Paul Simon is trending and it's because @NBCNews decided to drag him.
Paul Simon is a better musician, a better lyricist and a better activist than Bob Dylan. That doesn't make Dylan less, but Simon is hardly a musical footnote, Dylan's successes notwithstanding.
Paul Simon is a better musician, a better lyricist and a better activist than Bob Dylan. That doesn't make Dylan less, but Simon is hardly a musical footnote, Dylan's successes notwithstanding.
It's an odd choice of attack for a music writer, imo. Those of us who were kids in counter-culture homes like mine with parents of Simon and Dylan's generation found all that music compelling as we became budding activists at our parents' knees.
But to assert Simon is unmemorable because "he hasn't had a hit in over a decade" (when was Dylan's last hit?)seems facile. There may be reasons to raise eyebrows over both men's personal lives, but both their music was part of a cultural shift. To say otherwise feels capricious.
And perhaps this is a citation some will groan over, but Bernie chose Paul Simon's America for an exceedingly powerful political ad. That is a hauntingly beautiful song that still resonates 50yrs later. Footnote or not.
Blowin' in the Wind, Bridge Over Troubled Water--two iconic American classics. Also Highway 61, Mrs. Robinson. But Simon's A Simple Desultory Phillipic is one of the best diss tracks in history. Simon doesn't just mimic Dylan's voice, he even adds the harmonica. You gotta laugh.
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