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Paul Simon — Love & Blessings
Album: So Beautiful or So What
Avg rating:
6.1

Your rating:
Total ratings: 964









Released: 2011
Length: 4:14
Plays (last 30 days): 2
Love and blessings
Simple kindness
Fell like rain on thirsty land
Fields and gardens
Long abandoned
Came to life in dust and sand

Lover's lips sweet as honey
Touched as if old love was new
Banker's pockets overflowing with gold and money
Prophesies of wealth come true

Bop-bop-a-whoa
Ain't no song like an old song, Charlie
Bop-bop-a-whoa
There ain't no song like an old song,
Bop-bop-a-whoa
There ain't no time like a good time Charlie
Bop-bop-a-whoa
Ain't no times like the good times, Charlie
Bop-bop-a-whoa
Whoa

Bop-bop-a-whoa
Bop-bop-a-whoa

Everywhere you look anywhere you go
Everybody working for the
Bop-bop-a-whoa
Bop-bop-a-whoa
Bop-bop-a-whoa
Can't get enough of the
Bop-bop-a-whoa
Bop-bop-a-whoa
Bop-bop-a-whoa

If the summer kept a secret
It was heaven's lack of rain
Golden days and amber sunsets
Let the scientists complain
Came the autumn, drained of color
Ghosts in the water beg for more
Maple trees just a little bit duller
Than the memory of the year before

In a word, or in an image
Something called me from my sleep
Love and blessings
Simple kindness
Ours to hold but not to keep
Comments (71)add comment
I bow down to this artist who has been a constant part of my life for 57 years. 
 BCarn wrote:

Well I like it!




I Agree! Me Too!  EXCELLENT!!  Thanx RP!  
He's still at it. Growing. He doesn't make a type of music that forces him to be stunted, stranded at a certain age, or in a certain age.
 seven7 wrote:

Always interesting and good music from Paul. A national treasure.




I Agree!  Thanx RP!   
Give the guy a break. He's given us so many gems over the years. 
 haresfur wrote:

Give that guy  a testosterone shot

(with a due respect to women, trans, intersex, and all other performers who have more rock and soul than he will ever have. It's just the only thing I could think of that might help his wilted lettuce performance)



yeah but he married edie brickell; well played there
 dwhayslett wrote:

You seem livelier than most dead people.


marginally
had to look and see if this was Paul Simon or Daniel Lanois - prefer their earlier albums but they are still working. Hey, he is 79 and this isn't bad.
Well I like it!
 AhhtheMusic wrote:
He bores me TO DEATH! 

You seem livelier than most dead people.
Give that guy  a testosterone shot

(with a due respect to women, trans, intersex, and all other performers who have more rock and soul than he will ever have. It's just the only thing I could think of that might help his wilted lettuce performance)
 gjeeg wrote:
Listeners often do not evolve along with their favorite artists.
This man masters profundity, melody, arrangement, complexity, lyric, message, style, sound, atmosphere with interwoven purity.
 

 
Ooo! Maybe there is hope for me yet - maybe I, too, am evolving ... 2 —> 3
 

To me, every song that he has put out since his classic Graceland album seems to be an attempt to duplicate that masterpiece and is a huge fail.  He bores me TO DEATH!  Paul, do something organic rather than a resurrected remix of the same old song.  There has to be more in that creative soul of yours, we have seen it!


{#Yawn} meh...

just the sort of silly, derivative Paul Simon stuff I can not stand

Enjoy!


 run4more wrote:
Who are you and what have you done with romeotuma?
 
I be the holy ghost of big stud romeotuma...  yuck... this song sux...

hope life be grand for you these days, run4more... 

I never will get over the snubbing he gave Gardunkle.  On TV years ago, when asked if they might ever get back together to do something Garfunkle said yes; Paul said no he didn't think so! What an arrogant little prick. 
Listeners often do not evolve along with their favorite artists.
This man masters profundity, melody, arrangement, complexity, lyric, message, style, sound, atmosphere with interwoven purity.
 
I feel Paul Simon discovered early on that rhythm is key, and much of his work after S&G can be seen as an exploration of rhythm. This song can be seen along those lines - he plays around with variations on a rhythmic theme - that's what ties the song together.
Technically great , but it leaves me with nothing to remember it by. It's like 5 songs mixed together. 
 hayduke2 wrote:
I'm on the fence with this piece, loving then critical along the way...Thank you all for voicing the many ways it affects you, it is an enrichment reading through them

 
this is a good comment, and more should be like it. this is a good song, and more should be like it.
Yes, and on that Something/Anything LP, Todd played all instuments by himself. He also did all the writing, singing, engineering and producing. A true wizard/real star.

 
xtalman wrote:

The music on this album is pretty bland at best and mostly recycled from his older albums but don't disparage recording in his living room.  One of Todd Rundgrens better albums was recorded in a hotel room.  It is not were it was recorded but what was recorded.



 


I do believe Paul was born to rock  {#Dance}
Give that boy a testosterone shot.
 aspicer wrote:
This is truly a wonderful album!  It really grew on me with several listens - as is often the case with innovative and provocative music!.  I suggest to any RP listener (given you are already cream of the crop) that you give it a chance.
 

Bravo!
 seven7 wrote:
Always interesting and good music from Paul. A national treasure.
 
Yep, stick him in a airtight glass soundproofed box in a museum somewhere.
This album is a grower.{#Daisy}
I'm on the fence with this piece, loving then critical along the way...Thank you all for voicing the many ways it affects you, it is an enrichment reading through them
This is truly a wonderful album!  It really grew on me with several listens - as is often the case with innovative and provocative music!.  I suggest to any RP listener (given you are already cream of the crop) that you give it a chance.
Sorry Paul, you were great. This annoying.
Always interesting and good music from Paul. A national treasure.
crazy excellent bass: guitar intro...and those sneaky, quiet drums...just what I'd expect of Paul Simon in 2011
 
Deluxe Limited Boredom
   What ? # 3
 sonofsun wrote:
I really despise this song, it sounds like a 5 year old wrote it. The lyrics are absolutely dreadful.

If you can't do better than this please retire Paul.


 


Funny, a month ago you wrote it sounded like a 3-year old. Perhaps in a few more months you'll grow up enough to realize it's a song for grown-ups.
At this point, the only thing that Paul Simon has to compete with is his younger self. And this doesn't really match up.
I really despise this song, it sounds like a 5 year old wrote it. The lyrics are absolutely dreadful.

If you can't do better than this please retire Paul.


I like it!
 fredriley wrote:
That has to be the most insipid and tired "ba-bap-ba-woo" I've ever heard. If I ever suffer from insomnia I'll put this album on loop in my bedroom and I'll soon be claimed by the arms of Morpheus {#Sleep}
 

Yea, it's a shame too because other than that irritating chorus, I kinda like this song.
So What, indeed!

This is a flat on the face failure for me.
 fredriley wrote:
That has to be the most insipid and tired "ba-bap-ba-woo" I've ever heard. If I ever suffer from insomnia I'll put this album on loop in my bedroom and I'll soon be claimed by the arms of Morpheus {#Sleep}
 
I think this is too annoying to put me to sleep; it's more like a mosquito buzzing around or a faucet dripping when you're trying to go to sleep.  He's written so many great songs that I guess there have to be some clunkers now and then.
or so what for me
 idavido wrote:
Paul Simon has written many of my favorite songs - this is not one of them.
 
  there are better album covers out there - and this isn't one of them.

Paul Simon has written many of my favorite songs - this is not one of them.
I think I'm in the "so what" group. . . 
This song gets more annoying the more I hear it. Hopefully some of the other songs on this album are better as I generally like Paul Simon's music a lot.
 unclelonghair wrote:
I have always found it somewhat incongruous and funny that ones of the whitest white dudes in music tries to draw from African, African-American, and roots music.
 

I have always foung wonderful the fact that music goes behond frontiers or skin color
 unclelonghair wrote:
I have always found it somewhat incongruous and funny that ones of the whitest white dudes in music tries to draw from African, African-American, and roots music.
 
Tries?????????
 unclelonghair wrote:
I have always found it somewhat incongruous and funny that ones of the whitest white dudes in music tries to draw from African, African-American, and roots music.
The successful pairing of Judaic and African creative backgrounds has a long, productive history. Jazz owes as much to Klezmer as it does African tribal tradition. A good study on the early days of soul music here, and an interesting radio piece on the same subject here.

 unclelonghair wrote:
I have always found it somewhat incongruous and funny that ones of the whitest white dudes in music tries to draw from African, African-American, and roots music.
 

Just read in the paper today that Paul Simon advocated against the Grammy Awards' deletion of many of its ethnic and world music categories. So he walks his talk.
Not his best song but still a very good song and the sound of his voice just makes me happy.
A "Ho-Hum" song if there ever was one.
Lowering this by yet another point. I like the way it starts off with some promise of a good song but when that faux do wap whatever kicks in, yuck...Sounds like a car battery going dead while turning the starter...

That has to be the most insipid and tired "ba-bap-ba-woo" I've ever heard. If I ever suffer from insomnia I'll put this album on loop in my bedroom and I'll soon be claimed by the arms of Morpheus {#Sleep}
He doesn’t try he does.
He is a musician who has always had
clear influences from percussionists around the world.
So is David Byrne and others.
Their compositions are the richer for it.
And we are fortunate to have them in our world.

unclelonghair wrote:
I have always found it somewhat incongruous and funny that ones of the whitest white dudes in music tries to draw from African, African-American, and roots music.
 


 romeotuma wrote:


I have reached my conclusion... yuck... this song sux...

 
 
Who are you and what have you done with romeotuma?

 romeotuma wrote:


The lyrics make for an interesting poem— some profundity and some beautiful concrete images...  but the music is tepid, and yes, it sounds like it was recorded in the studio in his living room...

I am not going to rate it yet...  but I am not passing any absolute judgement yet...  it is interesting... 

 
Wow.. I'm really impressed Romeo. I'll await judgement as well. But the title song is definitly a winner!!.


 romeotuma wrote:


 but the music is tepid, and yes, it sounds like it was recorded in the studio in his living room...


 
The music on this album is pretty bland at best and mostly recycled from his older albums but don't disparage recording in his living room.  One of Todd Rundgrens better albums was recorded in a hotel room.  It is not were it was recorded but what was recorded.


I have always found it somewhat incongruous and funny that ones of the whitest white dudes in music tries to draw from African, African-American, and roots music.
This album and Adele 21 are the best albums of 2011 so far.
Just got this album and love it.  Paul Simon is truly an American treasure and one of the greatest song writers of all time.  Treat yourself to this musical gem. ;o)
I haven't heard the typewriter played that well since Cheap Thrills!
Just picked this CD up - great variety of guitar plucking... sweet!

Thanks for being, Paul...

{#Cowboy}
Me, too. Music man-crush.
Paul, I love you man.