‘God Drenched’: Paul Simon May Be ‘Not…Religious’ — But Believers Sure Love His Latest Album

Posted on February 1, 2012 at 6:37am by Dave Urbanski

Listen again to the storied lyrics of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “Sounds of Silence”—assuming those tunes aren’t already hardwired in your brain—and you might find yourself agreeing that legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon doesn’t mind infusing his music with spiritual themes from time to time.
But for the Jewish-raised troubadour to spend his most recent album, the critically acclaimed So Beautiful or So What, singing about Jesus, angels, the afterlife, and other elements close to the heart of Christianity?
Well, that‘s a narrative turn even Simon didn’t expect.
“It’s funny,” Simon, 70, reflected in a recent PBS interview, “for somebody who’s not a religious person, God comes up a lot in my songs.”
You can watch the entire interview below:

 

Watch Paul Simon on PBS. See more from Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

Simon’s most recent project took 6th place in Christianity Today‘s top albums of 2011. CT’s review of So Beautiful or So What, which garnered five out of five stars, noted that Simon is “clearly content with life’s perplexities, humble in the face of what is bigger than himself.”
Spiritual things are “part of my thoughts on a fairly regular basis. I think of it more as spiritual feeling,” Simon told Kim Lawton, who interviewed him for the PBS segment and penned a follow-up piece for CT. “It’s something I recognize in myself and that I enjoy, and I don’t quite understand it.”
You don’t get that impression digging into the spiritually aware lyrics of So Beautiful or So What. One of its best examples is “Getting Ready for Christmas Day,” the catchy, vibrant opener for which Simon samples audio of a 1941 sermon (with the same title) by the Rev. J.M. Gates.

The result is a kind of bittersweet advent prayer—a mix of life’s ups and downs, with Simon’s protagonist looking toward “the power and the glory and the story of the Christmas Day”:

From early in November to the last week of December
I got money matters weighing me down
Oh the music may be merry, but it’s only temporary
I know Santa Claus is coming to town
In the days I work my day job, in the nights I work my night
But it all comes down to working man’s pay
Getting ready, I’m getting ready, ready for Christmas Day
(Reverend Gates) Getting ready for Christmas Day. And let me tell you, namely, the undertaker, he’s getting ready for your body. Not only that, the jailer he’s getting ready for you. Christmas Day. Hmm? And not only the jailer, but the lawyer, the police force. Now getting ready for Christmas Day, and I want you to bear it in mind.

You can check out the song’s music video below:

 

 In the behind-the-scenes video (below), Simon appears a bit in awe of how Gates’ sermon just seemed “meant” for his music and lyrics:

 


“The Afterlife”—a whimsical tune with insightful perspectives on eternity—features a striking lyric offering that a face-to-face meeting with God should obliterate any earthly burdens we bear:

After you climb up the ladder of time
The Lord God is near
Face-to-face in the vastness of space
Your words disappear
And you feel like you’re swimming in an ocean of love
And the current is strong

And check out the opening salvo of “Love and Hard Times”:

God and His only Son
Paid a courtesy call on Earth
One Sunday morning
Orange blossoms opened their fragrant lips
Songbirds sang from the tips of Cottonwoods
Old folks wept for His love in these hard times

Based on such a collection of (dare we say) biblically rich lyrics, one can‘t help wondering what’s been going on in Simon’s soul of late, whether he understands those goings on or not.
Others haven’t waited for the fabled bard to figure it all out.
Cathleen Falsani, an acclaimed Christian cultural and arts critic, calls So Beautiful or So What “one of the most beautiful, gracefully powerful and memorable collections of spiritual musical musings in recent memory.” She adds a declaration from fellow believer and critic, Northern Ireland’s Steve Stockman, that Simon’s latest effort is “so God drenched that it could win best Christian album of the year.”
It came close, but that would seem a trivial concern to Simon, who clearly gets more out of enjoying this strange turn in his spiritual journey…wherever it takes him.
“Quite often, people read or hear things in my songs that I think are more true than what I wrote,” he told Lawton. “I feel I’m like a vessel, and it passed through me, and I’m glad.”

You Will Be On MTV Europe

It's 12:59 in the a.m. and I can't sleep. I got a little restless wondering what was going on with my album so I called "Scoe" one last time and left a message. I say one last time because I don't see any reason to continue calling if my calls aren't getting returned. ...Maybe he'll call back this time.

Nothing I'm writing right now is meant to be a downer, I'm just writing. In fact, I am in high spirits! I really believe that my life is finally making a turning point for the better! I'm not even worried about what might happen because I know that what is best is what's going to happen. We have the power to change the universe around us and it comes down to our thoughts, words, and emotions.

My thoughts are of a successful music career. That thought alone, of being able to do what I love the most for a living, brings me great joy. I can't help but smile! I think that if you want something to come to pass you need to have faith and act as if you already have it. But that doesn't mean pretending. I think it means you need to imagine yourself where you want to be and imagine what it would feel like if you were already there. It takes a lot of emotional control because you have to put aside all the negative emotions that tell you it will never happen. My words (though I'm not always good at this) reflect my thoughts and emotions.

I was told by "Scoe" last year that I will be on MTV Europe this year, and that I needed to believe it. I told him I did, and I still do. We are getting close to the last quarter of the year to release new music. So unless we go on a crash course to release my album (or at least a single) and shoot a music video so that it makes sense that I'm on MTV Europe, unless you want me to stand in a room waving at the camera for three minutes, we are too late.

But you know what? I believe in God and He is never late. NEVER. I have had that proven to me more times than I can count, and I have witnesses who can testify to that. Some of them have even wished that God would not come through so that they could prove to me once and for all that He didn't exist. Guess what. He came through at the last possible minute and proved to them that He did exist. I see my current situation as being no different. God is never late so I am confident in saying right now that I will be on MTV Europe before the year is through! Don't believe me? Just watch. I'll be announcing it as soon as it happens.

Update, June 02, 2012: I was never on MTV Europe before the year was through. So what does this mean? I can't say God doesn't exist, because this is the first time I've experienced Him not coming through when I thought He would. I do believe He is never late, so when things do happen, it will all make sense. But it doesn't right now. Some could say that my confidence is misplaced or I'm misguided, but I would say that I have always silently prayed that above all else, God's Will was done in my life. Maybe it's not God's Will. Maybe it is, but not the appointed time yet. Whatever the case may be, my faith is still strong and unwavering. If that makes me seem more foolish to some of you, then so be it. I make no apologies. 

Matthew Dean Shaffer #1

Three thoughts, separate but connected:

1)Yes, I believe God exists, and I believe that coffee and music exist too, but not in the same plain of existence, well, yes, in the same plain, but lower. Wait. Let me start over. God is far more important than coffee or music; but I say I love all three. Sometimes I wonder if I use love a little too casually where God is concerned.

2)We love coffee (or tea if that's your thing; perhaps hot chocolate?). We love music (or AM talk radio if you're one of those people who doesn't like music; I have been acquainted with one such person). But do we LOVE God or do we just love God? Or do we just kind of like Him? Or worst yet, do we just mildly tolerate His presence? What do we mean when we say we love Him? I ask this because I have heard the word "love" used interchangeably with all of these terms of endearment (or lack there of).

3)I would have to say in my life, keeping things in their proper perspective and order of importance, the following statement is true: I LOVE God. I love music. I love coffee too. I mildly tolerate tea.

A Most Revolutionary Disappointment

I have been working on my double album A Most Revolutionary Lemon for nearly two years. I finished the recording and mastering part almost six weeks ago. The artwork was done about a month ago. I have six singles to go along with it too.

In the past I have made my albums as internet only mp3 releases, but this time I poured so much time and energy into this album that I wanted to make at least a hundred physical copies of it. It has taken several months to get all the material ready. I'm about halfway done with the packaging. I haven't been expecting to sell them very fast because I don't have a venue where I can sell them. I would sell Physical copies through the internet, but everyone wants money upfront to do this. I don't have enough disposable income to do something even as simple as that. Usually the starting level (for anything worthwhile to a musician) is a months wages or higher for me. To save up that kind of money with what little extra I have every month would take me at least two years. This is why I have only made internet releases until now. Like I said, I put too much into this album to make it an internet only release.

In addition to making physical copies I was still planning on releasing this the same I always had through the internet. That was through We7.com. They are a company that includes unsigned artists in their catalogue with signed artists. The idea being that it gives us unsigned artists a fair chance. We still had to pass a pier review before getting on the site, which I did. In short, it was my best chance to get noticed, because it didn't cost me anything (which I couldn't afford anyway), to get some of the exposure I needed.

Today I have found out that even though I am on We7.com I now have to submit all my new releases, not through the internet but in physical form, to somewhere in England, and if my release passes some new review then it will get to be released on the site that all my other music is already on. Maybe this will be a good thing in the end. I still have to read more about it, but from what I have read it looks like it is going to cost me, again, more than I can afford.

So what it looks like right now is I have an amazing double album and six singles that may get shelved indefinitely. Obviously, I'm a little ticked off. There is nothing left that I can do except save my money for the next two years, hope no one steals my truly original and unique sound (I'm not kidding)in the meantime, and trust that God will take care of it. Really, at this point, only He can do something. He has done amazing things in the past. I can attest to that. Sometimes it's hard though to realize you are helpless without Him.