Paul Simon's 11th studio album demonstrates what it is which separates this hugely influential singer-songwriter from the scores of other artists forging a path in contemporary folk music over the past half-century. Pulling together musical elements from around the world, Paul Simon's lyricism is, as always, front and center.
Story Songs and Parables
As album titles go,
So Beautiful or So What is the most adept summation possible for this collection of songs. Whether singing the imagined words of God ("Creation is never done, and anyway these people are slobs here") or of a car wash employee in "Rewrite"("Everybody says the old guy working at the car wash hasn't got a brain cell left since Vietnam" |
purchase/download), Simon doesn't mince words. The characters in his songs are frank and sincere, cutting the crap and calling a spade a spade. His are working class heroes, and his themes are about either trying to overcome something or wondering what's the point. He doesn't try to manipulate his listeners into seeing the beauty or learning the lesson implicit in his songs. He simply presents the truth, recognizing there are at least two ways to look at any situation -
So Beautiful or So What.
The title track comes late in the game (purchase/download) - the penultimate track, to be exact. It's a slightly blues-tinged rock and roll song with a syncopated, trotting rhythm. It calls out all the crap of life, recognizing that even beauty itself could be considered meaningless - such as meaning can be subjective (if it exists at all, considering the immeasurable intangible nature of meaning). It becomes a powerful, nearly political song talking of the transient nature of change and its multitudinous implications. "Life is what we make of it," he sings, "so beautiful, so what."
To What End, Optimism
This theme which seems to run throughout the record is a little off-putting at first. A cursory listen to the disc might leave the impression Simon's work has fallen into some kind of a late-life depression, his lyrics ceasing to see the point in everything - including beauty itself. But such a reading would be lazy, you know, so you listen closer. Coming from a history of folk, pop, and world music, Simon certainly knows art is an assertion of optimism. Like blowing bubbles into the wind, there's always a hope one will not pop, but will drift off into the sky, long enough and far enough, silently riding the breeze.
"Love is eternal sacred light," he sings later, "free from the shackles of time" (purchase/download). Here, he seems to be talking of God, or the universe, or whatever relationship he has with Existence. It's not clear, of course, because he's not looking to teach a lesson. This tune is a bit of a honkytonk number, punctuated by freight-train harmonica and ramming straight into a guitar-and-vocals-only number called "Amulet" (purchase/download). Starting with either a bum or a starving artist (hard to tell which, from Simon's description) crossing the Brooklyn Bridge and landing on the question, once again, of the meaning of meaning. "If every human on the planet and all the buildings on it should disappear / would a zebra grazing in the African Sahara care enough to shed one zebra tear?" With questions like that, half the point of the record seems to rest on what the listener brings to the table. Depending, the answer is either a resounding yes or no.
So What's the Point?
If you're looking for a casual listen, doubtless there's enough intrinsic and explicit musicality on this disc to make for suitable background music. From the subtle Dixieland of the warbling clarinet on "Love and Blessings" to the whip-and-crack percussion on "Rewrite" and the title track's twangy guitars, this is a delicious romp through the traditions of American music. As with so much of Simon's music, there are international elements abounding as well - foreign instruments and modes peppered throughout. But, Simon's artistic statement is stronger here than in any of his other albums thus far. It seems to be the same point at which he's been driving for years, but this time he hits it smack on the head. Every song works toward the end of this collective goal, and the meaning here is strong. (Whether that meaning means anything is perhaps another question.)
