Artist News Releases

Paul Simon revisits old songs on new album

By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 13 July 2018

Currently out on his farewell tour, before retiring from life on the road, Paul Simon has announced a new album. ‘In The Blue Light’ will feature new versions of some of Simon’s personal favourites from his back catalogue. Most – the official announcement concedes – are “less-familiar” songs from the musician’s oeuvre.

“This album consists of songs that I thought were almost right, or were odd enough to be overlooked the first time around”, he says. “Re-doing arrangements, harmonic structures and lyrics that didn’t make their meaning clear, gave me time to clarify in my own head what I wanted to say, or realise what I was thinking and make it more easily understood”.

“It’s an unusual occurrence for an artist to have the opportunity to re-visit earlier works and re-think them; to modify, even completely change parts of the originals”, he adds of the project, which also involved plenty of musical collaborators. “Happily, this opportunity also gave me the gift of playing with an extraordinary group of musicians, most of whom I hadn’t recorded with before. I hope the listener will find these new versions of old songs refreshed, like a new coat of paint on the walls of an old family home”.

The album pulls together solo songs by Simon dating back to 1973, all the way up to 2011. Here’s the full tracklist:

1. One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man’s Floor
2. Love
3. Can’t Run But
4. How The Heart Approaches What It Yearns
5. Pigs, Sheep And Wolves
6. René And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War
7. The Teacher
8. Darling Lorraine
9. Some Folks’ Lives Roll Easy
10. Questions For The Angels