PAUL SIMON - SLIP, SLIDIN' AWAY

SLIP, SLIDIN' AWAY

PAUL SIMON

SONGWRITER: PAUL SIMON

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

LABEL: COLUMBIA RECORDS

GENRE: SOFT ROCK

YEAR: 1975

 

           Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor. Simon's musical career has spanned over six decades. He reached fame and commercial success as half of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, formed in 1956 with Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote nearly all of their songs, including US number-one singles "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", and "Bridge over Troubled Water".

             After Simon & Garfunkel split up in 1970, at the height of their popularity, Simon began a successful solo career. He recorded three acclaimed albums over the following five years. In 1986, following a career slump, he released Graceland, an album inspired by South African township music, which sold 14 million copies worldwide and remains his most popular solo work. Simon also wrote and starred in the film One-Trick Pony (1980) and co-wrote the Broadway musical The Capeman (1998) with the poet Derek Walcott. On June 3, 2016, Simon released his 13th solo album, Stranger to Stranger, which debuted at number one on the Billboard Album Chart and the UK Albums Chart.

          Simon has earned sixteen Grammy Awards for his solo and collaborative work, including three for Album of the Year (Bridge Over Troubled Water, Still Crazy After All These Years, and Graceland), and a Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: first in 1990 as a member of Simon & Garfunkel and again in 2001 for his solo career. In 2006 he was selected as one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World" by Time. In 2011, Rolling Stone named Simon one of the 100 greatest guitarists, and in 2015 he was ranked eighth in their list of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Simon was the first recipient of the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2007.

           Still Crazy After All These Years is the fourth solo studio album by Paul Simon. Recorded and released in 1975, the album produced four U.S. Top 40 hits: "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" (#1), "Gone at Last" (#23), "My Little Town" (#9, credited to Simon & Garfunkel), and the title track (#40). It won two Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 1976.

         "My Little Town" reunited Simon with former partner Art Garfunkel for the first time since 1970, while "Gone at Last" was a duet between Simon and Phoebe Snow. Several tracks featured members of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section as a backing band.

           The title track has been recorded by Rosemary Clooney (on her 1993 album Still on the Road), Ray Charles (on his 1993 album My World), Karen Carpenter (on her self-titled solo album released posthumously in 1996), and Willie Nelson (on the soundtrack of the 2000 motion picture Space Cowboys).

Slip slidin' away

Slip slidin' away

You know the nearer your destination

The more you're slip slidin' away

I know a man

He came from my home town

He wore his passion for his woman

Like a thorny crown

He said delores

I live in fear

My love for you's so overpowering

I'm afraid that I will disappear

 

Slip slidin' away

Slip slidin' away

You know the nearer your destination

The more you're slip slidin' away

 

I know a woman

Became a wife

These are the very words she uses

To describe her life

She said a good day

Ain't got no rain

She said a bad day's when I lie in bed

And think of things that might have been

 

Slip slidin' away

Slip slidin' away

You know the nearer your destination

The more you're slip slidin' away

 

And I know a fa-ther

Who had a son

He longed to tell him all the reasons

For the things he'd done

He came a long way

Just to explain

He kissed his boy as he lay sleeping

Then he turned around and headed home again

 

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

 

Slip slidin' away

Slip slidin' away

You know the nearer your destination

The more you're slip slidin' away

 

Slip slidin' away

You know the nearer your destination

The more you're slip slidin' away

Mmm...