Hey, Young Folks, Show Some Love for Paul Simon

He deserves it as much as Dylan and Cohen: Jim Fusilli
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 27, 2011 4:31 PM CDT
Hey, Young Folks, Show Some Love for Paul Simon
Paul Simon speaks onstage last month in New York City.   (Getty Images)

Wall Street Journal music critic Jim Fusilli caught a Paul Simon concert recently and came away struck by how few young people were in the audience. It doesn't seem right. While Simon contemporaries such as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Joni Mitchell rightfully get lots of love and respect from young fans, the same doesn't seem true for Simon, he writes in the Journal.

True, Simon is not exactly an "indie rocker." He acts his age, and "some of his lyrics portray him as an upscale urban intellectual who shields his emotions behind a well-considered phrase," writes Fusilli. So what. "Scan his catalog and find countless remarkable and distinctive compositions that land squarely on the heart as well as the mind." He writes about "life's often-baffling twists and triumphs, joys and jolts, and though some Simon compositions may be cryptic, they are easily deciphered. Mr. Simon has been hiding in plain sight since Simon & Garfunkel's debut disc was released some 47 years ago." (More Paul Simon stories.)

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