Steve Berlin of Los Lobos remembers working with Paul Simon...and it was NOT good.

I heard One Trick Pony on the radio yesterday , i had not heard it in 10
plus years and i thought it was great i have to track it down . How is that
lp ?

 

Ditto for me.

Artie NAILED that last note, even though it was modulated to a different key. (Right?)

I don't know what was worse - watching Simon sing the second verse or watching his interpretative dance via arm wiggling.

 

I never had the album but I saw the movie and I liked it- didn't love it- but I liked it. The music sounded pretty good to my ears. The title track used to get some airplay and I'd always turn it up.

 

I didn't notice any modulation but I suppose it could have been a half step.

OMG! Amazing how our reactions are one and the same.
Bridge Over Troubled Water is just not "arm wiggler" to me.

I guess the anti-Artie singing would have to be considered the greater evil though. Eyes are easy to shut.

 

That's what I recall - it was modulated down (sneakily!) during the piano solo before the third verse.

 

An old friend of mine was a DJ at Paul's brother Eddie's radio station back in the mid-80s, and it was just before Graceland came out. He related to me long ago how both Paul and Eddie weren't exactly the kindest individuals to the employees at the radio station, for whatever that's worth, treating them about as coldly and sarcastically as I've seen others describe here.

 

ironic that it's a song about friendship and caring. i've always thought it was a sappy bore of a song, but it sure raked in the dough for the little guy.

 

What is up with this weird habit he has picked up in the past few years?

 

I thought they just started the song out on a lower key, then modulated up to the recorded key for Art's last verse.

 

It's not uncommon to just have tape roll when musicians are in the studio. Relatively speaking, tape is cheap. Time, opportunity and inspiration are not.

Please show me one post where it was suggested that Simon stole "all" his stuff. Heck, show me one that says he stole "most" or even "much" of it. It's a straw man. Specific examples are being cited. Not generalizations.

 

Hmmmm.... could be. I thought I read it was transposed down - but it's been years, and I could definitely be wrong.

 

To return to "Myth of Fingerprints" -- Hidalgo sings a harmony vocal on the song, suggesting that he, at least, came to a later session after Paul had written the words and melody.

 

Seems that Los Lobos did exactly what Paul Simon asked - jammed on some ideas, and he latched upon one. Maybe he didn't know they were working on it, but in any case, it sounds like Paul came up with the melody and lyrics at the very least.

Seems more like a James Brown deal than anything else.

(See also: The Obvious Child - built around a pre-existing percussion piece. Paul added the chords, melody and lyrics.)

Right (although the first time I heard it it did sound like it went down.)

The modulation was, I presume, so Paul's verse was in a good key for him.

 

Simon wrote almost all of S&G's songs. If that's how he felt about it, why didn't he just be solo artist from the start?

 

Get hold of the DVD of Monterey Pop and listen to Paul's faux-British accent in his 1967 stage patter. Perhaps he thought the name of his native Queens referred to Elizabeth. Or, he's a pretentious weasel (although one that wrote some great stuff). Never confuse the art with the artist (unless it's Garfunkel), I guess.

 

Now that's interesting.

 

I'm going by my memory from listening to the live album from the tour a couple of weeks ago. The odd thing is, I didn't even notice it was in a lower key until they made the jump up, and I realized they were in the original key of the record. Without the modulation, I wouldn't have even noticed.

Now, here's an odd story: I remember years ago hearing Art Garfunkel talking about the song, I think on the old Drake-Chenault radio special History Of Rock & Roll. He said that he originally told Paul something like "I shouldn't sing this one, it's your baby...go ahead and take the lead vocal" to which Simon replied "No, I wrote it with your voice in mind." Either it's a very charitable story on Art's part, or Paul's developed a complex over Art getting so much praise over his vocal performance over the years.

 

Probably the latter, Reech. There's no way either of them knew it was going to completely dwarf everything they ever did before or will do afterwards.

 

I think it's more that because Art sings it, people think Art wrote it.

 

For Art, yes. For Paul; are you kidding? Before and after that song, he's had massive success on every possible level. For God's sakes, it's not as if he's a one-hit wonder.

 

Oh man, that Monterey show is hilarious. I know it's natural to pick up the speech patterns of a place where you've been living, but Simon just sounds affected and phony. He does everything but bid the crowd "pip, pip cheerio" at the end of the set.

It even spilled over onto his singing ("I'm a Citizens for Boysenberry Jahm fahn").

 

You misunderstand me, Dan.

I'm saying Paul didn't know it would be THE signature S&G track. No one knows how big a song is really going to be before it happens. Of course they've had plenty of successes before and after- just none that would have this much impact and resultant stigma.

 

In response to Squealy, I recall hearing a radio interview on the BBC where Garfunkel talks about writing the "Sail on Silvergirl" verse. Which I'm sure infuriates Simon all the more, because it really doesn't fit with the rest of the song (and now Simon is stuck with it). But to the best of my recollection, it remains a song written solely by Paul Simon in the credits.
Bear in mind the Beatles did this too, although they sometimes paid contributors. I believe that they paid the percussionist who always said "Ob-la di ob-la da, life goes on bra" and I know they paid the woman who came up with the French lyrics for Michelle albeit without crediting either one of them (although I don't think they paid Alfie the driver who came up with the phrase "Eight Days A Week" or Mal Evans for his contributions to songs, but then again, they were on staff).
On the naivete thing, there was also an interview I heard with Chris Thomas where he talks about working with the Beatles on the White Album. After the album had been released and had sold quite well, George Martin said to him something to the effect of "Well, you've done a good on that and you were never properly compensated." At which point Thomas was thinking "here comes my rolls royce" and then Martin said to Thomas, "You played on those sessions didn't you?" which Thomas confirmed. Martin then said "why don't you put in for session fees for those sessions." Which Thomas did but of course that was peanuts compared to what he thought he might get.

 

I'm sure there are people that assume that...oh, Daltrey or Tillbrook...are their respective bands' lyricists. Does anyone suspect that Townshend or Difford exhibit a similar complex?

 

As far as signature tracks, Mrs. Robinson, The Boxer, and Sounds Of Silence are all up there with Bridge. In fact, I'd say that Mrs. Robinson has had more impact and stigma attached to it.