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Title details for Paul Simon by Robert Hilburn - Available

Paul Simon

The Life

by Robert Hilburn
Dennis Boutsikaris
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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A publishing event from music legend Paul Simon: an intimate, candid, and definitive biography written with Simon's full participation—but without his editorial control—by acclaimed biographer and music writer Robert Hilburn.
For more than fifty years, Paul Simon has spoken to us in songs about alienation, doubt, resilience, and empathy in ways that have established him as one of the most beloved artists in American pop music history. Songs like "The Sound of Silence," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Still Crazy After All These Years," and "Graceland" have moved beyond the sales charts and into our cultural consciousness. But Simon is a deeply private person who has resisted speaking to us outside of his music. He has said he will not write an autobiography or memoir, and he has refused to talk to previous biographers.

Finally, Simon has opened up—for more than one hundred hours of interviews—to Robert Hilburn, whose biography of Johnny Cash was named by Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times as one of her ten favorite books of 2013. The result is a landmark book that will take its place as the defining biography of one of America's greatest artists.

It begins in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, where, raised by a bandleader father and schoolteacher mother, Simon grew up with the twin passions of baseball and music. The latter took over at age twelve when he and schoolboy chum Art Garfunkel became infatuated with the alluring harmonies of doo-wop. Together, they became international icons, and then Simon went on to even greater artistic heights on his own. But beneath the surface of his storied five-decade career is a roller coaster of tumultuous personal and professional ups and downs. From his remarkable early success with Garfunkel to their painfully acrimonious split; from his massive early hits as a solo artist to the wrenching commercial failures of One-Trick Pony and Hearts and Bones; from the historic comeback success of Graceland and The Rhythm of the Saints to the star-crossed foray into theater with The Capeman and a late-career creative resurgence—his is a musical life unlike any other.

Over the past three years, Hilburn has conducted in-depth interviews with scores of Paul Simon's friends, family, colleagues, and others—including ex-wives Carrie Fisher and Peggy Harper, who spoke for the first time—and even penetrated the inner circle of Simon's long-reclusive muse, Kathy Chitty. The result is a deeply human account of the challenges and sacrifices of a life in music at the highest level. In the process, Hilburn documents Simon's search for artistry and his constant struggle to protect that artistry against distractions—fame, marriage, divorce, drugs, record company interference, rejection, and insecurity—that have derailed so many great pop figures.

Paul Simon is an intimate and inspiring narrative that helps us finally understand Paul Simon the person and the artist. "With train-wreck moments and tender interludes alike, it delivers a sharply detailed Kodachrome of a brilliant musician" (Kirkus Reviews).

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 8, 2018

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781508259930
      • File size: 355428 KB
      • Duration: 12:20:28

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      The prolific songwriter and performer Paul Simon has been a part of the American music scene for more than 50 years, adapting his style as the times have changed. He wrote his first song as a teenager in Queens, where he met his on-again-off-again singing partner, Art Garfunkel, though it took several years before their musical careers truly began. Dennis Boutsikaris narrates the life and times of the musician, with in-depth looks at the origins of many of Simon's songs that inspire the listener to pause the audiobook in order to listen to recordings of the music. Using a conversational tone throughout, Boutsikaris delivers the song lyrics as if they were works of poetry, giving listeners a new perspective on them. A.L.S.M. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from April 9, 2018
      Music critic Hilburn (Johnny Cash: The Life) delivers an energetic and elegant biography of American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. Drawing on interviews with Simon and his family and friends—including ex-wives Carrie Fisher and Peggy Harper—Hilburn exhaustively narrates Simon’s life, from his discovery of pop music in the 1950s via disc jockey Alan Freed to Simon and Art Garfunkel’s success and contentious relationship (“Artie knew Paul wrote the songs and thus controlled the future of the pair,” according to manager Mort Lewis) and Simon’s successful solo career. Hilburn describes Simon’s artistry: his “songwriting would begin with the music... then he’d try to figure out how to express what he was feeling in words.” Though Simon often came across as controlling in the studio, according to Hilburn, he was very respectful of other musicians and their time and work, and was generous toward other musicians (he wrote a check to Claude Jeter in gratitude for Jeter’s gospel singing, which inspired “Bridge over Troubled Water”). Hilburn’s brilliant and entertaining portrait of Simon will likely be the definitive biography. Agent: Luke Janklow, Janklow & Nesbit.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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