Paul Simon: A Life

Table of Contents:
Introduction. PART ONE: Tom & Jerry. 1 Two Princes from Queens. 2 Paul's Mystic Journey. 3 "Kathy's Song". 4 The Calm Before the Storm. PART TWO: Simon & Garfunkel. 5 The Sounds of Simon. 6 A Gathering of the Tribes. 7 The Graduate. 8 A Time It Was. PART THREE: Simon without Garfunkel. 9 So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright. 10 On Top and Alone. 11 Still Crazy. 12 Where Have You Gone, Mr. Simon? 13 The Prince and the Princess and the Pony. 14 Saturday in the Park with Paul and Artie ... and Carrie. PART FOUR: Going to Graceland. 15 Redemption's First Finale. 16 Saintly Rhythms. 17 New Bohemian. 18 The Singing Capeman. PART FIVE: Making Plans for the Past with Simon and Garfunkel and Joe. 19 Ladies and Gentlemen, Simon and Garfunkel. Acknowledgments. Paul Simon Discography. Notes. Bibliography. Photo Credits. Index.

About the Author :
MARC ELIOT is the New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen books on popular culture, among them the highly acclaimed biography Cary Grant, the award-winning Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince , and American rebel: The Life of Clint Eastwood , plus the music biographies Down Thunder Road: The Making of Bruce Springsteen , To the Limit: The Untold Story of the Eagles , and Death of a Rebel , about Phil Ochs. Visit him at marceliot.net.

Review :
"If Dylan was the undisputed poet of the sixties, Paul was its resident diarist" offers Eliot (American Rebel), biographer of cultural icons, as he turns his spotlight on Simon. While younger audiences may know him mostly as a solo artist, fans of Simon & Garfunkel will appreciate the attention Eliot gives to the early years. A child of musicians, Simon began singing with Garfunkel as a young man; the two have performed together, off and on, for most of their lives, and Eliot details their numerous songs, concerts, and breakups while never neglecting Simon's private life. Readers will lean about the music industry, the inspiration behind many of Simon's songs, and his musical friends and rivals as Eliot follows Simon from schoolboy to musical innovator. From efforts that came before "The Sounds of Silence" to the failed stage production of The Capeman and beyond, Eliot almost obsessively chronicles aspects of every song with prose that is smooth and lively, if at times slipping toward purple. Fans of any era of Simon's long career will appreciate the attention to detail. ( Publishers Weekly , November 8, 2010) "Were Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel lovers? No, but Marc Eliot's serviceable biography of the duo's more prolific, more successful, shorter half gets kudos for raising that question about two folk superstars who loved the sound of bickering more than the sound of silence. "'Several of the songs on [the album "Bridge Over Troubled Water"] explicitly point the accusatory finger of abandonment at Artie,' writes Eliot, who has also published books about the Eagles and Bruce Springsteen. 'To some, the finished album had a whiff of homoeroticism about it, as much of it seemed to be about the romantic breakup of a couple.' But if Garfunkel spent too much time away from music dabbling in film, perhaps it was only because Simon had been trying to go solo since at least 1957, when as teenagers the pair scored the hit 'Hey Schoolgirl' under the pseudonyms 'Tom & Jerry.' "Simon, of course, got the last laugh, composing and writing the quintuple-platinum masterpiece 'Graceland' (1986) not long after Garfunkel's acting career had gone from 'Catch-22' to B-movies like 'Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession.' "Eliot is less than convincing when he criticizes 'the sociopolitically correct media lions forever waiting for celebrities at the arrival gates of every politically incorrect airport' who dared question Simon's decision to write 'Graceland' in apartheid South Africa. But the author does pin down the source of his subject's notorious crankiness: 'Paul was, and always would be, self-conscious about his height.' Maybe all it takes to sell 5 million records is a robust Napoleon complex and a tall partner." (Washington Post Review) If Dylan was the undisputed poet of the sixties, Paul was its resident diarist" offers Eliot (American Rebel), biographer of cultural icons, as he turns his spotlight on Simon. While younger audiences may know him mostly as a solo artist, fans of Simon & Garfunkel will appreciate the attention Eliot gives to the early years. A child of musicians, Simon began singing with Garfunkel as a young man; the two have performed together, off and on, for most of their lives, and Eliot details their numerous songs, concerts, and breakups while never neglecting Simon's private life. Readers will lean about the music industry, the inspiration behind many of Simon's songs, and his musical friends and rivals as Eliot follows Simon from schoolboy to musical innovator. From efforts that came before "The Sounds of Silence" to the failed stage production of The Capeman and beyond, Eliot almost obsessively chronicles aspects of every song with prose that is smooth and lively, if at times slipping toward purple. Fans of any era of Simon's long career will appreciate the attention to detail. ( Publishers Weekly Review , October 2010)"