Paul Simon

"I like them all. … They're all pictures of me when I wrote them. … I have no favorite songs."

"I wanted to sing other types of songs that Simon and Garfunkel wouldn't do. "Mother and Child Reunion" for example, is not a song that you would have normally thought that Simon and Garfunkel would have done. It's possible that they might have. But it wouldn't have been the same, and I don't know if I would have been so inclined in that direction. So for me it was a chance to break out and gamble a little bit … The breakup had to do with a natural drifting apart as we got older and the separate lives that were more individual. We weren't so consumed with recording and performing. We had other activities … there was no great pressure to stay together other than money, which exerted very little influence upon us. … We didn't need the money."

"There was always some kind of strain, but it was workable. The bigger you get, the more of a strain it is, because in your everyday life, you're less used to compromising. As you get bigger, you have your own way. But in a partnership you always have to compromise. … When you get into a partnership, you're not the boss. There's no boss. That makes it hard."

"Instead of thinking in terms of chords, I think of voice-leading; that is, melody line and bass line, and where the bass line goes. If you do that, you'll have the right chord. [These voices] will give you some alternatives, and you can play those different alternatives to hear which one suits your ear... Keep the bass line moving so you don't stay in one spot: if you have an interesting bass line and you roll it against the melody, the chords are going to come out right."

"I didn't want to repeat the same notes in the second verse that I used in the first, so I wrote out all the notes of the song and all the notes that were missing in the scale, given that there are twelve notes from octave to octave. All those notes that weren't in the scale were the ones I wanted in for the next verse. The listener isn't aware that they are new notes, but the sound is pleasing to the ear. I change the key, and somehow it's fresh because you haven't heard those notes before."

"Well its great to do a neighborhood concert. I hope everyone can hear us. I hope that the sound is good. I hope we are blasting Central Park West and Fifth avenue pretty much away. I just want to thank the police department and the fire department and the parks commissioner, and Ed Koch [Audience boos] — and particularly, you know, people that never get recognized for doing good things for the city, a group of people that have donated half of the proceeds that they're making tonight — the guys who are selling loose joints are giving the city half of their income tonight."

"I am editing myself as we go along"

"I have gone through different phases in my music writing. There was a time when I used a little exercise — incorporating all of the twelve notes in the chromatic scale — to get me going. I used this technique for a while, but I don't any longer because I am going back to simpler melodies. Originally I moved away from the simple songs because I thought they were too simple."

"I write from instinct, from inexplicable sparkle. I don't know why I'm writing what I'm writing. Usually, I sit and I let my hands wander on my guitar. And I sing anything. I play anything. And I wait till I come across a pleasing accident. Then I start to develop it. Once you take a piece of musical information, there are certain implications that it automatically contains — the implication of that phrase elongated, contracted, or inverted or in another time signature. So you start with an impulse and go to what your ear likes."

"[Rock 'n' roll] really is not given to thinking — and resents thinking. Which I believe is the big error of rock 'n' roll. It's always aspired to be the music of the working class. And it's never been looked upon as a vocabulary for art and artistic thinking... We have to be able to expand the vocabulary to express more complex thoughts."

"This is near enough true bliss."

"Slip slidin' away Slip slidin' away. You know the nearer your destination The more you're slip slidin' away."

"God only knows God makes his plan The information's unavailable To the mortal man. We work our jobs Collect our pay Believe we're gliding down the highway When in fact we're slip slidin' away."

"Hello darkness, my old friend I've come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains Within the sound of silence."

"And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people maybe more People talking without speaking People hearing without listening People writing songs that voices never shared No one dared Disturb the sound of silence."

""Fools," said I, "you do not know Silence like a cancer grows Hear my words that I might teach you Take my arms that I might reach you" But my words like silent raindrops fell And echoed in the wells of silence."

"And the people bowed and prayed To the neon god they made And the sign flashed out its warning In the words that it was forming And the sign said "The words of the prophets Are written on the subway walls And tenement halls And whispered in the sound of silence""

"A winter's day In a deep and dark December; I am alone, Gazing from my window to the streets below On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow. I am a rock, I am an island."

"I’ve built walls, A fortress deep and mighty, That none may penetrate. I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain. It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain."

"I am shielded in my armor Hiding in my room safe within my womb I touch no one and no one touches me. I am a rock. I am an island. And a rock feels no pain. And an island never cries."

"I'm sitting in the railway station. Got a ticket to my destination. On a tour of one-night stands my suitcase and guitar in hand. And ev'ry stop is neatly planned for a poet and a one-man band."

"Home where my thought's escaping, Home where my music's playing, Home where my love lies waiting Silently for me."

"Tonight I'll sing my songs again, I'll play the game and pretend. But all my words come back to me in shades of mediocrity Like emptiness in harmony I need someone to comfort me."

"Slow down, you move too fast. You got to make the morning last. Just kicking down the cobblestones. Looking for fun and Feelin' Groovy."

"Let us be lovers we'll marry our fortunes together. I've got some real estate here in my bag. So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner's pies, And we walked off to look for America"

"Laughing on the bus, playing games with the faces, She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy, I said, 'Be careful, his bowtie is really a camera.'"

"Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you."

"And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson, Jesus loves you more than you will know. Whoa, whoa, whoa God bless you, please, Mrs. Robinson, Heaven holds a place for those who pray. Hey hey hey, hey hey hey."

"Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? A nation turns it's lonely eyes to you Ooo ooo ooo. What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson? "Joltin' Joe has left and gone away." Hey hey hey, hey hey hey."

"Time, time, time, see what's become of me, While I looked around for my possibilities, I was so hard to please, But look around, the leaves are brown, And the sky is a hazy shade of winter."

"Hang on to your hopes, my friend. That's an easy thing to say, But if your hopes should pass away Simply pretend that you can build them again."

"Seasons change with the scenery; Weaving time in a tapestry. Won't you stop and remember me At any convenient time?"

"Someone told me It's all happening at the zoo. I do believe it, I do believe it's true."

"The monkeys stand for honesty, Giraffes are insincere, And the elephants are kindly but They're dumb. Orangutans are skeptical Of changes in their cages, And the zookeeper is very fond of rum."

"Zebras are reactionaries, Antelopes are missionaries, Pigeons plot in secrecy, And hamsters turn on frequently."

"When you're weary Feeling small When tears are in your eyes I will dry them all I'm on your side When times get rough And friends just can't be found Like a bridge over troubled water I will lay me down."

"I'll take your part When darkness comes And pain is all around."

"Sail on Silver Girl, Sail on by Your time has come to shine All your dreams are on their way See how they shine If you need a friend I'm sailing right behind..."

"I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail Yes I would, if I could, I surely would I'd rather be a hammer than a nail Yes I would, if I only could, I surely would"

"Cecilia, you're breaking my heart You're shaking my confidence daily Oh, Cecilia, I'm down on my knees I'm begging you please to come home."

"In the clearing stands a boxer And a fighter by his trade And he carries the reminders Of ev'ry glove that laid him down Or cut him till he cried out In his anger and his shame "I am leaving, I am leaving." But the fighter still remains."

"I get all the news I need from the weather report."

"No I would not give you false hope On this strange and mournful day But the mother and child reunion Is only a motion away, Oh, little darling of mine I can't for the life of me Remember a sadder day I know they say let it be But it just don't work out that way..."

"When the papa found out, he began to shout, and he started the investigation It's against the law, it was against the law What the mama saw, it was against the law."

"I'm on my way, I don't know where I'm goin', I'm on my way, I'm takin' my time, but I don't know where. Goodbye to Rosie, the Queen of Corona See you, me and Julio down by the schoolyard."

"A young girl in a parkin' lot was preaching to a crowd Singing sacred songs and reading from the Bible Well, I told her I was lost and she told all about the Pentecost And I seen that girl as the road to my survival... Even now that sweet memory lingers"

"Peace like a river ran through the city Long past the midnight curfew We sat starry-eyed We were satisfied... You can beat us with wires You can beat us with chains You can run out your rules But you know you can't outrun the history train"

"When I look back on all the crap I learned in high school, It's a wonder I can think at all, And though my lack of education hasn't hurt me none, I can read the writing on the wall."

"Kodachrome, They give us those nice bright colours, Give us the greens of summers, Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, Oh, yeah, I got a Nikon camera, I love to take a photograph, So Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away."

"And the war rages on in a land called somewhere And Generals order their men to kill And to fight for a cause they've long ago forgotten While a little cloud weeps on the side of a hill."