I was thinking about this today as I was running: what is the single best recording of a Paul Simon song? "You Can Call Me Al" with Chevy Chase? A classic music video, but the very best is almost certainly a recording of a live performance. "Homeward Bound" with George Harrison on Saturday Night Live? Or "Still Crazy After All These Years" performed in a chicken suit on SNL? Something from the African Concert, like "Homeless" with Ladysmith Black Mambazo (recorded in Harare, Zimbabwe)? Or the Concert in the Park: "Born At The Right Time", a classic performance; "Heart and Bones " (it can make you weep to hear his plaintive voice telling his own story)? Or how about "America" with Art Garfunkel in Central Park? Or "The Boxer" from the same concert?
I had a six mile run and forgot my headphones, so I had plenty of time to think. I finally settled on "The Cool, Cool River" from The Concert In The Park. Certainly not his most famous song, but the performance, with a stage full of incredible musicians - including Steve Gadd on drums, Michael Brecker on saxophone, Richard Tee on keyboards - is stunning. Yes, Mr. Stillwater, the cool, cool river. The musicianship is amazing, but mostly it is the achievement of that magic when the performer and the audience are both fully engaged in the power of the music. The rage of love turns inward to become prayers of devotion. And even Paul Simon seems taken aback when the band jolts out of the plaintive melody and these streets, quiet as a sleeping army, send their battered dreams to - Heaven! It is one of those all too rare moments when the power of the music brings everyone to a crescendo. Rarer still, is that it was caught on tape.
So my pick is:
Paul Simon - The Cool Cool River - Central Park 1991 Live
[via FoxyTunes / Paul Simon]
And who is that wild percussionist who looks like the live version of the Muppets' Animal?
What is your Very Best of Paul Simon?
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2 comments:
"I believe in the future, we shall suffer no more. Maybe not in my lifetime, but in yours I feel sure."
I think the 1991 Concert might be the perfect concert. Rivaled only by the S&G 1981 Concert, of course. Oh, there are just so many! I'd better devote a blog to it...
And remember the August night of the 1991 Concert? It was broadcast live on cable, which we of course didn't have. So Kent and Barbara Hansen taped it for us. I think we were at their house the second the concert had finished and stayed up late to watch the whole thing.
By the way, I believe the animal drummer is Cyro Baptisto. Amy or James Pearce could confirm that. There was a time when we could rattle off any member of the band during any era from memory.
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