Reception īillboard said it was one of Simon's most intricate verbal tour de forces, and said that "the melody moves along to beguiling Afro-Caribbean polyrhythms." Chart performance After much work on the track, Halee used tape delays feeding separately into the two audio channels, which made the vocals clear. Simon's vocals on the song are rather quick-paced, which made them difficult to mix over the numerous instruments in the backing track. The penny whistle solo was performed by jazz musician Morris Goldberg.Īfter the song's completion, it was mixed at The Hit Factory alongside the rest of Graceland, at an average of two days per song. The decision to reverse the recording was made by Simon's long-time engineer Roy Halee, who noted in a later interview that this type of experimentation was common in order to make the songs more interesting. The song features a bass run performed by Bakithi Kumalo the solo is palindromic as only the first half was recorded, and was then played backwards for the second half. Synthesizer player Rob Mounsey arranged and conducted the horn section – eight brass and a bass saxophone – and contributed heavily to the track's arrangement and groove. They may have added real saxophones later but my synthesized saxophones are definitely there as well. He spelled out each part exactly as he wanted them for the iconic beginning of the song. "I had written a variety of saxophone emulations from baritone to alto which had a realistic yet unorthodox quality. Some of the saxophone textures heard on "You Can Call Me Al" were created by Adrian Belew on a guitar synthesizer. "You Can Call Me Al" was recorded entirely at The Hit Factory in New York City in April 1986 it differs from much of Graceland in that regard, because most songs on the record were recorded in numerous locales worldwide. Simon structured the song's lyrics in a way that listeners would be given the simplest information first, before getting abstract with his imagery in the song's third verse: "Because there's been a structure, those abstract images, they will come down and fall into one of the slots that the mind has already made up about the structure of the song." Recording and production The song opens simply, with its protagonist wondering aloud why his life is difficult, amid other questions. However, as Simon himself explained during the Graceland episode of the Classic Albums documentary series, by the third verse the lyrics move from a generic portrait-like perspective to a personal and autobiographical one, as he describes his journey to South Africa which inspired the entire album. Jon Pareles noted that the lyrics can be interpreted as describing a man experiencing a midlife crisis ("Where's my wife and family? What if I die here? Who'll be my role model?"). French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, who was attending the same party, mistakenly referred to Paul as "Al" and to Peggy as "Betty", inspiring Simon to write a song. The names in the song came from an incident at a party that Simon went to with his then-wife Peggy Harper. Released in August 1986, "You Can Call Me Al" became one of Simon's biggest solo hits, reaching the top five in seven countries. Its lyrics were partially inspired by Simon's trip to South Africa and experience with its culture. Written by Simon, its lyrics follow an individual seemingly experiencing a midlife crisis. It was the lead single from his seventh studio album, Graceland (1986), released on Warner Bros. " You Can Call Me Al" is a song by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. "You Can Call Me Al" (original version) on YouTube.
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