Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter.
Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles charts, "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", and "Bridge Over Troubled Water". In 1970, at the height of their popularity, the duo split, and Simon began a successful solo career, recording three highly-acclaimed albums over the next five years In 1986, he released Graceland, an album inspired by South African township music that helped fuel the anti-apartheid movement.[3] Besides music, Simon wrote and starred in the film One Trick Pony in 1980 and co-wrote the Broadway musical The Capeman in 1998.
Through his solo and collaborative work, Simon has earned 13 Grammys, including the Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame[6] and in 2006 was selected as one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World" by Time magazine. Among many other honors, Simon was named the first recipient of the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2007.
Birth name Paul Frederic Simon
Born October 13, 1941 (age 69)
Origin Newark, New Jersey,
United States
Genres Folk rock, folk-pop, rock, world
Occupations Singer-songwriter, musician, record producer
Instruments Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, piano, percussion
Years active 1957–present
Labels Columbia (1964-1977, 2010-present [catalog])
Warner Bros. (1978-2009)
Hear Music (2010-present [new releases])
Associated acts Simon & Garfunkel
1. 50 WAYS TO LEAVE YOUR LOVER
The problem is all inside your head she said to me
The answer is easy if you take it logically
I'd like to help you in your struggle to be free
There must be fifty ways to leave your lover
She said it's really not my habit to intrude
Furthermore
I hope my meaning won't be lost or misconstrued
But I'll repeat myself at the risk of being crude
There must be fifty ways to leave your lover
Fifty ways to leave your lover
You just slip out the back
Jack
Make a new plan
Stan
You don't need to be coy
Roy
Just get yourself free
Hop on the bus
Gus
You don't need to discuss much
Just drop off the key
Lee
And get yourself free
You just slip out the back
Jack
. . .
She said it grieves me so to see you in such pain
I wish there was something I could do to make you smile again
I said I appreciate that and would you please explain
About the fifty ways
She said why don't we both just sleep on it tonight
And I believe in the morning you'll begin to see the light
And then she kissed me and I realized she probably was right
There must be fifty ways to leave your lover
Fifty ways to leave your lover
You just slip out the back
Jack
. . .
VIDEO
2. LOVE ME LIKE A ROCK
When I was a little boy
(when I was just a boy)
And the devil would call my name
(when I was just a boy)
I'd say "now who do (who)
Who do you think you're fooling?"
(when I was just a boy)
I'm a consecrated boy
(when I was just a boy)
I'm a singer in a sunday choir
Oh, my mama loves, she loves me
(chorus)
She get down on her knees and hug me
Like she loves me like a rock
She rocks me like the rock of ages
And loves me
She love me, love me, love me, love me
When I was grown to be a man
(grown to be a man)
And the devil would call my name
(grown to be a man)
I'd say "now who do (who)
Who do you think you're fooling?"
(grown to be a man)
I'm a consummated man
(grown to be a man)
I can snatch a little purity
My mama loves me, she loves me
(chorus)
And if I was president
(was the president)
The minute congress call my name
(was the president)
I'd say "who do (who)
Who do you think you're fooling?"
(who do you think you're fooling)
I've got the presidential seal
(was the president)
I'm up on the presidential podium
My mama loves me, she loves me
(chorus)
Fade out:
She love me, love me, love me, love me
(loves me like a rock)
yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
(loves me like a rock, oh baby)....
VIDEO
3. HE WAS MY BROTHER
He Was My Brother lyrics
He was my brother
Five years older than I
He was my brother
Twenty-three Years old the day he died
Freedom writer
They cursed my brother to his face
Go home outsider
This town's gonna be your buryin' place
He was singin' on his knees
An angry mob trailed along
They shot my brother dead
Because he hated what was wrong
He was my brother
Tears can't bnng him back to me
He was my brother
And he died so his brothers could be free
He died so his brothers could be free
VIDEO
4. STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS
I met my old lover
On the street last night
She seemed so glad to see me
I just smiled
And we talked about some old times
And we drank ourselves some beers
Still crazy after all these years
Oh, still crazy after all these years
I'm not the kind of man
Who tends to socialize
I seem to lean on
Old familiar ways
And I ain't no fool for love songs
That whisper in my ears
Still crazy after all these years
Oh, still crazy after all these years
Four in the morning
Crapped out, yawning
Longing my life away
I'll never worry
Why should I?
It's all gonna fade
Now I sit by my window
And I watch the cars
I fear I'll do some damage
One fine day
But I would not be convicted
By a jury of my peers
Still crazy after all these years
Oh, still crazy
Still crazy
Still crazy after all these years
VIDEO
5. SLIP SLIDIN AWAY
(chorus)
Slip slidin' away
Slip slidin' away
You know the nearer your destination
the more you're slip slidin' away
I know a man
He came from my home town
He wore his passion for his woman
like a thorny crown
He said "Delores,
I live in fear
My love for you's so overpowering
I'm afraid that I will disappear"
(chorus)
I know a woman
Became a wife
These are the very words she uses
to describe her life
She said a good day
ain't got no rain
She said a bad day's when I lie in bed
And think of things that might have been
(chorus)
And I know a father
who had a son
He longed to tell him all the reasons
for the things he'd done
He came a long way
just to explain
He kissed his boy as he lay sleeping
then he turned around and headed home again
(chorus)
God only knows
God makes his plan
The information's unavailable
to the mortal man
We work our jobs
collect our pay
Believe we're gliding down the highway
when in fact we're slip slidin' away
(chorus 2x)
Mmm mmm mmm
Hoh woh woh woh woh
woh woh woh ooh woh woh...
VIDEO
6. ACE IN THE HOLE
Some people say Jesus that's the ace in the hole
But I never met the man so l don't really know
Maybe some Christmas if I'm sick and alone
He will look up my number
Call me on the phone and say :
Hey, boy, where you been so long
Don't you know me
I'm your ace in the hole
Two hundred dollars, that's my ace in the hole
When I'm down, dirty and desperate
That's my emergency bank roll (I got . . .)
Two hundred dollars, that's the price on the street
If you wanna get some quality
That's the price you got to meet (and the man says...)
Hey, Junior, where you been so long
Don't you know me
I'm your ace in the hole
(talk about ace in the hole)
Once I was crazy and my ace in the hole
Was that I knew that I was crazy
So I never lost my self-control
I just walk in the middle of the road
I sleep in the middle of the bed
I stop in the middle of a sentence
And the voice in the middle of my head said
Hey, Junior, where you been so long
Don't you know me
I'm your ace in the hole (oh yeah)
Ace in the hole
Lean on me
Don't you know me
I'm your guarantee
Riding on this rolling bus
Beneath a stormy sky
With a slow moon rising
And the smokestacks driving by
In the hour when the heart is weakest
And the memory is strong
When time has stopped
But the bus just rolls along
Roll on, roll on
Roll on, roll on
Roll on, roll on
Some people say music that's their ace in the hole
Just your ordinary rhythm and blues
Your basic rock and roll
You can sit on the top of the beat
You can lean on the side of the beat
You can hang from the bottom of the beat
But you got to admit that the music is sweet
Where you been so long
Don't you know me l m your ace in the hole (oh yeah)
Ace in the hole
Lean on me
Don't you know me
I'm your guarantee
Some people say music that's their ace in the hole
Just your ordinary rhythm and blues
Your basic rock and roll
You can sit on the top of the beat
You can lean on the side of the beat
You can hang from the bottom of the beat
But you gotta admit that the music is sweet
Hey, Junior, I'm your ace in the hole
Hey, Junior, I'm your ace in the hole
Hey, Junior, I'm your ace in the hole
Hey, Junior, I'm your ace in the hole
VIDEO
7. HEARTS AND BONES
One and one-half wandering Jews
Free to wander wherever they choose
Are travelling together
In the Sangre de Cristo
The Blood of Christ Mountains
Of New Mexico
On the last leg of the journey
They started a long time ago
The arc of a love affair
Rainbows in the high desert air
Mountain passes slipping into stones
Hearts and bones
Hearts and bones
Hearts and bones
Thinking back to the season before
Looking back through the cracks in the door
Two people were married
The act was outrageous
The bride was contagious
She burned like a bride
These events may have had some effect
On the man with the girl by his side
The arc of a love affair
His hands rolling down her hair
Love like lightning shaking till it moans
Hearts and bones
Hearts and bones
Hearts and bones
And whoa whoa whoa
She said:
Why?
Why don't we drive through the night
We'll wake up down in Mexico
Oh I
I don't know nothin' about nothin' about
No Mexico
And tell me why
Why won't you love me
For who I am
Where I am
He said:
'Cause that's not the way the world is baby
This is how I love you, baby
This is how I love you, baby
One and one-half wandering Jews
Return to their natural coasts
To resume old acquaintances
Step out occasionally
And speculate who had been damaged the most
Easy time will determine if these consolations
Will be their reward
The arc of a love affair
Waiting to be restored
You take two bodies and you twirl them into one
Their hearts and their bones
And they won't come undone
Hearts and bones
Hearts and bones
Hearts and bones
Hearts and bones
VIDEO
8. 10 YEARS[OPRAH WINFREY SHOW 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY THEME]
You are moving on a crowded street
Through various shades of people
In the summers harshest heat
A story in your eye
Well, speak until your minds at ease
Ten years come and gone so fast
I might as well be dreaming
Sunny days have burned a path
Across another season
A fortune rises to the sky
Ten years come and gone so fast
You are driving down an empty road
Beside a shady river
When the sky turns dark as stone
The trees begin to shiver
The grace of God is nigh
Ten years come and gone
And that flash has never been forgotten
Sunny days have burned a path
Across another season
How do the powerless survive
Ten years come and gone so fast
And if you look into your future life
Ten years from this question
Do you imagine a familiar light
Burning in the distance
The love that never died
Ten years come and gone so fast
I might as well be dreaming
Sunny days have burned a path
Across another season
Ten years come and gone so fast
Sunny days have burned a path
VIDEO
9. EVERYTHING ABOUT IT IS A LOVE SONG.
Locked in a struggle for the right combination -
Of words in a melody line,
I took a walk along the riverbank of my imagination.
Golden clouds were shuffling the sunshine.
But if I ever get back to the twentieth century,
Guess I'll have to pay off some debts.
Open the book of my vanishing memory,
With it's catalogue of regrets.
Stand up for the deeds I did, and those I didn't do.
Sit down, shut up, think about God,
And wait for the hour of my rescue.
We don't mean to mess things up,
But mess them up we do.
And then it's "Oh, I'm sorry."
Here's a smiling photograph
Of love when it was new.
At a birthday party.
Make a wish and close your eyes:
Surprise, surprise, surprise.
Early December, and brown as a sparrow,
Frost creeping over the pond.
I shoot a thought into the future,
And it flies like an arrow, through my liftime.
And beyond.
If I ever come back as a tree, or a crow,
Or even the wind-blown dust;
Find me on the ancient road
In the song when the wires are hushed.
Hurry on and remember me,
As I'll remember you.
Far above the golden clouds,
The darkness vibrates.
The earth is blue.
And everything about it is a love song.
Everything about it.
Everything about it is a love song.
Everything about it.
Everything about it is a love song.
VIDEO cecilia
10. FLOWERS NEVER BEND WITH THE RAINFALL
Through the corridors of sleep
Past the shadows dark and deep
My mind dances and leaps in confusion.
I don't know what is real,
I can't touch what I feel
And I hide behind the shield of my illusion.
So I'll continue to continue to pretend
My life will never end,
And Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall.
The mirror on my wall
Casts an image dark and small
But I'm not sure at all it's my reflection.
I am blinded by the light
Of God and truth and right
And I wander in the night without direction.
So I'll continue to continue to pretend
My life will never end,
And Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall.
It's no matter if you're born
To play the King or pawn
For the line is thinly drawn 'tween joy and sorrow,
So my fantasy
Becomes reality,
And I must be what I must be and face tomorrow.
So I'll continue to continue to pretend
My life will never end,
And Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall.
VIDEO
11. ONE NIGHT STAND
[Chorus:]
You should stay another night with me
Oh woah uh huh
A one night stand is all I need
Just you and me
You should stay another night with me
Oh woah uh huh
A one night stand is all I need
[Verse 1: Keri Hilson]
Tell me how you like it baby
Do you want it fast or slow
Cos I get so excited baby
When you're taking off my clothes
Time and time again I done tried
To be the girl in your life
Boy I know you're feeling lonely
So if you want it boy
Just come over boy
And I promise you won't ever want to leave oh yeah
[Chorus]
I just want your body baby*
[Verse 2: Chris Brown]
Tell me how it feels
When your man don't please you right
And tell me how it feels after I take you on this ride?
Ooh I got the remedy girl
I'll be your fantasy girl
I'ma kiss from your head to your feet yeah
Satisfaction guaranteed woahhh
Girl I didn't come to tease ya
I just wanna please ya
Hope you like it
[Keri Hilson]
I know you wanna be loved
Maybe we can make some
Boy I think that you should stay
[Chorus]
[Outro]
You should stay another night with me
A one night stand is all I need
[Chris Brown]
Baby he aint treating you right and I know
Ha aint hittin it right that's why you need me in
Your life baby come here and let me kiss on your neck
Down to your chest, to your navel i may go all the way just stay here
Another night
VIDEO Janice Joplin
12. HOW THE HEART APPROACHES WHAT IT YEARNS
In the blue light
Of the Belvedere motel
Wondering as the television burns
How the heart approaches what it yearns
In a fever
I distinctly hear your voice
Emerging from a dream, the dream returns
How the heart approaches what it yearns
After the rain on the interstate
The headlights slide past the moon
A bone-weary traveler
Waits by the side of the road
Where's he goin?
I dream we are lying on the top of a hill
And headlights slide past the moon
I fold in your arms
And your voice is the heat of the night
I'm on fire
In a phone booth
In some local bar and grill
Rehearsing what I'll say, my coin returns
How the heart approaches what it yearns
How the heart approaches what it yearns
VIDEO
13. I DO IT FOR YOUR LOVE
We were married on a rainy day
The sky was yellow
And the grass was gray
We signed the papers
And we drove away
I do it for your love
The rooms were musty
And the pipes were old
All that winter we shared a cold
Drank all the orange juice
That we could hold
I do it for your love
Found a rug
In an old junk shop
And I brought it home to you
Along the way the colors ran
The orange bled the blue
The sting of reason
The splash of tears
The northern and the southern
Hemisphere
Love emerges and it disappears
I do it for your love
I do it for your love
VIDEO
14. LOVE
Cool me
Cool my fever high
Hold me when I cry
I need it so much
Makes you want to get down and crawl like a beggar
For it's touch
And all the while it's free as air
Like plants the medicine is everywhere
Love
Love
Love
We crave it so badly
Makes you want to laugh out loud when you receive it
And gobble it like candy
We think it's easy
Sometimes it's easy
But it's not easy
You're going to break down and cry
We're not important
We should be grateful
And if you're wondering why
Love
Love
Love
The price that we pay
When evil walks the planet
And love is crushed like clay
The master races, the chosen peoples
The burning temples, the weeping cathedrals...
VIDEO
15. PEACE LIKE A RIVER
Ah, peace like a river ran through the city
Long past the midnight curfew
We sat starry-eyed
Ooh, oh,we were satisfied
O-o-oh, when I remember
Misinformation followed us like a plague
Nobody knew from time to time
If the plans were changed
Oh, oh, oh, if the plans were changed.
You can beat us with wires
You can beat us with chains
You can run out your rules
But you know you can't outrun the history train
I seen a glorious day, aiee------
Ah, four in the morning
I woke up from out of my dreams
Nowhere to go but back to sleep
But I'm reconciled
Oh, oh, oh, I'm going to be up for a while
Oh, oh, oh, I'm going to be up for a while
Oh, oh, oh, I'm going to be up for a while
VIDEO
