YMMV / Paul Simon

• Epic Riff:
  • "The Obvious Child" features an epic drum riff.
  • So does "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover". The audience reaction when it starts in a live concert is something to behold.
  • A horn example with "You Can Call Me Al".
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • "Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War" is about two Belgian artists finally getting to listen to their favorite music after the war, the last verse is especially sweet.
  • "Born at the Right Time" is all sorts of heartwarming.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The chorus of "Kodachrome" is "Don't take my Kodachrome away!". As of 2009, that's exactly what happened, with the discontinuation of Kodachrome slide film.
  • Values Resonance: The entire song is about Nostalgia Filter, with Kodachrome becoming nostalgic unto itself.
• Ho Yay: What exactly were me and Julio getting up to that got mama and papa so angry, but was controversial enough that a radical priest would try to get me released? Simon says that not even he knows, but that it was probably "something sexual."
• Once Original, Now Common: Graceland was revolutionary in the 80s because a musician had never taken modern (at the time at least) pop and fused with South American and African tribal music. While fusions of western and African music were common throughout the 80s thanks to the work of Talking Heads and Peter Gabriel, this was the first time that South African styles of music in particular were incorporated into contemporary pop, in part because of the low visibility of South Africa beyond Apartheid. Many artists have done such techniques since, leaving first-time listeners wondering what the big deal is.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: Most discussions on Graceland tend to be less on the album's merits as a production and more on the fact that Simon visited South Africa to produce it, at a time when a cultural boycott was being held against the nation to protest Apartheid. In his defence, Simon stated that many of the South African musicians he worked with were opposed to the Apartheid government, and that his visit was not approved by the regime.
• Signature Song: Simon's best known song as a solo artist is easily "You Can Call Me Al".
• Spiritual Successor: "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 Carrie Fisher. 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.
• Tearjerker: "The Late Great Johnny Ace". The first John to die is sad. The third John is heartbreaking, when a stranger comes up to Simon to ask him if he'd heard John Lennon was murdered— and ends up in a bar listening to Beatles and Lennon songs til the place closes. The second John is the singer being in his own world and not connecting to the tragedy.

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