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The Paul Simon Songbook (1965)

Where the lyrics of The Paul Simon Songbook take you, and where it was really made.

The album was made in London because Simon's earlier record had never been released in Britain, and its brief 1969 US release was recalled within days.

Key places

Levy's Recording Studio, London (1965)

Recording site Wild Bunch Studios (London) — Simon recorded the album here over several dates in June 1965, singing alone to his own acoustic guitar. The pin shows London city centre. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• The Paul Simon Songbook: debut solo studio album by Paul Simon
• Released in the UK in 1965 by CBS
• Features Simon alone, singing to his own acoustic guitar accompaniment
• Contains two re-recordings from Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. (1964)
• Nine other songs were later re-recorded by Simon & Garfunkel on Sounds of Silence and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
• Brief US release in 1969, recalled within a few days
• Released on CD in 2004

Background

• Simon & Garfunkel's debut Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. did not succeed in the US
• Simon moved to London and performed in coffeehouses there
• His coffeehouse following eventually led to a performance at the BBC
• Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. had not been released in Britain, so this album was recorded to meet UK demand
• Simon's deal with Columbia Records allowed him to record for the British equivalent, CBS
• Before this, his only recordings available in Britain were three singles on various labels
• Two of those singles were rock and roll recordings with Art Garfunkel under the name Tom & Jerry
• The third, He Was My Brother backed with Carlos Dominguez, was released under the name Paul Kane
• Carlos Dominguez was licensed in London and recorded by Val Doonican without Simon's knowledge
• During 1965 Simon also played in Paris, Haarlem and Copenhagen, along with London and other UK locations

Recording

• Recorded at Levy's Recording Studio, New Bond Street, London, over several dates in June 1965
• Two songs, The Sound of Silence and He Was My Brother, were re-recordings of songs from Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.
• Nine other songs were later re-recorded by Simon & Garfunkel
• The lyrics of The Side of a Hill were later reworked and sung as counterpoint to Scarborough Fair on Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

Cover

• The cover shows Simon and his then-girlfriend Kathy Chitty sitting on London streets, holding wooden figurines
• In the 1970s the picture was flipped horizontally
• The red script-like lettering was replaced by a white block-print title at the top
• Discogs release notes list the sleeve as a flipback

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Paul Simon (born October 13, 1941, Newark, New Jersey) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.
• He met Art Garfunkel in elementary school in 1953 and they became known as Simon & Garfunkel in the 1960s.
• The duo's folk-rock hits such as "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", "America" and "The Boxer" defined the 1960s counterculture.
• Their final album, Bridge over Troubled Water (1970), is among the best-selling albums of all time.

Career

• As a solo artist, Simon explored gospel, reggae, soul and world music.
• Paul Simon (1972), There Goes Rhymin' Simon (1973) and Still Crazy After All These Years (1975) drew acclaim and hits such as "Mother and Child Reunion" and "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover".
• Graceland (1986), incorporating South African influences, became his most successful and acclaimed album.
• He wrote the Broadway musical The Capeman (1998), which was poorly received.
• His later albums include You're the One (2000), So Beautiful or So What (2011), Stranger to Stranger (2016) and Seven Psalms (2023).
• He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice and won 16 Grammy Awards.

Honors

• He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001 and the first Library of Congress Gershwin Prize in 2007.
• He co-founded the Children's Health Fund, a nonprofit providing medical care to children.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Released in the UK in 1965 by CBS
• Yielded the single I Am a Rock backed with Leaves That Are Green
• US issue by Columbia in 1969 was recalled within a few days after Simon objected

Reappraisal

• Simon's 1965 liner notes say some of the songs were ones he would not write today
• The same notes say the songs played an important role in the transition of his career
• Nine songs were later re-recorded by Simon & Garfunkel

Records

• The album was re-released on LP in 1981 in the Columbia Collected Works boxed set
• It was released on CD in 2004 by Columbia/Legacy
• The mono CD adds two bonus tracks, alternate versions of I Am a Rock and A Church Is Burning
• The bonus tracks were not part of the original 1965 LP release

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The Paul Kane name Simon used was taken from his liking for the film Citizen Kane
• In Japan the album came out in 1969 under the title Simon Before Garfunkel, with a monochrome photo of Simon on the cover
• Simon's 1965 liner notes for the album state that some songs were ones he would not write today
• The lyrics of The Side of a Hill and Canticle are absent from Simon's 2008 book Lyrics 1964-2008
• The album was issued in the UK first because Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. had not been released there

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ja.wikipedia.org

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