☼⊕☼⊕☼ ILM Artist Poll #15: PAUL SIMON - VOTING THREAD ☼⊕☼⊕☼

Rank your top 20 Paul Simon tracks. If he sang on it, wrote it, produced it, w/e, it counts.

normal scoring: 1:40, 2:36, 3:33, 4:30, 5:28, 6:26, 7:25, 8:24, 9:23, 10:22, 11:21, 12:20, 13:19, 14:18, 15:17, 16:16, 17:15, 18:14, 19:13, 20:12.

Send your ballots to specficpoll @ gmail.com w/o the spaces obv (it seemed wasteful somehow to generate another ilx poll related account). Deadline is 10:00 a.m. EST friday march 16th. results will start the following monday.

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/img/music2/paulmuppets.jpg

this guy

With five or fewer exceptions, my ballot will probably be all S&G.

Up for this. Been jamming him all week, and loving it.

artist polls that get my vote: timbaland, paul simon

psyched for this

haha those are the two that ive voted in as well

Will vote in this one, probably close to the deadline -- I want to get some research listening in.

The great thing is that he doesn't have that huge a discography, and his albums are all pretty short, so I've got all acquainted in about three days. James Brown he ain't.

He's another one (like Bowie) who's kept the quality a lot higher than you'd maybe think.

ooh this will be a good one. the Bowie one doesn't interest me so much since the ALL 70s results are kind of a foregone conclusion.

whereas the different periods of Simon's career (S&G, solo 70s, Graceland-era) are all very different and littered with gems. Picking a number one is gonna be sort of impossible.

I'm off the Simon bandwagon by '76 so this isn't too tough. Love him before then, but something doesn't click with me afterwards.

^ Yes xp. I've got about fifteen 'must's to go on my ballot; depending on whether I vote by lyric, melody, craft, playing, mood, humour, vocal, story, arrangement, etc, virtually any of them could be my no.1

I'm off the Simon bandwagon by '76 so this isn't too tough

?! wtf

have you seen One Trick Pony?

I'm not gonna bother asking if you've heard Graceland, assume you have yr reasons for hating it

I nominate "When Numbers Get Serious" for the results thread title.

I've seen One Trick Pony, owned Hearts and Bones and Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints, and have heard the last two a few times. As i get older I just find something a bit off about his later work; l think he's trying to hard or something.

I'd buy de-simonized versions of Graceland and Rhythm, as some of the backing tracks are amazing.

I adore those records but I do kinda get what you mean. When I'm trying to do my ordering by songwriting, the Graceland cuts slip a bit. I wasn't expecting that.

I know/knew his work pretty well, but no time to relisten.

With five or fewer exceptions, my ballot will probably be all S&G.

Same here. Not a knock on his solo work (I only know a couple of albums' worth) but a tribute to how much I loved S&G as a teenager.

You should put a ballot together for this one, Morbs. Lots less contentiousness on these musical artist polls than the film polls. xp

I suppose we could argue about what is/is not an actual Paul Simon song lol

You should put a ballot together for this one, Morbs. Lots less contentiousness on these musical artist polls than the film polls.

Is that what's called a tautology?

Ooh I like this, I wanna play! I think I kind of drop off Paul Simon after Graceland, but I'm def going to dig back and relisten.

The last album was damn vital.

yah my only real hope for this poll - other than that lots of ppl vote in it - is that we get a really broad crosssection of simon's career from his earliest tom & jerry stuff to the most recent lp

the tom & jerry stuff is pretty tough to listen to, as I recall.

As long as "Song About The Moon" makes the top five.

i dont really like the tom & jerry stuff but shit like 'lone teen ranger' or 'play me a sad song' are total jamz

If The Obvious Child doesn't place very, very high it will be a crying shame. For my money that's the best song he's ever written, and ever will write.

Wow wow wow this is going to be REALLY HARD to write my ballot for it - I never realized S&G would be fair game! And I assume "Red Rubber Ball" will place! Man oh man though. I could easily fill two ballots with just Simon solo stuff. Love this guy.

Voted! I could easily have given you a different 20 and not felt bad about it. How I love this guy.

Ballot sent. Ended up an even split between S&G and solo Simon.

gonna vote in this! will work something up soon.

will I be alone in reaping for Capeman tracks? I love "Born in Puerto Rico" & "Killer Wants To Go To College II".

er repping

No, I voted for one of those.

nothing after '76 on mine, as I explained upthread.

dang this is hard!

For your consideration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1DJDnddsbU

Threads to read before voting (because in them I rep for minor One-Trick Pony and Hearts and Bones tracks):

Paul Simon: "Hearts And Bones" C/D?
http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?action=showall&boardid=41&threadid=31830

and, in case you might somehow forget any of these (I guess "Slip Slidin' Away" is easy to miss, not being on an album):

no need to be coy roy: the PAUL SIMON '70s SINGLES poll

and by that i mean, basically, be sure to check out "Oh Marion" and "God Bless the Absentee." Tough to find room in a 20-line ballot, but still.

feel like I should familiarize myself with the post-Graceland stuff before I vote, might take a little while

Rhythm of the Saints is definitely worth getting to know...it's hard to feel close to it a la Graceland, but the best songs on it are awesome - see POLL paul simon - the rhythm of the saints

I have tried and tried to get into Capeman - there's some strong tunes and interesting lyrical moments buried in there but man, what an inaccessible piece of work.

The later ones I really have no idea, I Spotified the last one when it came out and quite enjoyed it for two listens and then completely forgot about it. I should pick that up again.

OMG SO EXCITED YOU GUYS

i would like everyone to consider voting for every song on Paul Simon

where is plax?

the bits I've heard of the last couple were really good, I've just been lazy about picking them up. There was some song about his new daughter that I heard while (oddly) teaching my daughter to swim so it sort of hit me on a gut/sentimental level (which is really one of Simon's key strengths as a songwriter imho)

also just gonna come out and say this now - while I am a huge fan of his 70s solo work, I find it pretty much on par with Lou Reed's in terms of the crap/gems to ratio

They're really good. His weakest albums are a couple of the S&G ones imo.

Yeah, for me nostalgia favors the hell out of Graceland - I mean, there were basically three cassettes in steady rotation in my household growing up, and those were this album, Billy Joel's Greatest Hits I & II, and Traveling Wilburys I - they're kind of what music sounds like to me.

if you can send them in the next couple of hours its ok. sorry i have a bunch of stuff to do this weekend so tonight is sort of my only time to work on the poll

ok cool, will def do it soon, thanks for the leniency homie

u are a kind dictator, lamp

the fact that this poll doesn't have an "unranked" option is intensely frustrating to me. these are not songs i want to display preferentiality among.

gah! i thought it was 10:00 pm too!!! will vote in the next few minutes

sent (lemme know if you didn't get it, if possible)

max, please send your ballot!!! !!!! !!

you guys are crazy upthread; hearts & bones is great. i had to slash tracks from it from my ballot like freddy krueger, because i didn't have enough space but it's awesome. i even like the more throwaway-y tracks like "allergies" and "when numbers get serious."

Allergies coloured my attitude to that whole album I'm afraid. I was so appalled. It's not that bad either, in a way it's quite good even, but it's not what I'm wanting to hear from a Paul Simon side one track one.

the first time i heard "allergies" i was like what even is this but then it got to "my heart is allergic to the women i love and it's changing the shape of my face" and i breathed a sigh of relief.

I just can't get past the idea of that as a lead single.

oh i didn't realize that was the first single! that's sort of hilarious.

c'mon that song is a mess

it is but i still like the lyrics.

yeah, allergies is a weird thing to start hearts and bones with, for sure. maybe it sounded totally "now" to simon?

Yeah, and it just kind of makes me suspicious of the whole endeavor, like somebody (Simon or the company) was like "This is gonna be a really hip-sounding record! It'll sell like hotcakes!" and no one noticed that it wasn't a particularly good Chic-type song, or a particularly strong Simon composition. Weak hook, odd lyrical conceit - it's just not what the guy is all about. Should have just gone with "Train in the Distance" and just made it clear what kind of album this was.

meanwhile, listening to So Beautiful or So What again for the first time since it came out, boy is it a nice listen. I need to keep this in rotation for a while, I'd like to really get to know these songs.

you guys are crazy upthread; hearts & bones is great. i had to slash tracks from it from my ballot like freddy krueger, because i didn't have enough space but it's awesome. i even like the more throwaway-y tracks like "allergies" and "when numbers get serious."

― horseshoe, Friday, March 16, 2012 12:50 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark

man bumping all this p-simon has horseshoe dropping punchlines and similes up in here

Yeah, and it just kind of makes me suspicious of the whole endeavor, like somebody (Simon or the company) was like "This is gonna be a really hip-sounding record! It'll sell like hotcakes!" and no one noticed that it wasn't a particularly good Chic-type song, or a particularly strong Simon composition

well, check out the cover of H&B. Bet his manager said, "Paul, baby, that New Wave thing is a HIT with the kids!"

haha i am in a weird headspace. every time i say something irl or on ilx i think how would paul simon metaphorize this?

xp

"when horseshoe gets serious..."

Yeah, and it just kind of makes me suspicious of the whole endeavor, like somebody (Simon or the company) was like "This is gonna be a really hip-sounding record! It'll sell like hotcakes!" and no one noticed that it wasn't a particularly good Chic-type song, or a particularly strong Simon composition.

none of the other songs have that weird sonic noise between you and the song, though! even "cars are cars" which has the cringiest title is just kind of an old-fashioned paul simon song.

but really, cars ARE cars.

makes ya think.

it's kind of funny. paul simon is really funny. i think i might be a dad.

TS: "Can The Can" versus "Cars Are Cars" < my most inexplicable thread

Can the Can is Chinnichap so would've voted for that tbh

I'd liketo teach a semester on H&B, Infidels, Various Positions, New Sensations, and Born in the U.S.A.

Sub Empire Burlesque for Infidels and I'll help.

would be that annoying breathless girl who won't shut up in that class

Needs McCartney II and Glass Houses.

only one I don't recognize is Various Positions...?

leonard cohen

^^It's the one with that song Jeff Buckley did

Froggy Goes a Courtin'?

would attend this class you speak of

a class called... life

teach me how to live, Eazy and Alfred

Synthesis and Synthesizers.

Linn drums and tom-toms

For some reason, those years yielded some of those guys' best and most personal songwriting (especially if you include "Blind Willie McTell"), with such impersonal synths.

Or maybe "plastic" is a more appropriate word than impersonal.

I've waited years for you guys to agree with me.

i wonder if Alfred's ballot had the same #1 as me

haha

okay ballots really are closed as i will be leaving work shortly but thanks again to everyone who voted i hope this poll will be ~~radical~~ enuff 4 u

nono, thanks to you lamp. Dunno how radical I want it to be tbh. If Tom & Jerry lock out the top ten there's a part of me will be a little bit uneasy, I can't deny

I expect nothing but tubular results

ty lamp!!

The Chic-backed Think Too Much is great, thanks whoever-it-was for pointing that out. What a great band. It sounds like they're just starting to kick on when it fades out. I don't suppose there'd be an extended 12" version w/breakdown and handclaps and all that?

Also, I wonder if it subconsciously led him in the direction that turned into Graceland, the sort-of highlife feel of it.

i always forget h+b starts w/ allergies bc i just always start w. the title track. how it emerges from nothing with that guitar figure. i'm so in love with it.

results thread: PAUL SIMON POLL RESULTS THREAD AND DISCUSSION