wrong”).
The Graceland story is the most familiar to me, but it is still the one that resonates.
He brought joy, colour and understanding of South Africa to the world when the rest of the world could only focus on the darkness (topical). And isn’t that the purpose of art, to bring joy to darkness? Or as Gladwell have it, to bring tenderness to honesty?
I was always going to love this book but it will be one to return to again and again.
There is so much to be reminded of here. I love the songs that are conversations and often start in the middle of conversations, I love the juxtaposition of the epic with the minutiae of small, well-observed details in many of his songs (America, American Tune).
He was one of the first artists to put world music on the world stage (and at times has been vilified for it but was purely following his ear; it was his search for authenticity that led him to record elsewhere, whether Jamaica or Johannesburg or Graceland).
Not only is his musical breadth pretty much unchallenged by any other artist or composer I can think of, but the lyrics he wrote have a timeless quality (American Tune was about Vietnam but I’ve heard him sing it on stage in the Trump era with a different undertone again and even more recently during Covid: “I can’t help it, I wonder, what’s gone wrong”).
The Graceland story is the most familiar to me, but it is still the one that resonates.
He brought joy, colour and understanding of South Africa to the world when the rest of the world could only focus on the darkness (topical). And isn’t that the purpose of art, to bring joy to darkness? Or as Gladwell have it, to bring tenderness to honesty?
I was always going to love this book but it will be one to return to again and again.
November 26, 2021
Just like Malcolm Gladwell, Paul Simon and I go back over fifty years to 1970 when Bridge Over Troubled Water became such a massive hit for Simon and Garfunkel. The older boy across the street loaned me the earlier LPs and I became a life long fan. Not in an enthusiastic way, but rather gently percolating in the background. It would be 1991 before I saw him perform live in Austin, Texas just days after Operation Desert Storm began. He sang American Tune and it was so poignant. Since then I’ve seen him three more times all in Atlanta - with Art Garfunkel and the Everly Brothers in 2003, in 2011 and 2018. Which is all to say that I’m familiar with his stuff.
But this amazing audiobook takes it all to another level. We learn about how he writes his songs, how complex his thought process is, what he was hoping to put together. There’s no biographical details to speak of except how coming from Queens opened up a world of possibilities and later how the relationship with his father permeated his songs in a subtle way. And he doesn’t just answer the questions put to him, he plays guitar and sings and shares anecdotes. It is spellbinding stuff. Interspersed with the recordings with Simon the authors proffer ideas about why he is still going strong all these years later, what it is that is so incredible about his catalog of work, and how this series of interviews had such a profound effect on them. Oh and then there are the segments where famous musicians talk about and sing their favorite Paul Simon songs.
This has to be the best $14.99 I’ve spent in quite some time.
But this amazing audiobook takes it all to another level. We learn about how he writes his songs, how complex his thought process is, what he was hoping to put together. There’s no biographical details to speak of except how coming from Queens opened up a world of possibilities and later how the relationship with his father permeated his songs in a subtle way. And he doesn’t just answer the questions put to him, he plays guitar and sings and shares anecdotes. It is spellbinding stuff. Interspersed with the recordings with Simon the authors proffer ideas about why he is still going strong all these years later, what it is that is so incredible about his catalog of work, and how this series of interviews had such a profound effect on them. Oh and then there are the segments where famous musicians talk about and sing their favorite Paul Simon songs.
This has to be the best $14.99 I’ve spent in quite some time.
December 26, 2021
This is only a pure audio experience. The story is about the author and his friend, Bruce, who sat down with Paul Simon for ten sessions, four hours each (a total of forty hours). They talked, played music, and sang while hanging out with him. Then they took the tapes of those sessions and cut them into a story while looking at the miracle of Paul's music and how it has been relevant over many generations. Paul Simon created fantastic music in the fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, and twenties. This story chronicles the author trying to explain Paul's amazing accomplishment. He looks at the question: "What it is about Paul Simon that has allowed him to remain so creatively fertile and relevant for so long and through so many decades? How did he do it?
Of course, this is an unanswerable question in the book, but we learn a lot about Paul's music and get close to understanding a bit of what makes Paul Simon so extraordinarily special. By the end, you'll be in love with Paul Simon and his music.
To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at:
https://zibbyowens.com/transcript/mal...
Of course, this is an unanswerable question in the book, but we learn a lot about Paul's music and get close to understanding a bit of what makes Paul Simon so extraordinarily special. By the end, you'll be in love with Paul Simon and his music.
To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at:
https://zibbyowens.com/transcript/mal...
January 25, 2022
Audible. I didn't want this to end. This book was filled with gems and good music. Malcom Gladwell was the perfect interveiwer to introduce insights and coax commentary from Paul.
Simon's greatness comes from the longevity of his creativity, his willingness to take risks late into his career. Gladwell introduces the idea from David Galeson about the 'Young Genius' or 'Old Master' -- aka when do creatives peak in their careers. That Paul released 'The Boxer' in 1965 and Graceland in 1986 is evidence enough. Few have this staying power. Simon's experimental method, his bold mixing of genre, rhythm, and culture, while retaining his tenor voice and his poetic, simple yet oblique lyrics resonate with me.
The book concludes on Paul's song about the need for 'tenderness beneath honesty'. The true genius of Simon is his ability to invoke the change he hopes to see in the world through the core of tenderness. He pushes us to be a bit better, tenderly.
(As a disclaimer, Paul Simon is one of my favorite musicians, particularly his Graceland album as it combines South African beats with his folk music.)
Simon's greatness comes from the longevity of his creativity, his willingness to take risks late into his career. Gladwell introduces the idea from David Galeson about the 'Young Genius' or 'Old Master' -- aka when do creatives peak in their careers. That Paul released 'The Boxer' in 1965 and Graceland in 1986 is evidence enough. Few have this staying power. Simon's experimental method, his bold mixing of genre, rhythm, and culture, while retaining his tenor voice and his poetic, simple yet oblique lyrics resonate with me.
The book concludes on Paul's song about the need for 'tenderness beneath honesty'. The true genius of Simon is his ability to invoke the change he hopes to see in the world through the core of tenderness. He pushes us to be a bit better, tenderly.
(As a disclaimer, Paul Simon is one of my favorite musicians, particularly his Graceland album as it combines South African beats with his folk music.)
December 23, 2021
This is such a well crafted audiobook. Malcom Gladwell is so good at finding the perfect specific example to illustrate his points and in this medium that translates to him finding the perfect audio clip or bit of a song. There’s not a lot of huge revelations about Paul Simon’s life or career so if you are a fan you may have heard some of the stories before but the structure here gives them new life. What was most interesting to me though was the insight into the creative process for both Simon and Gladwell. Lots of great information about songwriting and inspiration and how that eventually transforms into classic songs. I also really enjoyed the addition of insight from other people such as Rosanna Cash and Herbie Hancock. My one tiny little note is that there are only a few spots where you get to hear the entirety of any song. Lots of great audio though. It made me want to go back and listen to a lot of the classic Paul Simon albums though so I guess that’s kind of the point. Highly recommend.
March 1, 2022
Over the years, I’ve seen documentaries and read articles on Paul Simon. Most of them provide a behind-the-scenes look at the big hits, how they were made, and Simon’s glory years.
This book took a delightfully different tack, fully exploring Simon's creative process and its remarkable transitions from genre to genre throughout the course of his life. The man was continually taking creative risks, putting out new albums completely different each time. He never rested on his laurels. He was always hunting, exploring, searching for the next creative challenge in unfamiliar genres.
As with Gladwell's most recent books, this is another audio documentary book. It combines stories and music told in Paul Simon's own voice. Gladwell did an amazing job of interviewing the man and getting down to the deepest parts of his soul.
Gladwell also tells the story of how the creative process unfolds in geniuses like Paul Simon. This is a deeply intimate book that moves far beyond celebrity and into the powerful motivations that spur a life of creative innovation and risk-taking.
This book took a delightfully different tack, fully exploring Simon's creative process and its remarkable transitions from genre to genre throughout the course of his life. The man was continually taking creative risks, putting out new albums completely different each time. He never rested on his laurels. He was always hunting, exploring, searching for the next creative challenge in unfamiliar genres.
As with Gladwell's most recent books, this is another audio documentary book. It combines stories and music told in Paul Simon's own voice. Gladwell did an amazing job of interviewing the man and getting down to the deepest parts of his soul.
Gladwell also tells the story of how the creative process unfolds in geniuses like Paul Simon. This is a deeply intimate book that moves far beyond celebrity and into the powerful motivations that spur a life of creative innovation and risk-taking.
November 15, 2021
I'm not sure if this is a true book as much as a mini-season of Gladwell's podcast Broken Record, but I'm so here for a Paul Simon deep dive. Simon has been one of my favorite songwriters my whole life, and to hear about his creative process and history straight from his mouth was quite the treat. Gladwell and Headlam keep their role purely as moderator and guide and let Simon dictate the narrative. Part of this format worries me as I almost feel like the artist isn't really into the conversation, but at multiple points in the conversation they make it known that Simon wanted to keep talking to Gladwell and Headlam. Leave it to Paul Simon to be dedicated to a project. There is also insight from other artists who have collaborated with Simon or taken inspiration from him, and even some new recordings and material from Simon. This was a great value at $15, and I hope it gets some traction in the audiobook world.
December 19, 2021
Like many Americans growing up in the 1970s, I always enjoyed Simon & Garfunkel and early solo Simon but it took Simon's Graceland, 1986 to make me a real fan. Gladwell really hit on something here, capturing an artist who was really willing to sit down and discuss his craft. It is truly a marvel, listening to Simon analyze his creative process, along with playing and singing from time to time, (he is 80 years old and still in fine voice) Musical guests also stop by from time to time, to express their thoughts on Simon and music.
This is exclusively an audio experience and only available in that format, so if you are a fan, do yourself a big favor and track this beauty down.
This is exclusively an audio experience and only available in that format, so if you are a fan, do yourself a big favor and track this beauty down.
March 11, 2022
Unsurprisingly I came into this book already a fan of Paul Simon's work. After finishing it I am a fan of Paul Simon. The insight into the way he creates music is really something else. That alone would make this worth reading. But hearing the actual tunes and Paul Simon riffing or strumming during the interview make this a must read (or listen I guess). The editing is also excellent, as is to be expected from Malcolm Gladwell. Even though it meanders and jumps around, it never gets confusing or misguided. All this ultimately results in an excellent book about one of the most interesting singer/songwriters ever. Now to just go listen to all of Paul Simon's discography!
December 22, 2021
I have never been a big Paul Simon fan, but after reading(listening) to this book, I am blown away!!
Listening to Paul talk about the stories behind the music, as well as listening to the genius of his craft…
Just WOW!! This is a must listen to! Even if you’re not a fan—- give this audiobook a chance. You won’t be disappointed.
Listening to Paul talk about the stories behind the music, as well as listening to the genius of his craft…
Just WOW!! This is a must listen to! Even if you’re not a fan—- give this audiobook a chance. You won’t be disappointed.
June 8, 2022
Though this is probably written more for music nerds who have far more background in composition and instrumentation than I do, Miracle and Wonder was still a wonderful audiobook with which to spend an afternoon. Conversations among Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam, and Paul Simon are interspersed with musical clips, some from Simon's recordings and others played spontaneously by him during the more than thirty hours of interviews that formed the basis of the book. The focus was less on Simon's life than on his compositions and creative style, and included more technical details in spots than I could really grasp, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment as I listened to their conversations.
UPDATE 6/8/22: I just finished listening to the whole audiobook for the second time, and have to say I enjoyed it even more the second time around. And have so much more respect for and appreciation of Paul Simon and his work as a result. What an amazing man and musician!
UPDATE 6/8/22: I just finished listening to the whole audiobook for the second time, and have to say I enjoyed it even more the second time around. And have so much more respect for and appreciation of Paul Simon and his work as a result. What an amazing man and musician!
November 6, 2022
I enjoyed this experience. Paul Simon is not someone who’s work I have followed, especially his middle and later stuff. I love the classics, the Simon and Garfunkel stuff, and so it was fun to hear some of the context and background about those songs that I grew up listening to. I didn’t know about the controversy surrounding his musical collaborations with musicians in South Africa in the 80’s (I wasn’t even born when the album came out) so that was all new to me. His newest albums I’ve never heard, but I am intrigued by some and will probably go listen to a few songs they discussed in depth. I think that his process of creation is unique, and that is what makes him an interesting person to listen to. If you are a fan, or if you just really love music and the songwriting process, you would most likely enjoy listening to these conversations.
March 22, 2023
Just like a graphic novel can't really be captured by an audiobook, this music-interview-audiobook couldn't really be captured as a written book.
This audiobook is wonderful capturing insightful thoughts and conversations between the authors and their subject, Paul Simon, and interspersed and layered with Simon's music. I'll definitely need to listen to it a 2nd time (to catch all the bits I missed the first time) and next time I'll read along with the liner notes.
This audiobook is wonderful capturing insightful thoughts and conversations between the authors and their subject, Paul Simon, and interspersed and layered with Simon's music. I'll definitely need to listen to it a 2nd time (to catch all the bits I missed the first time) and next time I'll read along with the liner notes.
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