The Paul Simon Songbook

Infobox Album | Name = The Paul Simon Songbook
Type = studio
Artist = Paul Simon

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Released = August, 1965
Recorded = June, 1965
Genre = Folk
Length = 37:48
Label = CBS
Producer = Reginald Warburton & Stanley West
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3sq2g4ettv2z link]
* "Blender" Rating|2|5 [http://robertchristgau.com/xg/cdrev/simon-ble.php May 2004]
*" Music Box" Rating|4|5 [http://www.musicbox-online.com/ps-song.html April 2004]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|3|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/paulsimon/albums/album/5240774/review/6067964/the_paul_simon_songbook link]
Last album = "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M." (1964) (as Simon and Garfunkel)
This album = "The Paul Simon Songbook"
(1965)
Next album = " Sounds of Silence" (1966) (as Simon and Garfunkel)
Misc = Singles
Name =The Paul Simon Songbook
Type =studio
Single 1 =I Am a Rock" b/w "Leaves That Are Green
Single 1 date =1965, CBS 201797 Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Alternate cover
Type = Studio album


Lower caption = 2004 Reissue cover

"The Paul Simon Songbook" is an album by Paul Simon. It was recorded in London and released in the United Kingdom in 1965 and was supposedly deleted in 1979 at Simon's request. It was made available in the USA as part of the LP box set "Paul Simon: Collected Works" (1981). The album was produced by Reginald Warburton and Stanley West as CBS Records LP 62579; remastered CD Columbia/Legacy 90281.

Album background

"The Paul Simon Songbook" was recorded while Paul Simon, who had previously worked in the rock-'n-roll genre, was in Europe trying to make a living as a folk singer in the mid-1960s. Simon made several trips to England in 1964 and 1965, spending most of his time performing in small clubs and theaters. During 1965 he is known to have played in Paris and Copenhagen, along with London and numerous other locations in the United Kingdom.

In 1964, Simon and Art Garfunkel had recorded a folk-inspired album for Columbia Records in the United States called "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.", as Simon & Garfunkel. While Simon was touring and appearing on radio shows in England in 1965 (sometimes with Art Garfunkel), he began to receive attention from fans. At the time "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M." had not yet been released in Britain (and would not be until 1968). Simon's other recordings then available in Britain consisted of about three 45 rpm singles released on various labels, two of which were rock-'n-roll-inspired recordings with Garfunkel under the name Tom & Jerry. The other was representative of his experiments in folk, but had been released in 1964 under the pseudonym Paul Kane. He was still under contract to Columbia, so he could record for their British label, CBS Records, and therefore decided to record a set of tracks for release to his folk audience. "The Paul Simon Songbook" was the result.

Recording and Releases

Simon recorded the album over several dates in June 1965. Most of the songs required several takes. He only had one microphone for both his voice and his guitar, which is why he can be heard stamping his feet to the rhythm on "The Sound of Silence" as well the alternate take of "I Am A Rock."

There is nothing on the album that seems to immediately point to the producers, Warburton and West, having anything major to do with it, musically. It seems that almost nothing is known by the general public of Simon's relationship with either one.

The album was released along with the single "I Am A Rock"/"Leaves That Are Green," CBS 201797. The latter is the same version as that found on the "Songbook", but the version of the A-side is clearly not. On the A-side, one can plainly hear Simon tapping his foot to keep a beat, a feature not heard on the album's kickoff track. It has been speculated [http://www.peterclericuzio.info/sgsingles1964to70.html] that the version of "I Am A Rock" on the single is actually the alternate take included with the 2004 re-release of the "Songbook".

Album cover and notes

The liner notes to the album, found on the back cover, are somewhat bizarre, consisting of a few scripts for skits that Simon wrote, one of which parodies his writing of the songs on the LP itself. At the end, he almost repudiates his efforts, saying that "there are some I would not write today," and saying that they "played a role in the transition" to where he is currently (summer 1965) as a musician. At the end he closes simply by saying of the liner notes, "I won't reread them."

It's possible that Simon's flippant attitude towards the album continued for much of his career, and could give credence to the notion that he eventually requested that it be deleted.

The album cover shows Simon and his then-girlfriend, Kathy Chitty, sitting on "narrow streets of cobblestone" in London, the city Simon had adopted as his home. In the 1970s, the album art was altered: the picture of Simon and Kathy was flipped horizontally, and the red script-like lettering eliminated in favor of an album title in white block print at the top.

ubsequent history

"The Songbook" was rereleased in 2004 by Columbia/Legacy on CD. The quality of the recordings indicate that a copy of the original recordings was used to master these songs since quite a lot of background noise can be heard in all of the songs. The CD features two bonus tracks, alternative versions of "I Am a Rock" and "A Church is Burning" which were not part of the 1965 LP release.

The lyrics for the anti-war song "The Side Of A Hill" were incorporated into the Simon and Garfunkel arrangement of "Scarborough Fair" on "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme".

Later in 1965 and in early 1966, following the success in the USA of "The Sounds Of Silence" as a single, Simon & Garfunkel re-recorded several of the songs featured on "The Paul Simon Songbook" and released them on their albums "Sounds Of Silence" and "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme."

Track listing

All songs written by Paul Simon unless otherwise indicated.

# "I Am a Rock" -2:52
# "Leaves That Are Green" -2:41
# "A Church Is Burning" -3:38
# "April Come She Will" -1:55
# "The Sound of Silence" -3:19
# "A Most Peculiar Man" -2:26
# "He Was My Brother" (Paul Kane*) -2:58
# "Kathy's Song" -3:42
# "The Side of a Hill" (Paul Kane) -2:28
# "A Simple Desultory Philippic" -2:25
# "Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall" -2:27
# "Patterns" -3:13CD Bonus tracks (2004)
# "I Am a Rock" Alternate Version -2:44
# "A Church Is Burning" Alternate Version -3:10

* "Paul Kane" was a pseudonym used by Simon at this time, because of his fondness for the film "Citizen Kane".

Other recordings

*For earlier recordings of tracks 5 and 7: "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.".
*For later recordings of tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 8: " Sounds of Silence".
*For later recordings of tracks 10, 11, and 12: "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme".

Bibliography

Patrick Humphries, "Paul Simon: Still Crazy After All These Years" (New York: Doubleday, 1989). ISBN 038524908X.

External links

* [http://www.paul-simon.info www.paul-simon.info]
* [http://www.paulsimon.com www.paulsimon.com]
* [http://www.simonandgarfunkel.com www.simonandgarfunkel.com]