{"id":350669,"date":"2026-01-03T22:27:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/350669\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T22:27:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:27:08","slug":"the-number-one-hit-paul-simon-thought-was-complete-nonsense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/350669\/","title":{"rendered":"The number one hit Paul Simon thought was complete “nonsense”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Paul<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Harry Chase, Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Sat 3 January 2026 19:36, UK <\/p>\n

As the middle of the 1970s rolled around, Paul Simon<\/a> was one of the most popular singer-songwriters in the world. Having achieved fame with Simon and Garfunkel in the 1960s, Simon was now knocking out solo hits like \u2018Mother and Child Reunion\u2019, \u2018Kodachrome\u2019 and \u2018Love\u2019s Me Like a Rock\u2019. Those were all top-ten hits, but Simon still hadn\u2019t nabbed a number one single since his days with Art Garfunkel.<\/p>\n

That would change thanks to his 1975 album Still Crazy After All These Years. While \u2018Gone At Last\u2019 and the album\u2019s title track were top 40 hits in America, it would be \u201850 Ways To Leave Your Lover\u2019 that gave Simon his one and only number one solo hit. According to Simon himself, the song came in a flash one morning. <\/p>\n

\u201cI woke up one morning in my apartment on Central Park and the opening words just popped into my mind: \u2018The problem is all inside your head, she said to me\u2026\u2019 That was the first thing I thought of,\u201d Simon told the publication Rock Lives in 1975. \u201cSo I just started building on that line. It was the last song I wrote for the album, and I wrote it with a Rhythm Ace, one of those electronic drum machines so maybe that\u2019s how it got that sing-song \u2018Make a new plan Stan, don\u2019t need to be coy Roy\u2019 quality. It\u2019s basically a nonsense song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, Simon had some inspiration other than random divine intervention. His divorce from his first wife, Peggy Harper, was official in 1975, and a stunned Simon struggled to address the reality in his writing. The answer came in humour, which Simon tapped into while creating the \u201850 Ways To Leave Your Lover\u2019 chorus. <\/p>\n

Propelled by Steve Gadd\u2019s iconic drum part, \u201850 Ways To Leave Your Lover\u2019 finds Simon discussing his marital troubles with a new flame. Instead of dealing with the harsh realities that splitting up causes, Simon is told that keeping things simple is the best way to do it. Whether it\u2019s slipping out the back, making a new plan, or dropping off the key, there are plenty of ways to free yourself.<\/p>\n

\u201850 Ways To Leave Your Lover\u2019 became just one of Simon\u2019s most iconic songs. Although it was a live staple, Simon soon added top 40 hits like \u2018Slip Slidin\u2019 Away\u2019, \u2018Late in the Evening\u2019 and \u2018You Can Call Me Al\u2019<\/a> to his repertoire. Still, \u201850 Ways To Leave Your Lover\u2019 would be Simon\u2019s only solo number one hit of his career.<\/p>\n

The \u201cnonsense\u201d continues<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most nonsensical part of the song is not that it was just thought up as some kind of joke, but that Simon only bothers to share five ways to leave said lover. Simon sings, \u201cSlip out the back, Jack\u201d, \u201cMake a new plan, Stan\u201d, \u201cYou don\u2019t need to be coy, Roy, just set yourself free\u201d, \u201cHop on the bus, Gus\u201d and \u201cDrop off the key, Lee, and get yourself free\u201d.<\/p>\n

While there is certainly a sense of underdelivering from Simon it perhaps links into his real feeling around the track. He didn\u2019t care for it then, and there\u2019s a good chance he doesn\u2019t care for it now.<\/p>\n

Check out \u201850 Ways To Leave Your Lover\u2019 down below.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Harry Chase, Los Angeles Times) Sat 3 January 2026 19:36, UK As the middle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,37050,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-350669","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-paul-simon","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}