The Paul Simon Songbook

Background

The Paul Simon Songbook was recorded in Europe. Simon made several trips to England in 1964 and '65, performing in small clubs and theatres. During 1965 he played in Paris and Copenhagen, along with London and other locations in the UK. In 1964, Simon and Art Garfunkel had released the folk-inspired album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. in the US. While Simon was touring and appearing on radio shows in England in 1965 (sometimes with Garfunkel), he began to receive attention from fans. At the time Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. had not yet been released in Britain (and would not be until 1968). Simon's other recordings then available in Britain consisted of three 45 rpm singles released on various labels, two of which were rock 'n' roll-inspired recordings with Garfunkel under the name Tom & Jerry. The other was representative of his experiments in folk, but had been released in 1964 under the pseudonym Paul Kane. He was still under contract to Columbia, so he could record for their British label, CBS Records, and therefore decided to record a set of tracks for release to his folk audience. The Paul Simon Songbook was the result.

Recording and releases

Simon recorded the album over several dates in June 1965. Most of the songs required several takes. He only had one microphone for both his voice and his guitar.

The album was released along with the single "I Am a Rock/Leaves That Are Green", CBS 201797.

Subsequent history

The Songbook was released in the U.S. by Columbia very briefly in 1969, but was recalled within a few days when Simon objected. It was re-released in 1981 on Columbia LP in the "Collected Works" boxed set, and in 2004 by Columbia/Legacy on CD. The CD features two bonus tracks, alternative versions of "I Am a Rock" and "A Church is Burning" which were not part of the 1965 LP release. The mono version was released on CD.

The lyrics for the anti-war song "The Side of a Hill" were incorporated into the Simon & Garfunkel arrangement of "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" on Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.

Later in 1965 and in early 1966, following the success in the U.S. of "The Sound of Silence" as a single, Simon & Garfunkel re-recorded several of the songs featured on The Paul Simon Songbook and released them on their albums Sounds of Silence and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.

Track listing

All songs written by Paul Simon unless otherwise indicated.

1. "I Am a Rock" - 2:52
2. "Leaves That Are Green" - 2:41
3. "A Church Is Burning" - 3:38
4. "April Come She Will" - 1:55
5. "The Sound of Silence" - 3:19
6. "A Most Peculiar Man" - 2:26
7. "He Was My Brother" (Paul Kane*) - 2:58
8. "Kathy's Song" - 3:42
9. "The Side of a Hill" (Kane) - 2:28
10. "A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)" - 2:25
11. "Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall" - 2:27
12. "Patterns" - 3:13

CD bonus tracks (2004)

1. "I Am a Rock" (alternate version) - 2:44
2. "A Church Is Burning" (alternate version) - 3:10

* Paul Kane was a pseudonym used by Simon at this time, because of his fondness for the film Citizen Kane.

Other recordings