The Beatles provided the sound track for my teen years; I liked lots of other artists and groups, but I loved the Beatles the most of all.
I loved to sing, and the Beatles' songs were the ones I loved to sing the most. There were others: Peter, Paul and Mary; Harry Belafonte; Simon and Garfunkel; The Rolling Stones; The Seekers; The Mamas and the Papas; and various uncles and aunts, whose names I can't even remember now.
But, as an adult, reflecting the full sensibilities of my adult musical tastes, I think I have to single out Paul Simon. His tunes, his lyrics, his instrumentation, his harmony; it's all perfect. I don't need anyone to agree with me; I just think he captured almost exactly how I would have wanted to write a song. How I would have written a song, if I could've written a song.
I think I'll come back to this post, and add in my favorite Paul Simon tracks—I'll probably leave out the S & G tracks; there's too many of them—but not right now. He did write some songs that didn't like; can't be helped. Also some songs that I never knew; in fact, there are a lot of albums released in the last decade or so that I have completely missed. I think 'Still Crazy After All These Years' is probably my favorite album from him; 'Graceland' comes a close second.
Archie
