{"id":317281,"date":"2025-11-27T19:51:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T19:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/317281\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T19:51:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T19:51:08","slug":"the-greatest-songwriter-of-all-time-according-to-paul-simon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/317281\/","title":{"rendered":"The greatest songwriter of all time, according to Paul Simon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Paul<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Album Cover)<\/p>\n

Thu 27 November 2025 17:51, UK <\/p>\n

Paul Simon<\/a> is an undisputed legend. A brilliant songwriter and lyricist, together with former partner in crime Art Garfunkel, he helped to soundtrack the momentous decade that was the 1960s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Producing no end of classics over the years, both in Simon & Garfunkel and as a solo artist, his merit as a musician has rarely been matched outside of his generation. As Steve Earle put it, \u201cHe\u2019s like a craftsman on another level. I mean, everything is alliterated way past the fucking decimal point.\u201d <\/p>\n

Continuing, \u201cHe obviously works and works and works at it, because he learned it in the Brill Building. But he also genuinely had one foot in Greenwich Village too, because of the age he was, and he understood it and he listened to all those records and he learned to play guitar like that.\u201d This made him both of the time, and timeless. That\u2019s a trait Simon loved in others, too.<\/p>\n

Away from the stage, Simon is the quiet, introspective sort, and his life has been one of many ups and downs. He\u2019s dated Shelley Duvall, been married to Carrie Fisher<\/a>, and even mentored the band Dream Academy to help them to write their 1985 hit, \u2018Life in a Northern Town\u2019. He\u2019s done it all. He\u2019s hung out with the greats, been a lifelong philanthropist and even played one of the biggest concerts ever recorded.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, however, he\u2019s a man comprised of some strange and often contrary opinions. This ranges from the somewhat jealous parody of Bob Dylan via the medium of the song with \u2018A Simple Desultory Philippic\u2019, to remarks about his old pal Garfunkel, and anything in between. <\/p>\n

Regardless, he\u2019s a man who has lived a life like no other. His ilk of a songwriter is certainly a dying breed, given the advent of technology and the dominance of the internet. This makes his artistry even more impressive because he and the likes of Dylan are walking representations of a time gone by \u2013 even his biggest hit, \u2018You Can Call Me Al\u2019, came out way back in 1986. <\/p>\n

A fascinating man with a unique outlook, his interviews are always very informative. He offers up takes that are slightly off the beaten track but no less enlightening. Back in 2011, he was asked the big question concerning who he thinks are the best songwriters of all time. <\/p>\n

He told Mojo, \u201cI\u2019d put Gershwin, Berlin and Hank Williams.\u201d Then he names the only contemporary of the elite bunch, \u201cI\u2019d probably put Paul McCartney in there too. Then I\u2019d have Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Then, in the second tier, Lennon is there, Dylan is there, Bob Marley and Stephen Sondheim are there, and maybe I\u2019m there, too. It\u2019s about whose songs last.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, there\u2019s no real surprise that he placed Dylan<\/a> in the second category as it seems that Simon has always had some sort of a love\/hate relationship with \u2018The Bard\u2019. There\u2019s also no surprise that Lennon sits in that same category due to his disparaging remarks in 1979 where he labelled Simon the \u201csinging dwarf\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is also no surprise that he included George Gershwin in the top cohort, as he has mentioned him many times over the years, and was even awarded the Gershwin Prize in 2007 for his own contribution to popular music. What Simon favours is a figure who can write songs that are timelessly crafted, but also prove transcendent hits at the time. After all, they\u2019re the hardest ones to write, and Simon thinks Paul McCartney has penned a multitude of them.<\/p>\n

Reflecting the fact that his opinions are often not of the norm, and showing himself to be somewhat of a traditionalist, his inclusions of composers Richard Rodgers, Irving Berlin, and Lorenz Hart are genius but no less surprising takes. That\u2019s why McCartney\u2019s inclusion stands out. It\u2019s as if all the inclusions save for McCartney are the music that Simon grew up listening to. <\/p>\n

But by selecting Macca, he doffs his cap to the fact that future generations will no doubt grow up listening to his tunes, too. If rock \u2018n\u2019 roll ever dies, it seems certain in Simon\u2019s view that McCartney will survive it. \u201cEventually all records are dated,\u201d he said, \u201cbut the songs come back. \u2018Eleanor Rigby\u2019 was a really fine song.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n

The Far Out Beatles Newsletter<\/p>\n

All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Album Cover) Thu 27 November 2025 17:51, UK Paul Simon is an undisputed legend.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,15763,216,13501,93345,13979],"class_list":{"0":"post-317281","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-john-lennon","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-paul-mccartney","12":"tag-paul-simon","13":"tag-the-beatles"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}