![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Paul-Simon-Musician-1974-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Album Cover)<\/p>\n
Sat 22 November 2025 18:00, UK <\/p>\n
Every songwriter should take notes on how Paul Simon<\/a> conducted himself throughout his career. <\/p>\n While he was far from the most in-demand celebrity of his generation by any stretch, he knew what he was capable of and made sure that he never pushed himself into realms that seemed impossible. If it was in his wheelhouse, it was easy for him to make it a reality, but don\u2019t go asking him to play the part of the over-the-top celebrity that most think of when they think of rock stars.<\/p>\n Because, really, Simon seemed to be like any other guy that you\u2019d come across in New York City that just so happened to be one of the best songwriters who ever lived. He certainly didn\u2019t have the same kind of sarcastic wit that Bob Dylan had, but that sincerity in a song like \u2018The Sound of Silence\u2019 is something that\u2019s missing from a lot of songwriters who try to cover up their feelings.<\/p>\n Then again, that\u2019s not to say that Simon was stuck in the \u201csensitive songwriter\u201d type, either. He prided himself on writing detailed stories in his tunes, and when he eventually got around to making Graceland, he managed to completely reverse his traditional process and make the kinds of songs that were better suited to world music than being played on one acoustic guitar.<\/p>\n But when looking at his musical history, you can\u2019t really call what Simon does \u201cboring\u201d by any stretch. There are definitely a few albums that are a lot more languid than others in his catalogue, but if you take the songs at face value, you can hear the sound of someone who\u2019s always trying to find the perfect turn of phrase that will move someone in the same way that he was moved listening to artists like The Everly Brothers<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what all good rock and roll is supposed to do, and Simon should know, having grown up when the genre was getting born. He had already begun learning harmonies off of the Everlys when he first got together with Art Garfunkel, but even though Chuck Berry can be considered the true godfather of rock and roll, the real \u201cbig bang\u201d for most people came from listening to Elvis Presley for the first time. <\/p>\n No one knew what they were looking at when Presley strutted his stuff onstage, but it\u2019s not like he was the most original artist in the world. A lot of what he did came from covering musicians that had set the template for rock, but as long as he was performing with that signature hip shake, no one could take their eyes off of him when he started singing tunes like \u2018Hound Dog\u2019 or \u2018All Shook Up\u2019.<\/p>\n