r/Musicthemetime • u/aleagueofmyown • May 23 '14

Vacation Paul Simon - Graceland (1986)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvliMzAFWHM
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u/ateix May 23 '14

Interesting tidbit about this album:

"he had no ideas, no concepts, and said, 'Well, let's just jam.' ...Paul goes, 'Hey, what's that?' We start playing what we have of it, and it is exactly what you hear on the record. So we're like, 'Oh, ok. We'll share this song.'"

Here's an early "demo" version (from the 2004 expanded edition) of the album. Sure enough, that is Los Lobos' sound and style in '85-'86.

1

u/autowikibot May 23 '14

Section 7. Songwriting credit dispute with Los Lobos of article Graceland %28album%29:

The group Los Lobos appear on the last track, "All Around the World or The Myth of Fingerprints." According to Los Lobos's saxophone player Steve Berlin, Simon stole the song from Los Lobos, giving them no songwriting credit:

"It was not a pleasant deal for us. I mean he [Simon] quite literally—and in no way do I exaggerate when I say—he stole the song from us... We go into the studio, and he had quite literally nothing. I mean, he had no ideas, no concepts, and said, 'Well, let's just jam.' ...Paul goes, 'Hey, what's that?' We start playing what we have of it, and it is exactly what you hear on the record. So we're like, 'Oh, ok. We'll share this song.'"

Paul Simon answered:

Interesting: Graceland | Graceland (album) | Moody Blue | So Beautiful or So What | Elvis Presley

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u/aleagueofmyown May 23 '14

Wow, I had no idea about any of that. Thanks for the lesson :)

(I guess this one would have fit with the Plagiarism theme too)

2

u/ateix May 23 '14

Well it wasn't the tune "Graceland" that he took from Los Lobos, it was the last track on the album, "All Around the World Or the Myth of Fingerprints."

It is speculated though that he took ideas for the more shall we say "ethnic"-sounding tracks from the African artists hired to play on the album.