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Paul Simon: The Life [Deckle Edge] Hardcover – May 8, 2018

by Robert Hilburn (Author)

1,058 ratings

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A publishing event from music legend Paul Simon: an intimate, candid, and definitive biography written with Simon’s full participation—but without his editorial control—by acclaimed biographer and music writer Robert Hilburn.

For more than fifty years, Paul Simon has spoken to us in songs about alienation, doubt, resilience, and empathy in ways that have established him as one of the most beloved artists in American pop music history. Songs like “The Sound of Silence,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Still Crazy After All These Years,” and “Graceland” have moved beyond the sales charts and into our cultural consciousness. But Simon is a deeply private person who has resisted speaking to us outside of his music. He has said he will not write an autobiography or memoir, and he has refused to talk to previous biographers.

Finally, Simon has opened up—for more than one hundred hours of interviews—to Robert Hilburn, whose biography of Johnny Cash was named by Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times as one of her ten favorite books of 2013. The result is a landmark book that will take its place as the defining biography of one of America’s greatest artists.

It begins in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, where, raised by a bandleader father and schoolteacher mother, Simon grew up with the twin passions of baseball and music. The latter took over at age twelve when he and schoolboy chum Art Garfunkel became infatuated with the alluring harmonies of doo-wop. Together, they became international icons, and then Simon went on to even greater artistic heights on his own. But beneath the surface of his storied five-decade career is a roller coaster of tumultuous personal and professional ups and downs. From his remarkable early success with Garfunkel to their painfully acrimonious split; from his massive early hits as a solo artist to the wrenching commercial failures of One-Trick Pony and Hearts and Bones; from the historic comeback success of Graceland and The Rhythm of the Saints to the star-crossed foray into theater with The Capeman and a late-career creative resurgence—his is a musical life unlike any other.

Over the past three years, Hilburn has conducted in-depth interviews with scores of Paul Simon’s friends, family, colleagues, and others—including ex-wives Carrie Fisher and Peggy Harper, who spoke for the first time—and even penetrated the inner circle of Simon’s long-reclusive muse, Kathy Chitty. The result is a deeply human account of the challenges and sacrifices of a life in music at the highest level. In the process, Hilburn documents Simon’s search for artistry and his constant struggle to protect that artistry against distractions—fame, marriage, divorce, drugs, record company interference, rejection, and insecurity—that have derailed so many great pop figures.

Paul Simon is an intimate and inspiring narrative that helps us finally understand Paul Simon the person and the artist. “With train-wreck moments and tender interludes alike, it delivers a sharply detailed Kodachrome of a brilliant musician” (Kirkus Reviews).

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Print length

448 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Simon & Schuster
Publication date

May 8, 2018
Dimensions

6.25 x 1.4 x 9.25 inches
ISBN-10

1501112120
ISBN-13

978-1501112126

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Customer reviews

1,058 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this biography well-written and informative, particularly praising its insights into songwriting and how it documents the complex life of Paul Simon. The book receives positive feedback for its characterization, with one customer noting how it blends Simon's life story, while another highlights the detailed information about Simon and Garfunkel's relationship. The pacing receives mixed reactions, with some finding it entertaining while others say they were bored from the beginning.

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Readability Writing quality Information quality Songwriter Characterization Story quality Pacing

38 customers mention "Readability"38 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging and well-written, with one mentioning it reads like an interview.

"...or three of Simon’s albums, I’m happy to say this book satisfies most of my expectations, with a few qualifiers...." Read more

"...It tells the Paul Simon story with accuracy and passion. Well done!" Read more

"...credible stature, "Paul Simon: The Life" is an easy and enjoyable read...." Read more

"...even the best song – “The Boxer”, a masterpiece of a song and remarkable record that elevated Simon and Garfunkel far above everything in popular..." Read more

35 customers mention "Writing quality"35 positive0 negative

Customers praise the writing quality of the biography, describing it as expertly crafted with great insights into songwriting.

"...far more detail than other sources in breaking down and analyzing his composing technique; the book’s attention is given over largely to his own..." Read more

"...Any Simon fan would enjoy this book! It tells the Paul Simon story with accuracy and passion. Well done!" Read more

"...Robert Hilburn's effort is vastly better. Cleanly written, and compiled with the participation not only of Simon but also third parties of quality..." Read more

"...It's a mix of personal stories, which I loved, because Paul Simon by nature is a private man...." Read more

27 customers mention "Information quality"27 positive0 negative

Customers find the book informative and interesting, with one customer noting its well-researched content and another highlighting its many great anecdotes.

"...historical reading: chronological, detailed, and pro Simon, and thoroughly documents that it was the Simon and Garfunkel together songs of the..." Read more

"Hilburn does an outstanding job documenting the complex and imposing Paul Simon. Any Simon fan would enjoy this book!..." Read more

"...book and found a lot of the inside stories from the man himself pretty captivating." Read more

"This detailed, thoughtful biography is written within the context of Simon’s body of work and the contribution of that work to our culture of more..." Read more

16 customers mention "Songwriter"16 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate Paul Simon's songwriting, describing him as one of the greatest living songwriters and praising his music.

"...Simon was able to pick up on reggae, gospel, jazz-oriented songwriting, African rhythms (with their doo-wop connections to western pop), the 43-..." Read more

"...Let's face it: great singers are a dime a dozen, and Garfunkel likely never would have been anything but maybe a math teacher or struggling..." Read more

"...It was always a pleasure to see the duo in concert ... I remember seeing them from really crappy seats at the RAIN OR SHINE concert during the..." Read more

"...twentieth century, maybe even the best song – “The Boxer”, a masterpiece of a song and remarkable record that elevated Simon and Garfunkel far above..." Read more

13 customers mention "Characterization"11 positive2 negative

Customers appreciate the characterization in the book, with one review noting how it blends Paul Simon's life story, while another highlights its detailed coverage of Simon and Garfunkel's relationship.

"...He clearly has empathy and admiration for Simonthe person, but is neither cloying or sentimental...." Read more

"...It was great to read this book that blends Paul Simon's life story with a well written integration with the art that he has produced for so many..." Read more

"...The book is a terrific portrayal of the development of Simon as a poet and songwriter and his creative process...." Read more

"...Provides a whole new understanding and appreciation of Paul Simon and Robert Hilburn is a very good biographer--no sensationalism and yet no dry..." Read more

5 customers mention "Story quality"5 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the story quality of the book, with one customer highlighting its interesting historical content and another noting its continuing journey with twists and turns.

"...'s sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, and for that the book makes interesting historical reading: chronological, detailed, and pro Simon, and thoroughly..." Read more

"This book depicts Paul Simon’s life as a continuing journey with twists and turns, but never losing site of the ball...." Read more

"...Expertly written and a great American story." Read more

"...A lot of interesting back story that you have never heard, and lets you in on his writing process" Read more

6 customers mention "Pacing"2 positive4 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book, with some finding it entertaining while others say they were bored from the beginning.

"...Life" by Marc Eliot, which earned one star for being sloppy, poorly researched, and for having included laughably poor analyses of songs and..." Read more

"...Simon still had it, playful and serious, loaded with surprises in the music. I wore the record out...." Read more

"...I don't know much about Paul Simon as a person, but he came off as rather unlikable and absolutely terrible to Art, despite the fact that you know..." Read more

"The book was interesting but a little long and boring In Some spots...." Read more

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whosewoodstheseare
A Broadway Musical About a Gang Member Murderer, Really?
Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2023
Format: Audible AudiobookVerified Purchase

Simon and Garfunkel were the more moderate alternative to 1960's and 1970's sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, and for that the book makes interesting historical reading: chronological, detailed, and pro Simon, and thoroughly documents that it was the Simon and Garfunkel together songs of the Vietnam era fans most remember, not the later Paul Simon alone albums, which became more copycat and obscure as time went on, leading to his celebration of the Capeman, a teenage Puerto Rican gang member who ruthlessly murdered two innocent teenagers in 1959. Sentenced to death, the Capeman was supported by Eleanor Roosevelt, Nelson Rockefeller, and Hugh Carey, and released from prison. He still had contempt for American justice, as witnessed by his escape from prison before his release. Acquitted of the escape through the efforts of attorney William Kunstler, the murderer, reborn as a Christian, had gotten through high school and college and become a celebrity writer, so Simon spent 11 million dollars making a Broadway musical about the murderer. It was a flop, Simon soon learning from the families of the victim's how insensitive it was for him to actually make a Broadway musical about the slaughter of their children. Simon protested he was helping the Latino community, but learned Latinos don't like murderers any better than anyone else, outside of delusional rock stars like Simon. The critics didn't like Simon's Broadway flop either, but the play won several awards, which was generally the direction of Simon's long career after splitting with Garfunkel. The public had to be pumped up by occasional reunions of Simon and Garfunkel performing the old stuff, while the awards continued to come and the critics, not always convinced, eventually played along. Simon managed to copy Bob Dylan, Gospel, blues, Peruvian music, and South African music, among many other things, and managed to embrace both political extremism, lending his song America to Bernie Sanders, and environmental extremism, praising a guy who proposed preserving half of the earth free from humans. Simon also experimented with a South American native hallucinogen which he credited with helping him compose until he started to have bad experiences with it.

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N. N Wahlert
Most valuable biography
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2018
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I already own two Paul Simon biographies, but ever since I kept tabs on the publication date on this book (about a year ago), I’ve been very eagerly anticipating it. Having followed Robert Hilburn’s columns and knowing his positive statements on two or three of Simon’s albums, I’m happy to say this book satisfies most of my expectations, with a few qualifiers.

Hilburn’s reviews have quite frequently emphasized the lyric elements in a song, to the exclusion of musical quality. Here is where the two of us diverge. Myself, I’m the sort of listener for whom good music can redeem uninspired lyrics, but it doesn’t work vice versa. No lyric, no matter how intelligent, can compensate for a weak melody or unimaginative arrangement. At best, Hilburn merely alludes to a song’s musical value; this explains how he inflated the importance of a John Lennon solo effort, but slammed nearly everything Paul McCartney did.

In the present book Hilburn often makes complete quotations of a song lyric he finds noteworthy. I skip these parts of the book: I don’t need a book to tell me that Simon writes great lyrics. ( Indeed, part of my particular ritual when opening a new Paul Simon release is to read the complete lyrics before listening to it.)

In this book Hilburn is less guilty of this than elsewhere, thanks in large part to Simon’s restless desire to grow musically. The author scrupulously chronicles Simon’s explorations of other musical cultures. This is Simon’s rationalization for leaving Art Garfunkel (let’s face it: Garfunkel was an impediment to his muse; case closed). Simon was able to pick up on reggae, gospel, jazz-oriented songwriting, African rhythms (with their doo-wop connections to western pop), the 43-tone scale.

But neither Hilburn nor Simon ever quite get to the root of the big question that’s always dogged me: What is it that makes a Paul Simon song a Paul Simon song? Hilburn has the advantage of drawing upon over one hundred hours of taped conversation with the songwriter, a factor which alone makes this book a superb achievement. And Simon provides far more detail than other sources in breaking down and analyzing his composing technique; the book’s attention is given over largely to his own words. Having devoured all 400-plus pages, I finally had to come to the conclusion that Simon’s entire career was an endless quest to arrive at his own particular way of saying things. If you haven’t noticed, scarcely any other artists have recorded cover versions of his solo stuff. When they cover other classic rock tunes, more often than not they’ll treat it as a piece of classical music, never daring to vary their remake from the original sound, feel, and even the key of the song. To me, this is just so much pretentiousness. When other artists try to replicate the sound and feel of a Paul Simon song, they usually can’t come close to his ability to put it all across. It’s all in his delivery.

Maybe Simon downplayed melodicism the further he went into world beat; maybe this is why the “and Garfunkel” stuff is still covered by other artists, though I don’t agree with this. Author Hilburn fails to mention one idiosyncrasy of Simon’s songwriting: the way in which he’ll stretch out the ending syllable of a line over several notes; or vice versa, cramming so many syllables over the last note. It’s a rather amusing technical quirk that a fan like me never noticed until I took a music theory class and we were discussing pop songwriting and a student mentioned it and the teacher laughingly agreed. It’s a characteristic I uncovered more and more, the further I explored Simon’s writing.

Otherwise, this is a book I greatly recommend.

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John Breidinger
excellent work
Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2025
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Hilburn does an outstanding job documenting the complex and imposing Paul Simon. Any Simon fan would enjoy this book! It tells the Paul Simon story with accuracy and passion. Well done!

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Plap17
Music that will endure
Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2018
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
When you think about rock star, you don't think Simon. Some may dismiss it as not looking the part. If fact, he transcended labels.

Hilburn writes: "If you consider only the songs he wrote in the 60s Simon would be on the list of great american songwriters. If you considered only the songs he wrote in the 70s, he would also be on that list. If you considered the 80s or 90s, he would still be viewed as one of the greats. When you put all these periods together, Simon isn't just on the short list, he's high on it."

Indeed, if you've missed the last 3 albums, you've missed the best of his career.

After the five years of Simon and garfunkel, he just kept going where the music led, and those of us who were lucky to stay caught up, were enriched.

An LA Times critic wrote: "Paul Simon really is the godfather of world music. Dylan had the prophet's vision, yet it was Simon who looked beyond the music of his own country and found a way to utilize styles from all over the world in a way that made them palatable to rock audiences.
More than any other musician of his age or stature - more than Dylan or Aretha Franklin, or Jagger,more than McCartney or Joni Mitchell - he seems unburdened by the years, and by his own reputation. He has managed to become neither a wizened oracle nor an oldies act, and his best songs convey the appealing sensation of listening to a guy who is still trying to figure out what he's doing.

Hilburn choses his topics based on the music that will endure. Simon from Sounds of Silence to Stranger to Stranger, will endure.

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Oggie
Super Read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 1, 2021
Verified Purchase

A very thorough account of the life and career of this fantastically talented musician, who for me is up there with Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Lennon/McCartney as the finest composers of their generation. I'm left with an image of an honest, sometimes troubled, man who is driven to succeed and his intolerance of inferiority and half measures is obvious. His experimentation with music from other cultures (e.g. the Graceland period) is well documented, as are the sometimes political issues he faced. The recollection of his many tours is enlightening, as is his commitment and generosity to the good causes he has promoted throughout his career. As a fan of Art Garfunkel (himself seemingly quite a troubled man!) I found the many criticisms of him slightly disappointing, although understandable if the accounts were accurate. In summary, a great book which will stay on my bookshelf and certainly be read again.

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Hugh Crawford
bien escrito
Reviewed in Spain on June 3, 2020
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Este biografia de Paul Simon cubre todas las fases de su vida, y con bastante integridad. Como es bastante habitual con cantantes de su edad sus primeros años son los mas interesantes, y igualmente son las canciones de 1965 hasta 1985 que me gusta mas. Igualmente son los últimos 30 años que atraen menos, y el autor Robert Hilburn se dedica mas a dar detalles del "activismo social" de Simon que me interesa poco. Sin embargo es un libro bien escrito,y me imagino muy apreciado por sus "fans". Incluye una interesante collecion de fotos también.

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mindzapping
Well done, Paul
Reviewed in Germany on November 13, 2018
Verified Purchase
Mit Biographien ist es immer so eine Sache. Oft ist der Mensch, über den geschrieben wird, den Aufwand nicht wert oder das Berichtete nur für eine Minderheit von Interesse. Aber hier ist es Robert Hilburn gelungen, in die Schöpfungsprozesse eines exzeptionellen Musikers und Songwriters einzudringen. Wen das interessiert, der findet hier einen "pot of gold".

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Tim Chesterton
A real treat
Reviewed in Canada on July 19, 2023
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
When I was in high school in the 1970s my best friend and I learned top play guitar and tried very hard to sound like Simon and Garfunkel. I've been listening to his music for fifty years, and to read this book was to have that soundtrack playing in my head from beginning to end. There were lots of things I already knew, but also much new information for me. I particularly enjoyed the insights into Paul's songwriting methods. I highly recommend this book.

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Amazon Customer
Excellent
Reviewed in Australia on October 8, 2018
Verified Purchase
As Paul Simonhad agreed to this book, it made it eminently readable. Of course this means he also was able to edit the content but as I didn't want to know about his private life, just his songs and why he wrote them, I found it enjoyable.

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