There’s a need from time to time for a break from political topics, and what better way to step away if even momentarily with something hopeful about the future of music? It just so happens that this one is about one of America’s greatest storytellers with music–singer/songwriter Paul Simon.
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He sat down with the Guardian for an interview, in which he talked about the journey he’s taken in his career since the 1960s, first as part of Simon & Garfunkel then as a solo artist, and the way a song or even a group of songs can sometimes appear out of nowhere. Simon said it happened earlier in his career, on familiar songs like “The Sound of Silence” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” and the “Graceland” album.
It was after an experience like that, the singer said, which led to his most recent collection of songs, 2023’s “Seven Psalms” record, that he suddenly noticed a problem with his hearing. It was simultaneously while documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney was making his film about Simon, “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon,” which was released on the MGM+ streaming platform in March 2024 (but might also be available on these platforms). The musician explained to Guardian interviewer Dave Simpson how it happened:
“Seven Psalms is an example of the whole [seven-part] piece coming to me in a unique way,” Simon says, after I mention that he’d actually sung about how “a vision softly creeping, left its seeds while I was sleeping” as long ago as The Sound of Silence. “I think there’s a connection between who I was as a kid, and my subconscious, and who I am now. It was very interesting and really quite pleasurable for a long time – until my hearing loss threw me off.”
While recording, he suddenly lost most of the hearing in his left ear. Gibney finds it “extraordinarily courageous” that Simon didn’t halt filming and allowed him to present such a moment of vulnerability to the world.
“It was scary, frustrating,” Simon admits. “You’re in denial and then you’re overwhelmed by this change in your life because you now have a disability. But even though it wasn’t pleasurable any more, I started to think that this was some new information that I needed to absorb into the piece. I started to focus on sounds, not from computers or synthesisers, but acoustic instruments used in unusual ways.”
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The change in how he processed sounds, and defaulting to an acoustic style, also delayed something he had hoped to resume by now–live performances. Actually, he made a choice a few years ago to stop touring on purpose, in 2018:
In 2018, five years before Seven Psalms, Simon toured for the last time and was reportedly retiring. “I never said I was going to retire,” he says now, with a gentle New York accent. “I said I was going to stop, which I did. I thought that with that band and the repertoire we were doing we’d developed it as far as we could. It was enjoyable, but I wanted to find out what happens when you stop.”
Now, he says he is “optimistic” he might be able to resume “full-length” live shows:
The hearing loss precludes playing with a full band, but he is finding ways to perform acoustically. Two weeks ago, he played seven songs with two guitarists at a fundraiser for the Stanford Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss, his longest performance in five years. “I’m hoping to eventually be able to do a full-length concert,” he says. “I’m optimistic. Six months ago I was pessimistic.
Simon cautioned that he has other goals first, like “relearning” songwriting, and added that fans shouldn’t expect to see him in massive arenas, once he is back playing live:
He says he has no interest in developing the “extraordinary stadium spectaculars” of some of his contemporaries. “I’m interested in relearning how to write songs, like I did in England, and developing new acoustic sounds.”
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Here’s the trailer for “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon,” courtesy of the Madman Films YT channel. Enjoy!