Songwriting: Critical Listening and Composition – Paul Simon

Paul Simon is a well known influential american musician and songwriter. He became successful along with Art Garfunkel in Simon and Garfunkel where they released 5 studio albums. Simon and Garfunkel were among some of the most popular artists during the 1960s along with The Beatles, The Beach Boys and Bob Dylan. Paul Simon went onto have a very successful solo career, especially with the release of Graceland in 1986 which won the Grammy for album of the year.

The Sound Of Silence:

This song is possibly Simon and Garfunkel's biggest song, along with songs like "Bridge Over Troubled Water", "The Boxer", "Scarborough Fair/Canticle", "Mrs. Robinson" and "A Hazy Shade of Winter", for it has featured in numerous movies and been covered by many artists. The song clearly manages to emotionally connect to many listeners, ironically the lyrics suggest the inability of people to connect emotionally. This is shown in the first line which highlights these themes:

"Hello darkness, my old friend I've come to talk with you again"

He finds relief by expressing his emotions to darkness which is being personified for it listens to him like a friend would. The Sound Of Silence is a key song in Simon & Garfunkel's discography; they have two versions of the song. The first, the best version in my opinion, was released on their debut album "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M." and the second version of the song was released on their sophomore effort "Sounds of Silence". The first version has a emotional feel which has less instrumentation, guitar and vocals, whilst the second version contains a whole band with drums bass and guitar. This manages to change the feel for the song which makes it more up beat and jubilant. Prosody is more apparent and meaningful in the first version of the song due to the powerful lyrics about the themes they draw out; loneliness, lack of communication between people. The lack of instrumentation could link in with the lyrics which would show prosody. This isn't the case with the the second version of the song because the drum beat creates a nice back bone for the music which makes it nod-able making it somewhat happier for the listener. The lyrics somewhat dark nature result in a contrast between the music and lyrics.

Paul Simon is very well known for being a great songwriter, he proved this especially with his solo work which incorporated influences from world music.Peter Gabriel is well known for doing this as well, albums like So, Us and Peter Gabriel (4) feature lots of influences ranging form World Music, rock and pop. Paul Simon's album Graceland, which won a Grammy for album of the year, has major influences of World Music. You can pick up these styles within such songs like "Boy In The Bubble", "I Know What I Know", "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" and "Under African Skies". The use of wide instrumentation and unique rhythms were tools which Paul Simon mastered within this album. Paul Simon was very open minded which resulted in him creating interesting music which was critically acclaimed.