Feb 26, 2019
"Graceland," "America," "You Can Call Me Al," "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover," "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard," "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes"—Paul Simon’s list of classic songs is long and literary. So any week is the perfect week for Pop Literacy to celebrate this rare master of songwriting, who completed his final tour in the fall and has an album out, In the Blue Light, filled with reimagined versions of some of his songs. A literary master is always revising.
Pop Literacy host Jennifer Keishin Armstrong is joined by guest hosts (and fellow Paul Simon nerds) Daniel Ford, author of Sid Sanford Lives!, co-founder of our Writer’s Bone Podcast Network, and our producer, and Spencer Wise, author of The Emperor of Shoes. We discuss which Paul Simon song we’d listen to if we could only choose one for the rest of our lives, the hits we’re a little sick of, the best deep cuts, the highlights from his final tour, and who might be able to fill his vital role as the poet of the midlife crisis in the future.
To enhance your listening experience, we also made you two playlists: Paul Simon 101 to help you wade in and then go deeper, and Potential Future Paul Simons, featuring some mainstream pop picks with potential (Taylor Swift, John Mayer) as well as some indie gems (L.A. Salami, Father John Misty).