Do you believe Paul Simon when, in "Late in the Evening", he describes how he returns to the club after smoking a "J" and proceeds to turn up his amp and "[blow] that room away"?

Maybe the former made his belief in the latter actually occuring possible. I suppose that could explain the whole thing.

Well, maybe it was. In which case, maybe "blow that room away" is a misleading euphemism of "cleared the room".

Either way, I haven't heard that song in 20 yrs and remember very few of the lyrics.

Give him a break.

umm

what rhymes with 'joint'?

"don't i know you from the cinematographer's party?"
"who am i to blow against the wind?"

so there.

does he do the picking on his first solo record? i always presumed he hired someone to do all that blues picking.

I've gone my whole life thinking it was "underage in this funky bar," and I'm sticking to it. So long as he's pretending he blew the room away, let's go ahead and say he's the sort to refer to a seemingly offbeat or countercultural happening as "funky." But... amateurist is right - the song is DEFINITELY in character as Jonah, although I'm sure Simon had fun indulging in the character. I think it's safe to say that if he were seriously going for autobiography here the whole thing would be structured differently; you'd get him with Art, having learned not to "play some lead guitar" but to harmonize, etc.

Can anyone who's seen One-Trick Pony comment on the role of the song in the film? I have it in my head that he's a washed-up folkie and that "Late In The Evening" is his big, slickly-produced comeback single...in which case a self-congratulatory, cred-hyping reference to his past room-blowing is a dead-on bit of pastiche. Simon OTM.

does he do the picking on his first solo record? i always presumed he hired someone to do all that blues picking.

Liner notes suggest he deserves at least some credit - he's sole guitarist on "Duncan," "Everything Put Together Falls Apart," "Peace Like a River," "Papa Hobo," "Hobo's Blues," and "Congratulations." None of those feature any of the really elaborate "it's bluesy!" stuff - although "Duncan"'s playing is certainly lovely enough for the song, as usual. All the rest of the songs have at least one additional guitarist. Of course, that's not to say that he couldn't blow a room away - but it would be hard to expect him to be executing all that finger-pickin' stuff and simultaneously rambling out his heartfelt rhymes.

About time.

lol, this thread almost rivals

wtf bbcode?

hold on...

the thread going by this title, "Did you really feel "welcomed" to the jungle by axl rose, or do you think that was sort of just insincere, halfhearted graciousness?"

sorry, can't be arsed struggling w/bbcode weirdness

song "oh marion" from this album is A+

the verse in question refers to being "underage in a smoky bar," so if it's supposed to be Simon's personal memory that puts it somewhere around, say, 1962 (NY had an 18 drinking age then), which means that it wouldn't have taken Yngwie Malmstein to blow anyone away.

Exactamundo. "Hey, dig that stoned teenager with the riffs, man. I'll give it up. (clap clap clap). OK, who's break is it?"

Woah - I totally opened and read this thread this morning before it was revived.

Actually, the line that's suspect is
"The first thing I remember, I was lying in my bed
I couldntve been no more than one or two"
It would be very unusual for someone to clearly recall events from so young an age. Also, why's he always talking about his Mom in every song?

i bet paul gets down when he gets high. i dont know who you guys need to doubt the man. that song rules.

xpost My earliest memory is much like that one. I was in my parents bed, my mum asleep and breathing on me through her nose. So I grabbed the tip of her nose and she flinched and moved. I couln't turn myself over. So, I'd be around 6 months old.

I bet she laughed the way some ladies do.

My earliest memory is smoking a J.

I think she would have been cross.

wow lou reed is one trick pony?? really?!

yeah, sing/talking. That's it.

Do you believe Paul "Al" Simon when he says he knows someone named Betty who, when she calls him, calls him a name other than "Paul?"

Paul: "Betty!"
Peggy: "Paul?"

He & his then wife Peggy threw a party and the famous conductor Pierre Boulez attended. As Boulez left he turned to Simon and remarked "Great party Al! Say hello to Betty".

It seems odd that he wrote this song, or at least recorded it, some years after he was divorced from Peggy and was remarried.

As to the thread topic, I believe him. It's a question of perspective. Maybe Paul doesn't blow rooms in the same manner as you and I.

>The first thing I remember, I was lying in my bed
I couldntve been no more than one or two"

isn't it "IT couldn't have been no more than one or two", IE, in the morning?

this song is great

I remember hearing "Late In The Evening" as a child and thinking the "smoked myself a J" line was quite risque. The local radio station caught on, too, because the next time I head it, the second verse was edited to "...I was underage in this smoky bar and I turned my amp up loud and I began to play!" Which is kind of the radio version of "flip you, melonfarmer."

I really like the Paul Simon songs that cover years of memories and information, like this one and, more recently, "Darling Lorraine" and "Old". This one has a great structure: his very first memory; his first memory of playing successfully in front of other people; his memory of falling in love, all centered on the music that was playing in the background at the time.

Also that it has a blues structure until it goes all Latin.

jay

as in "jaint".

this album is great, 'oh marion' is a straight up classic

^^^

and also "God Bless the Absentee." "How the Heart Approaches What It Yearns" is easily overlooked but should be way up there in the chilled-out 70s Rhodes late-night Paul Simon album track canon.

No fucking way PS was cranking that shit beyond 3

Remember, this is the same dude who wrote fucking “sound of silence”

This is a dude who smokes a “j” and goes off into a corner and writes some sensitive shit

And when I came back to the room
Everybody just seemed to move
And I echoed in the wells of silence

"blew paul simon off the stage"

2 results (0.31 seconds)

"blew paul simon"

9 results (0.20 seconds)

"The first thing I remember, I was lying in my bed 
I couldntve been no more than one or two"

isn't it "IT couldn't have been no more than one or two", IE, in the morning?

― BATTAGS, Friday, 22 February 2008 18:47 (ten years ago) Bookmark Flag Post

This!

Late in the Evening« see all songsLyrics:

First thing I remember
I was lying in my bed
Couldn’t’ve been no more
Than one or two
I remember there’s a radio
Comin’ from the room next door
And my mother laughed
The way some ladies do
When it’s late in the evening
And the music’s seeping through

The next thing I remember
I am walking down the street
I’m feeling all right
I’m with my boys
I’m with my troops, yeah
And down along the avenue
Some guys were shootin’ pool
And I heard the sound of a cappella groups, yeah
Singing late in the evening
And all the girls out on the stoops, yeah

Then I learned to play some lead guitar
I was underage in this funky bar
And I stepped outside to smoke myself a “J”
And when I came back to the room
Everybody just seemed to move
And I turned my amp up loud and began to play
And it was late in the evening
And I blew that room away

First thing I remember
When you came into my life
I said, “I’m gonna get that girl
No matter what I do”
Well, I guess I’d been in love before
And once or twiceI’d been on the floor
But I never loved no one
The way I loved you
And it was late in the evening
And all the music seeping through

© 1980 Words and Music by Paul Simon

I've misunderstood this lyrics for 30 years...

I just put this album on. Original 79 pressing. The lyrics are printed on the inner sleeve. In contrast to the lyrics from Paul Simon's website, above, the first verse is given as follows, including grammatically incorrect use of "of".

The first thing I remember
I was lying in my bed
I couldn't of been no more
Than one or two
I remember there's a radio
Comin' from the room next door
And my mother laughed
The way some ladies do
When it's late in the evening
And the music's seeping through

Grammatical inaccuracies are not something I'd associate with Paul Simon

I guess I don’t believe Simon ever since he redacted/photoshopped any picture of him smoking.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/beatles-bruce-smoked-out-20030304

Paul Simon rules

I wonder if Jordan Sarge ever heard this album

when i saw him play this live two weeks ago he subbed "rhythm guitar" for "lead guitar" which is a decent lol as far as simon goes