by Ian Gualtiere ’27 on February 5, 2026
A&E - Music
The 1960s and early 1970s were very generous to the singer-songwriter Paul Simon. Simon was a part of the internationally known folk-rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Their most popular years, which saw greater creative control and worldwide recognition, with the release of five albums that spanned from 1963 to 1970. The duo had hit their stride with three commercially successful albums: the folky Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966), the psychedelic Bookends (1968), and genre-spanning Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970). By the time the duo broke up, due to artistic disagreements and a troubled relationship, Simon & Garfunkel had released some of the most era-defining songs that captured the vast potential and anti-establishment themes within the baby boom generation. This vast array of songs include “The Sound of Silence” (1964) and “I Am a Rock” (1966), “Homeward Bound” (1966) and “The 59th Street Bridge Song” (1966), “America” (1968) and “Mrs. Robinson” (1968), and their final releases of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (1970) and “The Boxer” (1970). Simon &Garfunkel entered the 1970s like a divorced couple who just happened to have nine Grammy Awards.
Like any new solo act who had just left one of the most well-known bands in history, the pressure on Simon to recreate his past success was immense. And produce he did, with two more Grammy wins and three consecutive commercially successful albums: Paul Simon (1972), There Goes Rhymin’ Simon (1973), and Still Crazy After All These Years (1975). Over the next decade, Simon would see ups and downs as he worked on multiple projects that spanned from acting roles to cameo appearances on Saturday Night Live and Sesame Street. An attempted reunion with Garfunkel, which would end in another split, resulted in Simon’s worst-received album to date, Hearts and Bones (1983).
By 1985, Simon was searching for a new sound and a new break. After being lent a bootlegged cassette tape of mbaqanga music, which originated in Black African street music in Soweto, South Africa, Simon was drawn to the South African sound that reminded him of 1950s rhythm and blues from the United States. Simon’s artistic curiosity led him to try to identify the groups, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the Boyoyo Boys, and contact them for a possible collaboration in South Africa. What proved to be an extreme issue for traveling and even performing in South Africa was that the United Nations had enacted a cultural boycott on the nation due to its racist policy of apartheid. Apartheid was the practice of forced racial segregation that ensured South Africa’s white minority population had exerted all political, economic, and social influence throughout the nation, while segregation in all aspects of life was imposed upon its black majority. Simon’s determination to explore and emphasize black South African music, and not partake in any agreement with the government, did not deter him as he flew to South Africa in secret. Many of his label producers and executives were not interested in this project, as many viewed Simon to be a commercial failure and bad investment; this, in Simon’s eyes, gave him much more creative control and freedom to explore the hundreds of native South African sounds without any Western interference.
What resulted from nearly eight months of studio work and production was Simon’s reemergence into the music world, which is viewed by many as his magnum opus. Graceland (1986) sought to capture the sounds that encompassed both American and South African genres: pop, rock, a capella, zydeco, isicathamiya, and mbaqanga. The songs feature numerous South African musicians and groups, even musicians from Lesotho and Senegal, who the album helped put onto an international stage. The themes tackled by Simon’s lyrics paint an image of desperation and hope, darkness and light, and the typical neurotic New York sensibilities that he always shines with. A theme of viewing third-world suffering through the lens of Western materialism often allowed Simon to be critical of the mass consumerism in the 1980s. The first track, “The Boy in the Bubble,” cites examples of starvation and terrorism along with the scene of the “shattering of shop windows / the bomb in the baby carriage was wired to the radio.” “Homeless” employs a capella to describe the racial divide in poverty levels within South Africa, and “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” cites the comical lack of teenage romances due to extreme poverty. “You Can Call Me Al” mentions the fear of becoming inauthentic in the commercial age. The title track, “Graceland,” offers a place of solace where all the downcast, downtrodden, and disregarded can one day be received in peace and comfort, all while paying homage to Elvis Presley’s Memphis home.
The overarching theme of Graceland is to search for spiritual direction and purpose in this world; whether there are issues of war, poverty, racism, and moral decay, there is still an underlying affirmation that hope will prevail in the face of dread. This theme was emphasized in the real world when, in 1991, the U.N. cultural boycott was lifted at the end of apartheid, and then anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela invited Simon to perform in Johannesburg, South Africa. The bridge of music and melody attracted people who were originally separated; the collaboration of Western and non-Western musicians allowed for a carefully cultivated celebration of culture. Graceland remains so distinctly 1980s in sound, yet so timeless in the enduring theme of survival in a modern world. 40 years later, the album continues to captivate listeners in trying to explore new forms of international music; it has come to represent a bridge of understanding in such a polarized world.