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Graceland by  ReleasedAugust 25, 1986RecordedOctober 1985 – June 1986Studio, , ,  and  Length43:18Paul Simon chronology
(1983)Graceland
(1986)
(1988) from Graceland ""
Released: September 5, 1986 ""
Released: November 1986 ""
Released: March 1987 ""
Released: April 1987 ""
Released: August 1987

Graceland is the seventh solo studio album by American singer-songwriter . It was produced by Simon, engineered by  and released on August 25, 1986, by .

In the early 1980s, Simon's relationship with his former musical partner  had deteriorated, his marriage to actress  had collapsed, and his previous record,  (1983), had been a commercial failure. In 1984, after a period of depression, Simon became fascinated by a  of . He and Halee visited , where they spent two weeks recording with South African musicians.

Recorded in 1985 and 1986, Graceland features an eclectic mixture of genres, including , , , , , and . Simon created new compositions inspired by the recordings made in Johannesburg, collaborating with African and American artists. He received criticism for breaking  imposed against South Africa because of its policy of . Following its completion, Simon toured alongside South African musicians, performing their music and songs from Graceland.

Graceland became Simon's most successful studio album and his highest-charting album in over a decade; it is estimated to have sold up to 16 million copies worldwide. It was lauded by critics, won the  for , and is frequently cited as one of the best albums of all time. In 2006, it was added to the United States'  as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important".

Background Paul Simon, seen here in 1982, underwent a personal and commercial downturn in the early 1980s.

Following the 1970s, in which he had released a series of hit records, Simon fell on hard times. His relationship with his former musical partner  had again deteriorated; his sixth solo studio album,  (1983), achieved the lowest sales of his career; and his marriage to actress  collapsed. "I had a personal blow, a career setback, and the combination of the two put me into a tailspin," he recalled.

In 1984, Simon became fascinated with a  , Gumboots: Accordion Jive Hits, Volume II, loaned to him by Heidi Berg, a singer-songwriter with whom he was working as a producer. He described it as "very good summer music, happy music", and said it reminded him of 1950s . He began improvising melodies over it as he listened in his car.

Simon asked his contacts at his label, , to identify the artists on the tape. Through South African record producer Hilton Rosenthal, Warner confirmed that the music was South African and played by either the vocal group  or the Boyoyo Boys. "I first thought, 'Too bad it's not from Zimbabwe, Zaire, or Nigeria.' Life would have been more simple," Simon said at the time.

Simon considered buying the rights to his favourite song on the tape, "Gumboots", and using it to write his own song, as he had with the song "" in the 70s. Instead, Rosenthal suggested that Simon record an album of South African music, and sent him dozens of records from South African artists.

In the 1980s, recording in South Africa was dangerous, and the  had imposed a  for its policy of . This forced "all states to prevent all cultural, academic, sporting and other exchanges" with South Africa and ordered "writers, artists, musicians and other personalities" to boycott it. Nonetheless, Simon resolved to go to South Africa, and told : “I knew I would be criticized if I went, even though I wasn’t going to record for the government … or to perform for segregated audiences. I was following my musical instincts in wanting to work with people whose music I greatly admired."

Before leaving for Johannesburg, Simon contributed to "", a  benefiting African famine relief. Simon spoke to producers  and  about recording in South Africa, who encouraged him to do it. The South African black musicians' union also voted to let Simon come, as it could benefit their culture's music, placing it on an international stage. At the time, musicians in Johannesburg were typically paid $15 an hour; Simon arranged to pay them $200 an hour, around triple the rate for top players in New York City. Simon said he "wanted to be as above board as I could possibly be", as many of the musicians did not know who he was and would not be lured by the promise of  alone. He also offered writer's royalties to those he felt had contributed particularly to compositions.

Recording and production Initial recordings were made in , . Later recordings, including mixing, were produced at  in New York City.

In February 1985, Simon and his longtime engineer  flew to Johannesburg, intending their visit to be secret. Recording sessions took place at Ovation Studios. Halee had feared the studio would be a "horror show", but was surprised to find it "very comfortable". The studio was reminiscent of a garage, which Halee feared would be a problem for recording, and none of the musicians wore headphones.

Rosenthal used his connections to assemble the variety of musicians who had inspired Simon, including , Tao Ea Matsekha, General M. D. Shirinda and the Gaza Sisters, and the Boyoyo Boys Band. Jam sessions ranged from 10 to 30 minutes, with Simon and Halee intending to assemble an album from them upon their return home. Though the playing style was technically simple, Simon found it difficult to mimic. Outside the studio, the general public was hostile toward Simon, but the Musician's Union received him warmly. At the end of the two-week trip, Simon found himself relieved of his former personal turmoil and with a revitalized passion for music.

Though Simon described the recording sessions as "euphoric", he recalled "tension below the surface" due to the effects of apartheid. When recording sessions continued into the evening, the musicians would become tense, as they were not allowed to use public transportation or be on the streets after curfew. Simon recalled, "In the middle of the euphoric feeling in the studio, you would have reminders that you’re living in incredibly tense racial environment, where the law of the land was apartheid."

Simon and Halee spent around two weeks recording in Johannesburg before returning to the  studio in New York City to edit the material. Simon flew several South African musicians to New York to complete the record three months after the original sessions in Johannesburg. These sessions resulted in "" and "".

Simon began writing lyrics at his home in , New York, while listening to the recordings. The process was slow, but he determined he had sufficient material to begin re-recording the tracks. He played the tracks backward to "enhance their sound", interspersing gibberish to complete the rhythms.

He brought together guest musicians including American singer  and his childhood heroes the . Simon's trip to Louisiana with  led to the recording of "That Was Your Mother" with local band . After seeing the group at a dance hall in Lafayette, he recorded the song with them at a small studio behind a music store. He felt that the , central to zydeco, would make a pleasing transition back to his own culture. Afterward, he contacted Mexican-American band , with whom he recorded "All Around the World or The Myth of Fingerprints" in Los Angeles.

Engineer Roy Halee edited the album with new digital technology, transferring  recordings to the  countless times. He said: "The amount of editing that went into that album was unbelievable ... without the facility to edit digital, I don't think we could have done that project." He used  on every song, and paid particular attention to the bass, saying: "The bassline is what the album is all about. It's the essence of everything that happened." Each song was mixed in about two days at the Hit Factory, where most of the vocal  were recorded.

Warner executives were uninterested in the project, viewing Simon as a bad investment due to the failure of his previous two solo albums. The label was much more invested in  and , viewing Simon as a has-been. Simon felt their indifference to him worked in his favor, as it gave him more freedom. According to Halee, he believed executives at the label viewed the duo as "crazy".

Music Composition My typical style of songwriting in the past has been to sit with a guitar and write a song, finish it, go into the studio, book the musicians, lay out the song and the chords, and then try to make a track. With these musicians, I was doing it the other way around. The tracks preceded the songs. We worked improvisationally. While a group was playing in the studio, I would sing melodies and words—anything that fit the scale they were playing in.

—Paul Simon, 1986

Graceland features an eclectic mixture of musical styles including pop, a cappella, zydeco, isicathamiya, rock, and mbaqanga. Mbaqanga, or "township jive", originated as the street music of Soweto, South Africa. The album was strongly influenced by the earlier work of South African musicians  and , and the Zulu-Western pop crossover music realized in their band . Juluka was South Africa's first integrated pop band. Simon includes thanks to Johnny Clegg, Juluka, and Juluka's producer Hilton Rosenthal in the "Special Thanks" citation included in Graceland's liner notes. Simon included American "roots" influences with tracks featuring zydeco musicians such as  and  musicians.

The album alternates between playful and more serious songs. Simon thought of it as like a : "As in a play, the mood should keep changing. A serious song may lead into an abstract song, which may be followed by a humorous song." On many songs, Simon and Halee employ a  to "enhance" the acoustic instruments, creating an electronic "shadow".

"The Boy in the Bubble" is a collaboration with -based Tao Ea Matsekha. "Graceland" features the playing of bassist  and guitarist . Simon remarks on the album's original liner notes that it reminded him of American , and wrote: "After the recording session, Ray told me that he'd used a relative minor chord—something not often heard in South African music—because he said he thought it was more like the chord changes he'd heard in my music." Steel guitarist Demola Adepoju contributed to the track some months after its completion. "I Know What I Know" is based on music from an album by General M.D. Shirinda and the Gaza Sisters. Simon was attracted to their work due to the unusual style of guitar playing, as well as the "distinctive sound" of the women's voices. "Gumboots" is a re-recording (with additional saxophone solos) of the song with which Simon first found himself enamored from the cassette tape that spawned Graceland.

MENU 0:00 Graceland audio sample Problems playing this file? See .

 also contributed to "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes", with  and the Senegalese singer-percussionist . It was recorded a week following their appearance on . The pennywhistle solo featured on "You Can Call Me Al" was performed by Morris Goldberg, a white South African living in New York. "Homeless" was written jointly by Simon and Shabalala, the lead singer of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, to a melody from a traditional Zulu wedding song. In the song "Under African Skies," "the figure of Joseph becomes the dual image of a dispossessed African black man and the New Testament Joseph." For the song, Simon sent Shabalala a cassette demo, and the two later met at  in London, where the rest of the song was completed. "Crazy Love" features music from , Phiri's group that was very successful locally in South Africa.

Lyrics

To write lyrics, Simon listened to the recordings made during his time in Johannesburg, identifying patterns in the music to fit to verses. He said:

It was very difficult, because patterns that seemed as though they should fit together often didn't. I realized that in African music, the rhythms are always shifting slightly and that the shape of a melody was often dictated by the bassline rather than the guitar. Harmonically, African music consists essentially of three major chords—that's why it sounds so happy—so I could write almost any melody I wanted in a major scale. I improvised in two ways—by making up melodies in falsetto, and by singing any words that came to mind down in my lower and mid range.

Simon told  in 1986 that he was bad at writing about politics, and felt his strength was writing about relationships and introspection. In contrast to his previous album, Hearts and Bones, the subject matter on Graceland is more upbeat. Simon made an effort to write simply without compromising the language. Composing more personal songs would take him significantly longer to complete, as this process would involve "a lot of avoidance going on". Rewrites were necessary as Simon ended up using overcomplicated words. A perfectionist, Simon rewrote songs only to scrap the newer versions. Songs such as "Graceland" and "The Boy in the Bubble" took three to four months, while others, such as "All Around the World" and "Crazy Love", came together quickly.

"The Boy in the Bubble" discusses starvation and terrorism, but mixes this with wit and optimism. Simon concurred with this assessment: "Hope and dread – that's right. That's the way I see the world, a balance between the two, but coming down on the side of hope." The song retains a variation of the only lyric Simon composed on his South African trip: "The way the camera follows him in slo-mo, the way he smiled at us all." The imagery was inspired by the  and the . "Homeless" discusses poverty within the black majority in South Africa. According to Simon's ex-wife , the "Graceland" lines "She’s come back to tell me she’s gone / As if I didn’t know that, as if I didn’t know my own bed / As if I’d never noticed the way she brushed her hair from her forehead" refer to her. She confirmed she had a habit of brushing her hair from her forehead, and said she felt privileged to be in one of Simon's songs.

Throughout the recording process, Simon remained unsure of the album's thematic connection. He kept dozens of yellow  pads with random words and phrases he would combine in an attempt to define the album. He derived the album title from the phrase "driving through Wasteland", which he changed to "going to ", a reference to 's  home. Simon believed it represented a spiritual direction: just as he had embarked on a physical journey to collect ideas in Africa, he would spiritually journey to the home of the rock "forefather" to revitalize his love for music.

Controversy

Following the album's success, Simon faced accusations by organizations such as , anti-apartheid musicians including , , and , and , at the time the  , that he had broken the cultural boycott imposed by the rest of the world against the  regime in South Africa. Before going to South Africa, Simon sought advice from Harry Belafonte, with whom he had recently collaborated on "We Are the World". Belafonte had mixed feelings and advised him to discuss the matter with the  (ANC). At an album launch party, Simon bluntly clarified his opinions on the controversy: "I'm with the artists. I didn't ask the permission of the ANC. I didn't ask permission of Buthelezi, or Desmond Tutu, or the Pretoria government. And to tell you the truth, I have a feeling that when there are radical transfers of power on either the left or the right, the artists always get screwed."

Although supported by the  Anti-Apartheid Committee, as the album showcased the talents of the black South African musicians while offering no support to the South African government, the ANC protested the collaboration as a violation of the boycott. Critics condemned Simon for having potentially damaging solidarity, calling him naive. The ANC voted to ban him from the country, and he was also added to the United Nations blacklist. Simon was removed from it in January 1987, and announced that he had been cleared by the ANC, but this was denied by , the founder of Artists Against Apartheid. The Graceland concert at London's Royal Albert Hall prompted protests from Dammers, Weller, and Bragg. In 2012,  wrote that the controversy had been revived to an extent when Simon returned to London for a 25th-anniversary concert celebrating the album.

In contrast, Simon received praise for encouraging South African music from , one of South Africa's most prominent musicians and an exiled opponent of apartheid, who subsequently toured alongside Simon and . The album's worldwide success introduced some of the musicians, especially Ladysmith Black Mambazo, to global audiences. But  has criticized the notion that Simon was responsible for making South African music popular: "So, it has taken another white man to discover my people?" Some critics viewed Graceland as , with Simon  to bring to the global market. As stated by Star-Ledger reporter Tris McCall in 2012, "Does it complicate matters to realize that these musicians were second-class citizens in their own country, one groaning under the weight of apartheid? How could Simon approach them as equal partners when their own government demanded that they treat him as a superior?"

According to Simon:

What was unusual about Graceland is that it was on the surface apolitical, but what it represented was the essence of the anti-apartheid in that it was a collaboration between blacks and whites to make music that people everywhere enjoyed. It was completely the opposite from what the apartheid regime said, which is that one group of people were inferior. Here, there were no inferiors or superiors, just an acknowledgement of everybody's work as a musician. It was a powerful statement.

In 2012, Andrew Mueller of  wrote: "Apartheid was of course a monstrosity, but it would be absurd to suggest that Simon's introduction of South Africa's music to the world prolonged it and quite plausible to suggest that it did some small amount to hasten its undoing."

Linda Ronstadt

Simon's choice to feature American singer  on "Under African Skies" was criticized, as three years earlier she had accepted $500,000 to perform at , a South African luxury resort.  of  said her inclusion on Graceland was like “using gasoline to put out birthday candles”, and rock critic  wrote: “Even if the lyric called for total US divestiture, Ronstadt’s presence on Graceland would be a slap in the face to the world anti-apartheid movement."

Simon defended Ronstadt, saying: "I know that her intention was never to support the government there ... She made a mistake. She’s extremely liberal in her political thinking and unquestionably antiapartheid." He told  he did not think Ronstadt would play at Sun City again, and did not think she was "incompatible" with the record.

Simon refused to perform on the 1985 antiapartheid single "", as the demo had included a list of names shaming artists who had performed at the resort, including Ronstadt's, and as he felt Graceland would be "my own statement". He said he had refused two offers to perform at Sun City, and drew a distinction between going to South Africa to perform for a segregated audience, which he felt was unacceptable, and going to record.

Allegations of plagiarism

"That Was Your Mother" features the American  band the . Dopsie felt Simon had derived it from his song "My Baby, She's Gone", and was not credited, but decided not to take legal action.

The Mexican-American group  appears on the last track, "All Around the World or the Myth of Fingerprints". Saxophone player  felt they deserved writing credits:

[Simon] quite literally—and in no way do I exaggerate when I say—he stole the song from us ... We go into the studio, and he had quite literally nothing. I mean, he had no ideas, no concepts, and said, "Well, let's just jam."... Paul goes, "Hey, what's that?" We start playing what we have of it, and it is exactly what you hear on the record.

According to Berlin, when he contacted Simon about the lack of credit, Simon responded: “Sue me. See what happens." Simon denied this, and said: "The album came out and we heard nothing. Then six months passed and Graceland had become a hit and the first thing I heard about the problem was when my manager got a lawyer’s letter. I was shocked."

Release I don't like the idea that people who aren't adolescents make records. Adolescents make the best records. Except for Paul Simon. Except for Graceland. He's hit a new plateau there, but he's writing to his own age group. Graceland is something new. That song to his son is just as good as 'Blue Suede Shoes': 'Before you were born dude when life was great.' That's just as good as 'Blue Suede Shoes,' and that is a new dimension.

—, in an interview with Richard Cromelin for the  on January 31, 1988

Graceland was released by Warner Bros. with little fanfare in September 1986. "It could be that I've reached the point in my career where I can't be a viable commercial force in popular music," Simon remarked preceding its release, referencing the failure of his previous efforts on the charts. The cover art was an Ethiopian Christian icon from the collection of the  dating to around 1500.

's  summarized the album's impact: "The robust bounce and soulful melodicism of township jive, which gave Simon's brainy lyricism a rhythmic kick in his recent work, has become a daily soundtrack in urban yuppie condos and suburban living rooms and on radio airwaves from  to ."

Commercial performance

By July 1987, Graceland had sold six million copies worldwide. It has been estimated to have sold between 14 and 16 million copies to date. In South Africa, it was the bestselling release since 's  (1982).

Critical reception Professional ratingsReview scoresSourceRatingAA9.2/10

Initial reviews of Graceland were positive. 's Rob Tannenbaum characterized the record as "lovely, daring and accomplished." Stephen Holden of  commented, "With his characteristic refinement, Mr. Simon has fashioned that event into the rock album equivalent of a work of literature."  of  deemed it Simon's best record since , as well as "a tremendously engaging and inspired piece of work." It was so acclaimed by other critics that he anticipated that it would top   critics poll for that year (1986).

Retrospective reviews have continued to be positive. According to 's William Ruhlmann, "Graceland became the standard against which subsequent musical experiments by major artists were measured." Joe Tangari of  wrote that "its songs transcend the context as listening experiences. These songs are astute and exciting, spit-shined with the gloss of production that bears a lot of hallmarks of the era but somehow has refused to age. Taken as a whole, the album offers tremendous insight into how we live in our world and how that changes as we get older." Patrick Humphries of  wrote that "it may well stand as the pinnacle of his remarkable half-century career ... Simon fashioned a record which was truly, blindingly original, and – listening to it a quarter of a century on – modern and timeless." Andy Gill of  wrote: "The character of the base music here is overwhelming: complex, ebullient and life-affirming, and in yoking this intricate dance music to his sophisticated New Yorker sensibility, Simon created a transatlantic bridge that neither pandered to nor patronised either culture."

Accolades

Graceland earned Simon the Best International Solo Artist award at the 1987 . It was ranked #84 in a 2005 survey by British television's  to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time.

It was placed 81st (71st in the updated version from 2012) on the list of Rolling Stone magazine's  as "an album about isolation and redemption that transcended 'world music' to become the whole world's soundtrack." In 2000 it was voted number 43 in 's . The song "Graceland" was voted #485 in the list of .

YearPublicationCountryRankList1986*The Year In Records1Albums of the Year6Albums of the Year*Albums of the Year1987US56The Best Albums of the Last Twenty Years19895The 100 Best Albums of the Eighties19934The 100 Greatest CDs of All Time1997UK69The 100 Best Albums Ever1999US*The 300 Most Important American Records of the 20th Century200260The 100 Greatest American Albums of All-Time85Top 100 Favorite Records of the 1980s200326Top 40 Albums of All TimeRolling Stone81The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time2006QUK39The 80 Best Records of the 80s.US*All-Time 100 Albums201219Best Albums of the 1980s Grammy Awards YearNominee / workAwardResultGracelandWonNominated"Graceland"NominatedWon Legacy

 writer  identified Graceland as an album that had popularized African rock in the west, alongside albums such as 's  (1986) and '  (1980). A 2012 documentary film, Under African Skies, was directed by  for the album's 25th anniversary, and includes archival footage, interviews, discussion of the controversy, and coverage of an anniversary reunion concert.

Advocates for Graceland feel its music transcends the racial and cultural barriers of its production. "Graceland was never just a collection of songs, after all; it was a bridge between cultures, genres and continents, not to mention a global launching pad for the musicians whose popularity had been suppressed under South Africa's white-run apartheid rule," said Andrew Leahey of . Presenting the album in a modern context, Tris McCall of the  writes that "In a sense, Simon was ahead of his time: The curatorial approach he took to assembling full tracks from scraps of songs and pre-existing recordings is closer in execution to that of  than it is to any of his contemporaries."

The album has influenced musicians including , , Gabby Young, , , , , and . The latter faced particular criticism that their 2008  was too similar to Graceland, due to its origins in African music. Simon later defended the band, remarking, "In a way, we were on the same pursuit, but I don't think you're lifting from me, and anyway, you're welcome to it, because everybody's lifting all the time. That's the way music grows and is shaped."

Simon recalled his experiences with the record in 2013:

There was the almost mystical affection and strange familiarity I felt when I first heard South African music. Later, there was the visceral thrill of collaborating with South African musicians onstage. Add to this potent mix the new friendships I made with my band mates, and the experience becomes one of the most vital in my life.

Track listing

All tracks are written by , except where noted.

Side oneNo.TitleWriter(s)Length1.""Forere Motloheloa, Simon3:592."" 4:483."I Know What I Know"General MD Shirinda, Simon3:134."Gumboots"Lulu Masilela, Jonhjon Mkhalali, Simon2:445."", Simon5:45Side twoNo.TitleWriter(s)Length1."" 4:392."" 3:373.""Shabalala, Simon3:484."Crazy Love, Vol. II" 4:185."That Was Your Mother" 2:526."All Around the World or the Myth of Fingerprints" 3:15