![\"\u2018Mother](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\u2018Mother-and-Child-Reunion-Paul-Simon-1972-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
(Credits: Far Out \/ Album Cover)<\/p>\n
Mon 20 April 2026 14:11, UK <\/p>\n
People underestimate quite how long an album takes to make. By the time a record comes out, chances are the artist is already halfway through their next one as the timeline of creation is lengthy, expanding way beyond any release campaign, sometimes into years before the public even knew it existed. <\/p>\n
But that means that by the time a record is done and ready and it\u2019s coming down to tracklist conversations, an artist might already be sick of the songs that started it all. That\u2019s what happened to Paul Simon<\/a> as he already wanted to delete a song before it even came out.<\/p>\n In the official information about Graceland, Simon\u2019s magnum opus solo album<\/a> released in 1986, the recording process began in October 1985 and didn\u2019t end until June of the following year. Already, that\u2019s nine months. But that\u2019s only part of the story. Way before any talk of recording or any studio setups, Simon, like all artists, will have been sitting with these songs for some time. <\/p>\n On Graceland especially, the process began a whole year earlier when he heard a bootlegged tape of mbaqanga, black street music from Johannesburg. That planted the initial seed, so from there until the record finally came out, it was a lengthy years-long process not just of inspiration and creation, but it\u2019s a long time for an artist to have to stay interested in their own songs.<\/p>\n Any creative can attest to how difficult that is. It\u2019s in the artist\u2019s nature to be moving on and seeking the next thing. As the creative mind sparks and wanders off in all different directions, trying to remain invested in something from a few years, even a few months back, can be difficult. So as Simon worked through Graceland, with his interest jumping from song to song as they were made across the months, slowly building up the record, the song that began it all became the song he was least invested in. <\/p>\n That tension between inspiration and fatigue is almost inevitable on a project as sprawling as Graceland. What begins as a spark can start to feel overly familiar by the time everything else has taken shape around it, especially when the artist has travelled so far creatively in the interim. In Simon\u2019s case, the very song that opened the door to a new sonic world ended up feeling like a relic of an earlier mindset.<\/p>\n It also highlights how fluid the identity of an album can be during its creation. What starts as the defining centrepiece can gradually be overtaken by newer ideas that feel fresher, more refined, or simply more exciting in the moment. By the time Simon was deep into the collaborative spirit of the record, working with a wide array of musicians and influences, \u2018Gumboots\u2019 may have felt like a rough draft compared to the richer, more fully realised tracks that followed.<\/p>\n On that bootleg mbaqanga album that Simon heard, there was an instrumental track called \u2018Gumboota\u2019.<\/a> This piece of music inspired him so deeply that it was the reason why he booked a flight to Africa and decided to make a new album there, working with local musicians to bring in the sounds and textures of the place. Eventually, the track morphed into \u2018Gumboots\u2019, Simon\u2019s take on the track where his classic Americana lyrics are matched with African influences in the instrumental, performed by The Boyoyo Boys, who are playing on the original tape he heard.<\/p>\n But despite being the song that started it all, it quickly became the one he liked least. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t that \u2018Gumboots\u2019 led me into the whole project, I would have dropped \u2018Gumboots\u2019 from the album,\u201d he said plainly, adding, \u201cBecause I think it\u2019s the weakest of the South African cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps this is just a classic case of stagnation. As is always the case, the sessions for the album got better and better as they went on and found their flow, and Simon got a better understanding of what he actually wanted to make. So naturally, \u2018Gumboots\u2019, as the first track that sparked the project, was always going to end up feeling like the weakest. In a twisted way, it\u2019s a testament to the power of the record as Simon felt like the songs got stronger and stronger. <\/p>\n But part of it was also that despite being inspired by them initially, Simon wasn\u2019t thrilled by the The Boyoyo Boys playing on the track. With an incredibly long list of musicians playing on the record, there were plenty of other artists to step in on other tracks, either from out in South Africa or back home in America as he continued on down the expansive path of collaboration and broad inspirations on the album<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Paul-Simon-Simon-Garfunkle-Solo-Graceland-Far-Out-Magazine-F.jpg\")
<\/a>(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/faroutmagazine.co.uk\/wp-content\/themes\/far-out-magazine\/img\/google-discover.svg\")
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