Graceland (album)

Paul Simon, seen here in 1982, underwent a personal and commercial downturn in the early 1980s.

Following the 1970s, in which he had released a series of hit records, Simon fell on hard times.[2] His relationship with his former musical partner Art Garfunkel had again deteriorated; his sixth solo studio album, Hearts and Bones (1983), achieved the lowest sales of his career; and his marriage to actress Carrie Fisher collapsed. "I had a personal blow, a career setback, and the combination of the two put me into a tailspin," he recalled.[3]

In 1984, Simon agreed to produce a record by a young singer-songwriter, Heidi Berg. Berg, who had played in the house bands for Saturday Night Live and The New Show, was introduced to Simon by television producer Lorne Michaels. As a reference for how she wanted her record to sound, Heidi loaned Simon a bootlegged tape of mbaqanga, street music from Soweto, a poor black township in Johannesburg.[2] Simon described it as "very good summer music, happy music" that reminded him of 1950s rhythm and blues.[4] He began improvising melodies over it as he listened in his car.[5]

Simon asked his contacts at his label, Warner, to identify the artists on the tape. Through South African record producer Hilton Rosenthal, Warner confirmed that the music was South African and played by either the vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo or the Boyoyo Boys.[nb 1] Simon considered buying the rights to his favorite song on the tape, "Gumboots", and using it to write his own song, as he had with the song "El Condor Pasa" in the 70s.[2] Instead, Rosenthal suggested that Simon record an album of South African music,[2] and sent him dozens of records from South African artists.[5]

In the 1980s, recording in South Africa was dangerous, and the United Nations had imposed a cultural boycott for its policy of apartheid. This forced states to "prevent all cultural, academic, sporting and other exchanges" with South Africa, and ordered writers, artists, musicians and "other personalities" to boycott it.[5] Nonetheless, Simon resolved to go to South Africa, and told The New York Times: "I knew I would be criticized if I went, even though I wasn’t going to record for the government … or to perform for segregated audiences. I was following my musical instincts in wanting to work with people whose music I greatly admired."[5]

Before leaving for Johannesburg, Simon contributed to "We Are the World", a charity single benefiting African famine relief. Simon spoke to "We Are the World" producers Quincy Jones and Harry Belafonte about recording in South Africa; they encouraged him to go. The South African black musicians' union also voted to let Simon come, as it could benefit their music, placing it on an international stage.[5] When Simon told Berg of his plans to record an album inspired by the tape she had loaned him, their working relationship deteriorated.[2]

Initial recordings were made in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Later recordings, including mixing, were produced at The Hit Factory in New York City.

In February 1985, Simon and his longtime engineer Roy Halee flew to Johannesburg, intending their visit to be secret.[7] Warner executives were uninterested in the project, viewing Simon as a bad investment due to the failure of his previous two solo albums.[8] Simon felt their indifference worked in his favor, as it gave him more freedom. According to Halee, he believed executives at the label viewed the duo as "crazy".[8]

Rosenthal used his connections to assemble the variety of musicians who had inspired Simon,[7] including Lulu Masilela, Tao Ea Matsekha, General M. D. Shirinda and the Gaza Sisters, and the Boyoyo Boys Band.[9] At the time, musicians in Johannesburg were typically paid $15 an hour; Simon arranged to pay them $200 an hour, around triple the rate for top players in New York City.[2] Simon said he "wanted to be as above board as I could possibly be", as many of the musicians did not know who he was and would not be lured by the promise of royalties alone.[4] He also offered writer's royalties to those he felt had contributed particularly to compositions.[5]

Recording sessions took place at Ovation Studios. Halee had feared the studio would be a "horror show", but was surprised to find it "very comfortable".[7] The studio was reminiscent of a garage, which Halee feared would be a problem for recording, and none of the musicians wore headphones.[7] Jam sessions ranged from 10 to 30 minutes, with Simon and Halee intending to assemble an album from them upon their return home.[10] Though the playing was technically simple, Simon found it difficult to mimic.[11] Outside the studio, the general public was hostile toward Simon, but the Musician's Union received him warmly.[12]

Though Simon described the recording sessions as "euphoric", he recalled "tension below the surface" due to the effects of apartheid. When recording sessions continued into the evening, the musicians would become tense, as they were not allowed to use public transportation or be on the streets after curfew.[4] Simon recalled, "In the middle of the euphoric feeling in the studio, you would have reminders that you’re living in incredibly tense racial environment, where the law of the land was apartheid."[4] At the end of the two-week trip, Simon found himself relieved of his former personal turmoil and with a revitalized passion for music.[10]

Simon and Halee returned to the Hit Factory studio in New York City to edit the material.[7] Simon flew several South African musicians to New York to complete the record three months after the Johannesburg sessions.[13] The sessions resulted in "You Can Call Me Al" and "Under African Skies".[13] Simon began writing lyrics at his home in Montauk, New York, while listening to the recordings. The process was slow, but he determined he had sufficient material to begin rerecording the tracks. He played the tracks backward to "enhance their sound", interspersing gibberish to complete the rhythms.[14]

Simon involved guest musicians, including American singer Linda Ronstadt and his childhood heroes the Everly Brothers. During a trip to Louisiana with Richard Landry, he saw a performance by the Layafette zydeco band Good Rockin' Dopsie and the Twisters, and recorded "That Was Your Mother" with them in a small studio behind a music store. He felt that the accordion, central to zydeco, would make a pleasing transition back to his own culture.[5] Afterward, he contacted Mexican-American band Los Lobos, with which he recorded "All Around the World or The Myth of Fingerprints" in Los Angeles.

Halee edited the album with new digital technology, transferring analog tape recordings to the digital workspace countless times. He said: "The amount of editing that went into that album was unbelievable ... without the facility to edit digital, I don't think we could have done that project."[7] He used tape echo and delay on every song, and paid particular attention to the bass, saying: "The bassline is what the album is all about. It's the essence of everything that happened." Each song was mixed in about two days at the Hit Factory, where most of the vocal overdubs were recorded.[7]

Graceland features an eclectic mixture of musical styles including pop, a cappella, zydeco, isicathamiya, rock, and mbaqanga. Mbaqanga, or "township jive", originated as the street music of Soweto, South Africa.[13] The album was strongly influenced by the earlier work of South African musicians Johnny Clegg and Sipho Mchunu, and their band Juluka's Zulu-Western pop crossover music. Juluka was South Africa's first integrated pop band. Simon includes thanks to Clegg, Juluka, and Juluka's producer Hilton Rosenthal in the "Special Thanks" citation in Graceland's liner notes. He included American "roots" influences with tracks featuring zydeco musicians such as Rockin' Dopsie and Tex-Mex musicians.

The album alternates between playful and more serious songs. Simon thought of it as like a play: "As in a play, the mood should keep changing. A serious song may lead into an abstract song, which may be followed by a humorous song."[5] On many songs, Simon and Halee employ a Synclavier to "enhance" the acoustic instruments, creating an electronic "shadow".[5]

"The Boy in the Bubble" is a collaboration with Lesotho-based Tao Ea Matsekha. "Graceland" features the playing of bassist Bakithi Kumalo and guitarist Ray Phiri. Simon remarks on the album's original liner notes that it reminded him of American country music, and wrote: "After the recording session, Ray told me that he'd used a relative minor chord—something not often heard in South African music—because he said he thought it was more like the chord changes he'd heard in my music."[13] Steel guitarist Demola Adepoju contributed to the track some months after its completion. "I Know What I Know" is based on music from an album by General M.D. Shirinda and the Gaza Sisters. Simon was attracted to their work due to the unusual style of guitar playing, as well as the "distinctive sound" of the women's voices.[13] "Gumboots" is a re-recording (with additional saxophone solos) of the song with which Simon first found himself enamored from the cassette tape that spawned Graceland.[13]

Joseph Shabalala also contributed to "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes", with Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the Senegalese singer-percussionist Youssou N'Dour. It was recorded a week following their appearance on Saturday Night Live. The pennywhistle solo featured on "You Can Call Me Al" was performed by Morris Goldberg, a white South African living in New York.[13] "Homeless" was written jointly by Simon and Shabalala, the lead singer of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, to a melody from a traditional Zulu wedding song.[15] In the song "Under African Skies", "the figure of Joseph becomes the dual image of a dispossessed African black man and the New Testament Joseph."[5] For the song, Simon sent Shabalala a cassette demo, and the two later met at Abbey Road Studios in London, where the rest of the song was completed.[13] "Crazy Love" features music from Stimela, Phiri's group that was very successful in South Africa.[13]

To write lyrics, Simon listened to the recordings made during his time in Johannesburg, identifying patterns in the music to fit to verses. He said:

It was very difficult, because patterns that seemed as though they should fit together often didn't. I realized that in African music, the rhythms are always shifting slightly and that the shape of a melody was often dictated by the bassline rather than the guitar. Harmonically, African music consists essentially of three major chords—that's why it sounds so happy—so I could write almost any melody I wanted in a major scale. I improvised in two ways—by making up melodies in falsetto, and by singing any words that came to mind down in my lower and mid range.[5]

Simon told Robert Christgau in 1986 that he was bad at writing about politics, and felt his strength was writing about relationships and introspection.[16] In contrast to Hearts and Bones, Graceland's subject matter is more upbeat. Simon made an effort to write simply without compromising the language.[17] Composing more personal songs would take him significantly longer to complete, as this process would involve "a lot of avoidance going on".[17] Rewrites were necessary as Simon ended up using overcomplicated words.[7] A perfectionist, Simon rewrote songs only to scrap the newer versions. Songs such as "Graceland" and "The Boy in the Bubble" took three to four months, while others, such as "All Around the World" and "Crazy Love", came together quickly.[17]

"The Boy in the Bubble" discusses starvation and terrorism, but mixes this with wit and optimism. Simon concurred with this assessment: "Hope and dread—that's right. That's the way I see the world, a balance between the two, but coming down on the side of hope."[17] The song retains a variation of the only lyric Simon composed on his South African trip: "The way the camera follows him in slo-mo, the way he smiled at us all." The imagery was inspired by the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan.[17] "Homeless" discusses poverty within the black majority in South Africa.[17] According to Simon's ex-wife Carrie Fisher, the "Graceland" lines "She's come back to tell me she's gone / As if I didn't know that, as if I didn't know my own bed / As if I'd never noticed the way she brushed her hair from her forehead" refer to her.[18] She confirmed she had a habit of brushing her hair from her forehead, and said she felt privileged to be in one of Simon's songs.[18]

Throughout the recording process, Simon remained unsure of the album's thematic connection. He kept dozens of yellow legal pads with random words and phrases he would combine in an attempt to define the album. He derived the album title from the phrase "driving through Wasteland", which he changed to "going to Graceland", a reference to Elvis Presley's Memphis home. Simon believed it represented a spiritual direction: just as he had embarked on a physical journey to collect ideas in Africa, he would spiritually journey to the home of the rock "forefather" to revitalize his love for music.[19]

Graceland was released by Warner Bros. with little fanfare in September 1986.[21] "It could be that I've reached the point in my career where I can't be a viable commercial force in popular music," Simon remarked preceding its release, referencing the failure of his previous efforts on the charts.[5] The cover art was an Ethiopian Christian icon from the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum dating to around 1500.[22][23]

Rolling Stone's David Fricke summarized the album's impact: "The robust bounce and soulful melodicism of township jive, which gave Simon's brainy lyricism a rhythmic kick in his recent work, has become a daily soundtrack in urban yuppie condos and suburban living rooms and on radio airwaves from Australia to Zimbabwe."[24]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[26]
American Songwriter	[27]
Blender	[28]
Christgau's Record Guide	A[29]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[30]
Entertainment Weekly	A[31]
The Independent	[32]
Pitchfork	9.2/10[33]
Rolling Stone	[34]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[35]

Initial reviews of Graceland were positive. Rolling Stone's Rob Tannenbaum characterized the record as "lovely, daring and accomplished."[34] Stephen Holden of The New York Times commented, "With his characteristic refinement, Mr. Simon has fashioned that event into the rock album equivalent of a work of literature."[5] Robert Christgau of The Village Voice deemed it Simon's best record since his 1972 self-titled album, as well as "a tremendously engaging and inspired piece of work."[16] It was so acclaimed by other critics that he anticipated that it would top The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll for that year (1986).[36]

Retrospective reviews have continued to be positive. According to AllMusic's William Ruhlmann, "Graceland became the standard against which subsequent musical experiments by major artists were measured."[37] Joe Tangari of Pitchfork wrote that "its songs transcend the context as listening experiences. These songs are astute and exciting, spit-shined with the gloss of production that bears a lot of hallmarks of the era but somehow has refused to age. Taken as a whole, the album offers tremendous insight into how we live in our world and how that changes as we get older."[33] Patrick Humphries of BBC Music wrote that "it may well stand as the pinnacle of his remarkable half-century career ... Simon fashioned a record which was truly, blindingly original, and – listening to it a quarter of a century on – modern and timeless."[38] Andy Gill of The Independent wrote: "The character of the base music here is overwhelming: complex, ebullient and life-affirming, and in yoking this intricate dance music to his sophisticated New Yorker sensibility, Simon created a transatlantic bridge that neither pandered to nor patronised either culture."[32]

Following the album's success, Simon faced accusations by organizations such as Artists United Against Apartheid,[55] anti-apartheid musicians including Billy Bragg, Paul Weller, and Jerry Dammers,[56] and James Victor Gbeho, at the time the Ghanaian Ambassador to the United Nations,[57] that he had broken the cultural boycott imposed by the rest of the world against the apartheid regime in South Africa.[58] Critics condemned Simon for having potentially damaged solidarity, calling him naive.[58]

Before going to South Africa, Simon sought advice from Harry Belafonte, with whom he had recently collaborated on "We Are the World". Belafonte had mixed feelings and advised him to discuss the matter with the African National Congress (ANC).[58] At an album launch party, Simon bluntly clarified his opinions on the controversy: "I'm with the artists. I didn't ask the permission of the ANC. I didn't ask permission of Buthelezi, or Desmond Tutu, or the Pretoria government. And to tell you the truth, I have a feeling that when there are radical transfers of power on either the left or the right, the artists always get screwed."[58]

James Victor Ghebo, former Ghanaian ambassador to the UN, was critical, saying: "When he goes to South Africa, Paul Simon bows to apartheid. He lives in designated hotels for whites. He spends money the way whites have made it possible to spend money there. The money he spends goes to look after white society, not to the townships."[59] Simon denied that he went to South Africa to "take money out of the country", noting that he paid the black artists and split royalties with them, and was not paid to play to a white audience.[59] Guitarist Ray Pieri said: “We used Paul as much as Paul used us. There was no abuse. He came at the right time and he was what we needed to bring our music into the mainstream."[59]

Some criticized Simon for not addressing apartheid in his lyrics. Simon responded: "Was I supposed to solve things in a song?” He said he was not good at writing protest songs in the vein of Bob Dylan or Bob Geldof, and felt that although it was not overtly political, Graceland was its own political statement: "I still think it’s the most powerful form of politics, more powerful than saying it right on the money, in which case you’re usually preaching to the converted. People get attracted to the music, and once they hear what’s going on within it, they say, ‘What? They’re doing that to these people?'”[59]

The United Nations Anti-Apartheid Committee supported Graceland, as it showcased black South African musicians and offered no support to the South African government, but the ANC protested it as a violation of the boycott.[55] The ANC voted to ban Simon from the country, and he was also added to the United Nations blacklist.[10] He was removed from the blacklist in January 1987,[60] and announced that he had been cleared by the ANC, but Artists Against Apartheid founder Dali Tambo denied this. The Graceland concert at London's Royal Albert Hall prompted protests from Dammers, Weller, and Bragg. In 2012, the controversy was revived when Simon returned to London for a 25th-anniversary concert celebrating the album.[58]

In contrast, Simon received praise for encouraging South African music from Hugh Masekela, one of South Africa's most prominent musicians and an exiled opponent of apartheid, who subsequently toured alongside Simon and Miriam Makeba.[56] The album's worldwide success introduced some of the musicians, especially Ladysmith Black Mambazo, to global audiences. South African jazz musician Jonas Gwangwa criticized the notion that Simon was responsible for making South African music popular, asking: "So, it has taken another white man to discover my people?"[58]

Some critics viewed Graceland as colonialist, with Simon appropriating the music of another culture to bring to the global market.[61] Star-Ledger reporter Tris McCall wrote in 2012, "Does it complicate matters to realize that these musicians were second-class citizens in their own country, one groaning under the weight of apartheid? How could Simon approach them as equal partners when their own government demanded that they treat him as a superior?"[61]

According to Simon:

What was unusual about Graceland is that it was on the surface apolitical, but what it represented was the essence of the anti-apartheid in that it was a collaboration between blacks and whites to make music that people everywhere enjoyed. It was completely the opposite from what the apartheid regime said, which is that one group of people were inferior. Here, there were no inferiors or superiors, just an acknowledgement of everybody's work as a musician. It was a powerful statement.[11]

In 2012, Andrew Mueller of Uncut wrote: "Apartheid was of course a monstrosity, but it would be absurd to suggest that Simon's introduction of South Africa's music to the world prolonged it and quite plausible to suggest that it did some small amount to hasten its undoing."[62]

New York Times writer Jon Pareles identified Graceland as an album that had popularized African rock in the west, alongside albums such as Peter Gabriel's So (1986) and Talking Heads' Remain in Light (1980).[65] A 2012 documentary film, Under African Skies, was directed by Joe Berlinger for the album's 25th anniversary, and includes archival footage, interviews, discussion of the controversy, and coverage of an anniversary reunion concert.[66][67][68]

Advocates for Graceland feel its music transcends the racial and cultural barriers of its production. "Graceland was never just a collection of songs, after all; it was a bridge between cultures, genres and continents, not to mention a global launching pad for the musicians whose popularity had been suppressed under South Africa's white-run apartheid rule," said Andrew Leahey of American Songwriter.[69] Presenting the album in a modern context, Tris McCall of the Star-Ledger writes that "In a sense, Simon was ahead of his time: The curatorial approach he took to assembling full tracks from scraps of songs and pre-existing recordings is closer in execution to that of Kanye West than it is to any of his contemporaries."[61]

The album has influenced musicians including Regina Spektor, Bombay Bicycle Club, Gabby Young, Casiokids, The Very Best,[70] Givers,[71] Lorde, and Vampire Weekend. The latter faced particular criticism that their 2008 debut album was too similar to Graceland, due to its origins in African music. Simon later defended the band, remarking, "In a way, we were on the same pursuit, but I don't think you're lifting from me, and anyway, you're welcome to it, because everybody's lifting all the time. That's the way music grows and is shaped."[72]

Simon recalled his experiences with the record in 2013:

There was the almost mystical affection and strange familiarity I felt when I first heard South African music. Later, there was the visceral thrill of collaborating with South African musicians onstage. Add to this potent mix the new friendships I made with my band mates, and the experience becomes one of the most vital in my life.[73]

All tracks are written by Paul Simon, except where noted.

• Sides one and two were combined as tracks 1–11 on CD reissues.

Track numbering refers to CD and digital releases of this album.

In June 2018, Sony Music and Legacy Records issued Graceland: The Remixes, featuring remixes of Graceland songs by artists including Paul Oakenfold, Groove Armada and Thievery Corporation.[76]