I watched the SNL 50^th Anniversary Special last night and was happy to see the 83-year-old Paul Simon teamed with 25-year-old Sabrina Carpenter performing “Homeward Bound” to open the show. Simon’s been a regular musical guest and host on SNL over the years; so, in his, and the show’s, honor, here’s a PAUL SIMON excerpt from MUSIC TITANS – 250 GREATEST RECORDING ARTISTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS—

Paul Simon originally rose to fame as half of the ’60s folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, celebrated for such culturally important hits as “The Sound of Silence,” “Mrs. Robinson,” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water”… His solo work began in earnest with the 1972 release Paul Simon. It was a major success on both sides of the Atlantic and featured the reggae inflected “Mother and Child Reunion.” His next two albums, There Goes Rhymin’ Simon and Still Crazy After All These Years,continued his hot streak with the lively reminiscent track “Kodachrome,” the gospel tinged ” Loves Me Like a Rock,” the meditative secular hymn to perseverance in the face of personal and national trial, “American Tune,” and his humorous take on breaking up, “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.” Soon after, however, the hits began to dry up.

            In 1986, at a personal and creative nadir, Simon was introduced to a mixtape of South African township music. Determined to continue his penchant for experimenting with different musical genres, he flew to Johannesburg and began working on a new album. This was a particularly controversial move since there was a cultural boycott against South Africa because of the brutal policy of racial segregation known as apartheid that was practiced there. Perhaps to offset breaking the boycott, Simon paid local musicians 12 times the going rate and, with the backing of a South African Black musicians’ union, proceeded despite heavy criticism and death threats. The result, Graceland, was an astounding blend of a capella Zulu choral music, up-tempo local street sounds, American pop, with Louisiana zydeco and Tex-Mex elements mixed in there as well. “World music,” they called it, and though it remained controversial‑‑cultural appropriation, said some; a bridge between the developed and the developing worlds, said others—it was a commercial and critical triumph, Simon’s biggest seller and most critically celebrated record.

            Four years later, he was back with another take on world music, this time mixing African, Brazilian, and North American sources to produce the less accessible, but still striking The Rhythm of the Saints…Simon is no longer a hit maker. No matter—he is the only artist to have LPs nominated for a best album Grammy in five consecutive decades, winning three times. A two-time member of the Rock Hall of Fame and a Kennedy Center honoree, Paul is also the first recipient of the coveted Library of CongressGershwin Prize…

Suggested Songs:

Duncan (1972)

American Tune (1973)

Still Crazy After All These Years (1976)

Graceland (1986)

MUSIC TITANS remains widely available wherever books are sold online.