Music

Paul Simon is ready to give up music

by Richard Howard

For most of Paul Simon’s contemporaries – even the biggest of stars – the general expectation is for a new album (if they’re still recording) to do moderately well while they focus on a live show largely composed of their big hits from over the years.

Simon, however, has seen his last album Stranger to Stranger hit number one on the Billboard charts and be tapped as an Album of the Year Grammy contender. Rather than being romanced by his staying power, the legendary songwriter is likely to go out on top.

61 years after he began making music, Simon told The New York Times that he was “coming towards the end,” adding, “Showbiz doesn’t hold any interest for me.”

Simon has been pragmatic about where he stands; at 74, he says he’ll often need 15-hour stretches of sleep and multiple days to rest his voice. Perhaps more significant than that, however, are his musings that are understandable for anyone who has spent their entire adolescent and adult life playing music.

A retirement from music will be made easier by the fact that the singer has no attachment to fame – in fact, he laments its potentially destructive nature. “I’ve seen fame turn into absolute poison when I was a kid in the ’60s,” he said. “It killed Presley. It killed Lennon. It killed Michael Jackson. I’ve never known anyone to have gotten an enormous amount of fame who wasn’t, at a minimum, confused by it and had a very hard time making decisions.”

Fittingly, Simon’s North American tour ends in Queens where he grew up and first met Art Garfunkel. Following a European tour in the fall, he has no firm plans other than to drift and travel. If it does turn out 2016 is the end of his illustrious career, he’ll have no regrets, assuring: “I don’t have any fear of it.”