Forum guest
Mar-14-2010, 22:42 GMT
Norway
 | I think PG actually found the heart and soul of the words. I too like Paul´s Biko, but prefer Robert Wyatt´s version many years ago. |
Scaaty
Mar-16-2010, 13:19 GMT
Ireland
 | Heard PGs version on the radio last night - had requested it and the presenter got it for me!! texted the programm at 00:50 hrs, the presenter said he hadn´t got it - then played it at 1:50 hrs - hows that for personal service from the national radio station. He was very impressed with it and got a few texts from other listeners admiring it. |
Ute
Mar-16-2010, 18:44 GMT
Germany
 | Except from an interview to NPR-Music; March/14/2010:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story
Id=124629882
Quote:
Gabriel:
"There are so many more things that I Love the music of than the lyrics," Gabriel says. "The lyrics was often the reason I didn´t do a lot of songs that I like. ´Cause when you actually sort of strip them naked, it´s not always that they´re going to stand up. You know, some rock lyrics work well in one environment, but don´t hold up if you separate them from their roots. And I think all of these lyrics are great lyrics regardless of the music."
...
He calls Simon´s "The Boy In The Bubble," from the album Graceland, "one of the great pop lyrics of the last century."
Gabriel:
"We sort of sucked out all the African elements, and you´re left with the skeleton, which is an extraordinary thing in itself," he says. "And I think a lot of people, myself included, heard the lyrics in a different way, in a new context."
End
I´m a lyrics-freak and I appriciate the "naked" Gabriel-version very much. It´s something very pure and my favorite song on "Scratch My Back" anyway ;-).
I think it works very well as I would expect it from most of Paul Simons songs stripped down to their words and melodies. Gabriel calls it skeleton. I would call it the core of Paul Simons song. With "Graceland" he´d created an amazing fusion, combining his unique style with African rhythms. I wouldn´t like to miss that, coz it was a brilliant way to enhance his music.
And of course, to combine this kind of serious lyrics to an upbeat, happy sound may be seen as a particular sense of humor. But anyway I think there was the song first(lyrics&harmony), long before there was a concrete imagination of the garment/ the rhythm/ the sound.
Maybe I like it because I´m still in love with all the melancholic stuff on "One Trick Pony" and "Hearts And Bones".
In the end it´s a question of taste. |
