PAUL SIMON’S RETURN TO GRACE
While Bob Dylan was calling a heartless world to repentance in the ’60s, Paul Simon was more concerned with the state of his own heart...and intellect. Dylan was awed by the dustbowl laments of Woody Guthrie and initially rendered harsh blues songs, but the ever-literate Simon was mentioning Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost in lyrics crafted with almost academic deliberation.
PAUL SIMON’S RETURN TO GRACE
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by Glenn A. Baker
While Bob Dylan was calling a heartless world to repentance in the ’60s, Paul Simon was more concerned with the state of his own heart...and intellect. Dylan was awed by the dustbowl laments of Woody Guthrie and initially rendered harsh blues songs, but the ever-literate Simon was mentioning Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost in lyrics crafted with almost academic deliberation. “I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why,” he cried in “America.” In the ’80s, he mused: “I am young, in good health and famous. I have talent, I have money. Given all these things, I want to know why I’m so unhappy.”