American Tunes: Paul Simon song-by-song

My intention with this thread, starting Sunday, January 8th is to discuss the music of Paul Simon.

I will be going through all of Paul Simon's songs, one by one, day by day, including covers recorded by Paul , songs he recorded under different names, and of course, the entirety of Simon and Garfunkel's catalogue.

I will trace his career from his early teeny pop days of Tom and Jerry, his Brill building doo-wop faze, his early "Jerry Landis" phase, his Simon & Garfunkel days and his days as one of the foremost American singer/songwriters.

As always, I will also be rating songs on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the best.

I like doing this simply because, a) for some reason it helps me to focus my mind critically when I'm listening and b) although individual users' ratings mean nothing, collectively, when averaged, they are an interesting statistic. And I like to make playlists from the more highly-rated songs!

Having said that one does not have to rate songs to participate in the thread. The main thing is to discuss ,celebrate and tear apart the music of Paul Simon, song-by-song, and to have fun with the music of this incredible songwriter with other fans.

I do not plan on holding up unreleased/bootleg songs for rating (if there are any); that does not mean that they cannot be discussed or referenced in their appropriate era by those who know about them; it only means that I won't make a separate entry for them.

Ditto for side projects, where Paul may have contributed guitar or backing vocals: they will not be held up separately. Only songs that were written and/or performed by Paul Simon.

For clarity's sake, I plan I plan to go through the thread in this order. Paul Simon's early days are associated with a number of acts most of them pseudonymous. So I've decided to divide them into phases by artist

• Tom & Jerry/True Taylor
• The Mystics
• Tico & The Triumphs
• Jerry Landis

After that I plan to go over the songs of the following albums, in this order:

• Wednesday Morning 3.A.M.
• (The Paul Simon Songbook)*
• Sounds Of Silence
• Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme
• Bookends
• Bridge Over Troubled Water
• Paul Simon
• There Goes Rhymin' Simon
• Still Crazy After All These Years
• One Trick Pony
• Hearts And Bones
• Graceland
• The Rhythm of the Saints
• Songs from The Capeman
• You're The One
• Surprise
• So Beautiful or So What
• STranger To Stranger
• (In the Blue Light)*

*albums contain songs released on other albums: I will hold up songs only once, so the versions on these albums will be held up in conjuction with their songs on other albums.

Any live albums will be included in one day only discussions.

Bonus tracks, non-album singles, B-sides, officially released outtakes and other rarities will be discussed after the album they are associated with -- see any of my other song-by-song threads for a template. Bootleg songs will not be held up for rating, but may be discussed where appropriate.

 

Ooops apparenty I broke a rule by hyping this thread in other threads and they were all deleted. I had no idea that was not allowed!

So I'll just have to annoyingly bump this a couple of times a day until I start the actual thread.

 

I shall be looking forward to reading - and perhaps contributing - to this thread. Paul Simon is up there with my favourite songwriters, and though I prefer his solo albums, I also enjoy his Simon & Garfunkel work. Great idea for a thread!

 

Contrary to the first post, The thread is basically starting now, and contrary to the first post I'm going to start with the song-by-song analysis after posting some biographical material and a general plan. I'm not going to wait until Sunday as I originally intended.

 

Paul Simon was born in Newark, New Jersey on October 13th, 1941 but grew up in the Queens borough of New York City just a few blocks from fellow New Yorker Lou Reed, who was less than half a year younger than Simon. I bring this up only as I think Lou Reed's early career does have some interesting parallels with Simon's, including a love of doo-wop and a stint at writing and recording demos for publishing companies. Their mature music couldn't be more different, of course, although they were both very much self-consciously New York and Jewish songwriters who wear their New Yorkerness on their sleeves. I don't believe that the two ever met as children though.

Paul Simon was born Jewish, the son of Hungarian Jewish immigrants, and perhaps his work is best seen in the context of his heritage alongside other mid-to-late twentieth century urban American Jewish writers like Saul Bellow and Phillip Roth, Woody Allen and Lou Reed. Paul's parents were teachers, but his father was also a musician who played the double bass and led a dance/jazz band; so music was also a part of his heritage and his father's experience in the business would do greatly to help Simon's early career, in which he secured publishing rights to all his songs almost immediately and thus was spared the financial pain that many a young, naive songwriter without such guidance has experienced.

While still young, his father heard Paul singing a song in his bedroom and stopped in to tell him that he "really had a nice voice." This seems to have been the catalyst that set Paul on his career path.

As a young teen, Paul was entranced by the new sounds of Rock and Roll, especially Elvis Presley and the doo-wop sounds of New York and the American East Coast. At an early age, he became friends wiht another local youth, Art Garfunkel, who also was the son of Jewish immigrants. The two shared a love of music and sang together, learning how to create and perfect a harmonic blend that, in time, would rival the great Everly Brothers in sheer beauty and flawlessness.

Paul was encouraged by his family to learn guitar, and although he was not a natural ace at first, he learned it well enough to accompany himself and Art. Paul began writing songs at age 13 and the first one that he felt confident enough to show anyone was called "The Girl For Me."


The song was a hit in their local neighbourhoods: Simon's father wrote down the lyric and chords and soon many local doo-wop groups could be heard singing the song on street corners all over Queens. The song was published and copyrighted -- but a recording of it was never made. Nevertheless it encouraged the Paul and his musical singing partner to continue making music.

 

So over the next few days I'm going to cover the songs of Simon & Garfunkel's early phase, in which they were known as "Tom & Jerry", after the popular cartoon of the small clever brown mouse and tall, lanky cat. Individually their stage name was Tom Graph and Jerry Landis. The reason for the pseudonymous moniker was a fear that the Jewishness of their real surnames would be as a liability in an America where WASP culture still reigned supreme, even if open anti-Semeticism was frowned upon.

This was an interesting era in rock and roll , and, incredibly, the very first song that the pair wrote together, "Hey Schoolgirl"earned them an on the spot signing to the minor record label Big Records. And, incredibly it became, in fact a minor national hit, and possibly would have been bigger had it been available in any market other than New York City. . It would be one of only two hits the pair would achieve under the Tom & Jerry moniker, but for a short time the pair were bona fide teen pop stars , touring with other popular rock and roll and doo-wop artists of the day and earning enough royalty money for Paul to buy his first car (which would mysteriously spontaneously combust some time later.)

Success didn't last long, but the experience would doubtless serve the pair well down the line when their career really did take off.
The songs by Tom & Jerry which I plan to go over are:

Tom & Jerry:

1. Hey Schoolgirl (Jerry Landis, Tommy Graph) {Tom & Jerry. A-side, 1957}
2. Dancin' Wild (Art Garfunkel & Paul Simon) {Tom & Jerry, B-side, 1957}
3. True Or False - (Lou Simon) - TRue TaylorA-side, 1958
4. Teenage Fool -(Paul Simon)- {True Taylor B-side, 1958}
5. Our Song (Graph, Landis) {Tom & Jerry.A-side, 1958}
6. Two Teenagers (Rose Marie McCoy) {Tom & Jerry.B-side, 1958}
7. That's My Story (Garfunkel, Simon) {Tom & Jerry.A-side, 1958}
8. Don't Say Goodbye (Garfunkel, Simon) {Tom & Jerry.B-side, 1958}
9. Baby Talk (Melvin Schwartz) -- {Tom & Jerry, A-side, 1958}
10. I'm Lonesome -{Tom & Jerry, A-side, 1959}
11. Looking AT You {Tom & Jerry, B-side, 1959}
12. I'll Drown In My Tears {Tom & Jerry, A-side, 1961}
13. The French Twist {Tom & Jerry, A-side, 1961}
14. Surrender Please Surrender {Tom & Jerry, A-side}*
15. Fighting Mad {Tom & Jerry, A-side}*
16. Simon Says {Tom & Jerry, outtake}
17. Tijuana Blues (Art Garr, Landis) -- Tom & Jerry.outtake

Is there anything I'm missing? Let me know.

*Uncertain if this is actually Simon & Garfunkel.

 

Today's song is "Hey Schoolgirl", written by Jerry Landis and Tommy Graph, aka, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.

Hey Schoolgirl (Full Song & Lyrics) - Tom & Jerry aka Simon & Garfunkel - Download or Listen Free - JioSaavn

"Hey Schoolgirl" was the first song that Simon & Garfunkel and legend has it was written accidentaly when the duo were tyring unsuccessfully to remember the chords and melodies of the song "Hey Doll Baby", by The Everly Brothers.

"Hey Schoolgirl" was recorded completely live with no overdubs by the duo and a hired backing band at a studio in which each take cost two dollars. Apparently, this was the first take; after they'd recorded it, BIG Records boss Sid Layton approached the duo and immediately signed them to his label, their condition being that he would guarantee that the record would be pressed and released within sixty days, which, somewhat surprisingly, it was.

Layton apparently greased the right palms and paid the right takers and got the duo onto the influential American Bandstand show, sharing a bill with the wild man Jerry Lee Lewis.

And the single charted on the National chart at #49, earning the duo enough money that Paul bought his first car, a Chevy Impala convertible. Shortly after purchasing it, however, it seems Paul burned out the engine and the car caught fire spontaneously and was destroyed.

Line Up:
Jerry Landis (aka Paul Simon): co-lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Tommy Graph (aka Art Garfunkel) co-lead vocals
with:
Unknown backing musicians

 

"Hey Schoolgirl" is a good pop song: the obvious touchstone here is the Everly Brothers, both in the close harmonies and Simon's hard strummed acoustic guitar. The arrangement couldn't be simpler, but it works admirably well framing the song just the way it should.

There's a sense of fun here that almost seems at odds with the at times very serious and intellectual bent of Simon's later songs, though it helps to remember this is the work of a bright-eyed enthusiastic pair of fifteen year, not the worldly Boihemian folk singer or the seasoned and cynical singer-songwriter of later years.

It's pretty irresistible and stands on its own feet among in an era of many irrresistible lightweight pop songs. Should have been a bigger hit.

3.7/5

 

Note: I'm going to be going through these songs at a rate of one per day. Given the nature of this forum in which there are many posts and threads can get buried quite quickly I expect participation to be limited at first. And in fact, the real meat of Paul Simon's career won't start for some time -- he recorded and released a lot of songs before Simon & Garfunkel's heyday! But I wil press on regardless and I'm sure that by the time we do get to 1964 and S&G's first album Wednesday Morning 3 AM, enough people will be aware of this thread that it will be lively enough.

I've made some ammendments to the Tom & Jerry/True Taylor list of songs to be covered below: it seems that two of the songs are in fact another duo, so I've excised them.

Tom & Jerry:

1. Hey Schoolgirl (Jerry Landis, Tommy Graph) {Tom & Jerry. A-side, 1957}
2. Dancin' Wild (Art Garfunkel & Paul Simon) {Tom & Jerry, B-side, 1957}
3. True Or False - (Lou Simon) - TRue TaylorA-side, 1958
4. Teenage Fool -(Paul Simon)- {True Taylor B-side, 1958}
5. Our Song (Graph, Landis) {Tom & Jerry.A-side, 1958}
6. Two Teenagers (Rose Marie McCoy) {Tom & Jerry.B-side, 1958}
7. That's My Story (Garfunkel, Simon) {Tom & Jerry.A-side, 1958}
8. Don't Say Goodbye (Garfunkel, Simon) {Tom & Jerry.B-side, 1958}
9. Baby Talk (Melvin Schwartz) -- {Tom & Jerry, SPLIT SINGLE, 1958}
10. Simon Says (Art Garr){Tom & Jerry, outtake}
11. Tijuana Blues (Garr, Landis) -- Tom & Jerry.outtake

If there are no other songs by the Simon/Garfunkel verson of Tom & Jerry, I will begin holding up Simon-related songs by The Mystics on the 13th of January.

 

I'm getting way ahead of the game here but I just wanted to say that I read Simon won't be recording any more albums
I hope that's not true.
He has another album in him, possibly his best one.

 

I like "Hey Schoolgirl", those voices are recognisable right out of the gate and it's pretty catchy. 3/5

 

Instead of announcing what you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it just do it.

 

I have done, thanks.

 

Everly Brothers,Buddy Holly,Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran are the big names this reminds me of. Released in 1957,the year Lennon met McCartney,so Paul Simon was definitely ahead of the game already. Weird Simon and Garfunkle are seen as post-Beatles/Dylan artists. `Hey Schoolgirl` is good. 3/5

 

A bit sad but if he’s done he’s done. He may need to lay down that weary tune. Didn’t he recently sell his publishing for a big amount?

 

Its a bit staggering how young they were, and while his originals dont hold a candle to his later work, it’s definitely pretty good for a 15 year old! And there is a lot of polish in the performance vocally —and yet it doesn’t feel like it's been over-rehearsed. Its genuinely fun.

Im a trifle bit sceptical of the backstory— just seems too good to be true! One take….

Yeah, but they must have rehearsed with the drummer and other musicians even if the arrangement is pretty basic, right?

I’d like to know a little more about this BIG records svengali. He clearly had some connections.

 

One thing I forgot to mention in the songpost is where "Hey Schoolgirl" has been released since it's initial single release in 1957.

There are several compilations of "Tom And Jerry" songs dating back to the sixties, usually mixed in with various other projects Paul Simon (And Art Garfunkel) were involved in pre-Wednesday Morning 3AM. Some are bootlegs while others are official releases or "grey market" releases: i.e., more or less legal in Europe but not in the States.

There are too many to really offer a comprehensive list and I doubt if I would even be able to make one; but some of the most important ones are:

• Paul Simon 1964-1993 (1993)
• Old Friends (1997)
• Two Can Dream Alone (2000)
• Tom & Jerry (2003)
• Tom & Jerry Meet Tico and the Triumphs (2012) and Singles And Rarities 1958-1962

I have my own version from a compilation on iTunes called Two Teenagers.

More information:

The single version of "Hey Schoolgirl" is not the version that they recorded for two dollars.

It is a re-recording of that demo and the line up includes Paul on acoustic guitar and his father Louis Simon (who professionally called himself "Lou Sims") on stand up bass.

The drummer is an apparently forgotten session drummer, and the tambourine, I suppose, could be anyone, especially if it was overdubbed. I see no indication that the final master was recorded "completely live" as the demo was, and I personally doubt that it was.

 

I look forward to joining in this thread, although I'll be participating mostly in the main studio album discussions (both S&G and solo). I don't have all the other related material and don't like to post based on a song's first impression. I guess this will give me some time to start getting notes together!

Thanks @Lance LaSalle for putting this together - I've participated in a couple of your other threads and you do a great job with them. How do you plan to handle bonus tracks on the CDs? While many of them are simply alternate versions of album tracks, there are several that aren't on the albums (for example Sounds of Silence includes four).

 

I do not hold up live tracks separately but i do try to link to them on the main post; ditto with alternate tracks.

Released outtakes will be held up separately after the album/era they are associated with.

There is a lot of preS&G material to go through and I do expect participation to be low for the first few weeks or month.

That’s fine, though. I hope lurkers will enjoy hearing some of Simon’s early, obscure teeth-cutting work which is promising and melodically nice at least.

 

I don't know much about NY TEEN DOO WOP. But that's a good song. Let's hear the rest.

 

“Hey Schoolgirl” is pretty good for a couple of high school kids. You can tell they had professional help with the recording, but I’m sure Paul and Art knew what they were doing and knew what they wanted. 4/5

Sid Prosen turns up here and there as early as 1946, mostly as a songwriter. I seriously doubt if he had any involvement in writing “Hey Schoolgirl”.

What an interesting story to start out their career. I believe the recording on Paul Simon 1964-1993 is a needle drop from a Pickwick lp from 1967. I have a copy of the single on Big, I think I got it from my cousin who would have been 12 in 1957. It’s beat, but it’s nice to have.

 

"Hey, Schoolgirl" is the one Tom & Jerry song that Simon & Garfunkel would play live in later years. The 1997 Old Friends box set has a 1969 version, a medley with Joe Bennett & the Sparkletones' 1957 hit "Black Slacks."

 

And here it is in 2003. A similar performance appears on the Old Friends: Live on Stage 2CD/DVD.

 

Thank you for this @Marry a Carrot!