History Music / PaulSimon

* SpiritualSuccessor: "Graceland" is similar to "Hearts and Bones" musically and lyrically, since they're both about actual road trips Simon took and both were inspired by the collapse of his marriage with Creator/CarrieFisher. And they were both the title songs of their respective albums.
** Albumwise there's ''Rhythm of the Saints'' which is in itself a sort of successor to ''Graceland''; while ''Graceland'' was heavily influenced by South African music and recruited African musicians to help formulate the sound, ''Rhythm'' did something similar but turned to South American genres and musicians.

* NotChristianRock:
** 2011's ''So Beautiful Or So What'' contains many references to God and angels. Paul says he didn't notice.
** There's been plenty of speculation over the meaning of the line "The cross is in the ballpark" in "The Obvious Child".

--> Clifton Chenier, the King of the Bayou
--> Standing in the shadow of Clifton Chenier

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Averaging 2-3 before the world music started. After, we probably need a different scale.

Simon first got together with Art {{Garfunkel}} in 1957 under the name "Tom and Jerry", but the partnership only became permanent with the success of their 1964 SignatureSong "The Sounds of Silence". The duo released a string of critically acclaimed albums and became famous for their close harmonies and Simon's alternately surreal, poetic and humorous lyrics, before calling it a day in 1970.

Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American folk and rock musician known both for his initial career in the folk-rock duo Music/SimonAndGarfunkel and his eclectic solo career, which has ranged from straightforward pop, rock and folk to world music explorations.

* TropeCodifier: He was the first to succeed at bringing world music to mainstream America's attention. That is, if you don't count Music/TheBeatles experimenting with Indian music on ''Music/RubberSoul'' and ''Music/{{Revolver}}''.

** Then there's "Rhythm of the Saints" which is in itself a sort of successor to "Graceland"; while "Graceland" was heavily influenced by South African music and recruited African musicians to help formulate the sound, "Rhythm" did something similar but turned to South American genres and musicians.

However, Simon rebounded with ''Music/{{Graceland}}'' (1986). Recorded in UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica with a cast of talented African musicians and containing a fusion of Western pop-rock and folk music with African genres such as isicathamiya and mbaqanga, the album was released in 1986 to a wildly positive response despite considerable controversy surrounding Simon's decision to record in South Africa [[CompletelyMissingThePoint at the height of both Apartheid and a United Nations-led cultural boycott against South Africa meant to protest Apartheid]]. The album re-established Simon as a successful artist and became an enduring benchmark by which "world music" experiments by other pop artists are measured, though the ''Graceland'' controversy still chases him around here and there even today.

** "Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War" shouts out the [[Creator/ReneMagritte famed surrealist painter]] as well as the popular doo-wop groups of TheSixties: The Penguins, The Moonglows, The Oreos and the Five Satins.

* NonActorVehicle: 1980's ''One Trick Pony'', which he wrote as well as starred in and composed the music for. Interesting since his character is explicitly not an AuthorAvatar; he's a one-hit wonder struggling to make a comeback. It famously has a character (played by Creator/RipTorn) who's a blatant TakeThat to Creator/ColumbiaRecords president Walter Yetnikoff (whose feuding with Simon led to him switch labels), among other [[InJoke In-Jokes]] about the music industry. The movie completely bombed, but it generated a hit song with "Late in the Evening".

* NonActorVehicle: 1980's ''One Trick Pony'', which he wrote as well as starred in and composed the music for. Interesting since his character is explicitly not an AuthorAvatar; he's a one-hit wonder struggling to make a comeback. It famously has a character (played by Rip Torn) who's a blatant TakeThat to Creator/ColumbiaRecords president Walter Yetnikoff, among other [[InJoke In-Jokes]] about the music industry. The movie completely bombed, but it generated a hit song with "Late in the Evening".

* NonActorVehicle: 1980's ''One Trick Pony'', which he wrote as well as starred in and composed the music for. Interesting since his character is explicitly not an AuthorAvatar; he's a one-hit wonder struggling to make a comeback. It famously has a character (played by Rip Torn) who's a blatant TakeThat to Creator/ColumbiaRecords president Walter Yetnikoff, among other [[InJoke In-Jokes]] about the music industry. A BoxOfficeBomb, but it generated a BreakawayPopHit with "Late in the Evening".

!!Paul Simon albums with their own article on TV Tropes:

* NoodleIncident: [[ShrugOfGod Not even Simon knows]] what Mama saw in "Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard".
* NonActorVehicle: 1980's ''One Trick Pony'', which he wrote as well as starred in and composed the music for. Interesting since his character is explicitly not an AuthorAvatar; he's a OneHitWonder struggling to make a comeback. It famously has a character (played by Rip Torn) who's a blatant TakeThat to Creator/ColumbiaRecords president Walter Yetnikoff, among other [[InJoke In-Jokes]] about the music industry. A BoxOfficeBomb, but it generated a BreakawayPopHit with "Late in the Evening".

** "The Late Great Johnny Ace", from ''Hearts and Bones'', is at once a Shout Out to Johnny Ace, UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy and InMemoriam to Music/JohnLennon -- three Johns who were killed by a firearm.