Lyrics The Story of "Graceland" - Paul Simon
The
"Graceland"
story
is
a
very
interesting
story
in
that
it′s
a
very
good
example
of
how
a
collaboration
works,
even
when
you're
not
aware
of
it
occurring.
The
track
is
one
of
the
early
tracks
because
I
only
did
five
tracks
in
South
Africa.
On
the
sessions
that
I
did
with
Forere,
who
is
the
accordion
player
– plays
on
"Boy
in
the
Bubble"
– we
did
a
few
other
tracks.
One
of
the
tracks,
I
said,
"You
know,
I
like
only
the
drums
on
this
track.
I
don′t
really
want
anything
else.
I
don't
want
the
accordion
or
bass.
I
just
want
the
drums."
And
the
drums
were...
something
like
a
kind
of
a
traveling
rhythm
in
country
music.
I'm
a
big
Sun
Records
fan;
early
50′s,
mid-50′s
Sun
Records,
you
hear
that
drum
beat
a
lot.
Like
a
fast,
Johnny
Cash
type
of
rhythm.
And
somewhere
later
in
the
week
of
recording
when
I
had
put
together
a
rhythm
section
of
Ray
Phiri
and
Bakithi
Kumalo
and
Isaac
Mtshali
as
the
rhythm
section.
I
said
to
Ray
one
day,
"I
like
this
drum
pattern.
Take
a
listen
to
it
and
see
if
it
does
anything
for
you.
You
know
it
sounds
kind
of
like
a
country
thing
to
me."
So
he
starts
to
play
his
version
of
American
country,
Ray,
he
was
in
the
key
of
E,
and
then
he
was
playing,
you
know
— of
course
he's
playing
electric
— but
he′d
be
up
over
here,
you
know,
like
[plays
acoustic
guitar]
then
the
drums
are
going
[mimics
drums].
Oh,
then
he
went
[plays
guitar]
which
is
a
relative
minor
chord
to
that
key.
I
said,
"Hey,
that's
interesting
that
you
played
a
minor
chord,"
because
all
the
music
that
I′d
been
recording
with,
in
South
Africa,
with
the
exception
of
the
Sutu
music,
it
was
all
three-chord
major
chords.
It
was
never
a
minor
chord.
There
were
times
when
I'd
ask
Black
Mambazo
to
sing
a
minor
chord.
They
couldn′t
sing
a
minor
chord.
They
just
didn't
hear
it.
So
he
put
in
this
minor
chord,
and
I
said,
"That's
interesting,
why′d
you
do
that?"
He
said,
"I
was
just
imitating
the
way
you
write."
I
said,
"Well,
play
this
lick
over
it:"
...in
an
overdub.
And
he
did,
and
it
was
a
really
nice
mix,
and
Bakithi
was
playing,
[sings
bass
part]
The
track
has
a
beautiful
emptiness
to
it.
I
think
that′s
part
of
what
makes
me
think
that
it's
something
like
Sun
Records.
You
know,
when
it
was
just
a
few
instruments
and
nothing
really
much
except
slap-back
echo
and
a
song.
There′s
also
another
connection,
musically,
that's
in
there,
and
that
is,
there′s
a
pedal
steel
guitar
in
there.
Which
is
a,
of
course,
a,
you
know,
like
a
country
instrument.
But
it's
also
a
West
African
instrument,
and
the
guy
who
played
it,
his
name
was
Demola
Adepoju.
He
played
with
King
Sunny
Ade′s
band.
You
know,
I
wanted
to
hear
what
that
lick
sounded
like
[sings
lick]
— seemed
like
it
would
be
a
very
good
pedal
steel
lick.
[Pedal
steel
lick
plays]
And
it
was
a
great
pedal
steel
lick,
but
it
was
also
a
great
Ray
Phiri
performance.
To
me,
what's
interesting
is
that
Ray
reaches
into
his
memory
for
some
kind
of
approximation
of
what
he
thinks
of
as
American
country.
And
Bakithi
plays
straight
ahead
to
the
African
groove.
And
so,
the
two,
you
know,
the
two
musics
find
a
commonality.
And
the
lyric
expresses
that.
Don
and
Phil
Everly
came
in
and
sang.
I
always
heard
that
songs
as
a
perfect
Everly
Brothers
song.
I
was
down
in
South
Africa
in,
I
think,
February,
maybe
early
March,
and
I
think
I
didn't
go
down
to
Memphis
until
maybe
May.
Brought
it
home,
and
I
was
trying
to
write
to
it.
I
would,
you
know,
sing
these
lines
about
Graceland.
Graceland,
of
course
I
wanted
to
get
rid
of
the
Graceland
part
because,
I
mean,
what′s
Graceland
got
to
do
with
South
Africa
or
anything
like
that,
so
that′s
gotta
go.
It's
a
question
of
what
I′m
going
to
replace
it
with.
But
then
I
couldn't
replace
it
with
anything.
I
was
always
singing
that.
And
finally
I
said,
"I
don′t
know,
well
maybe
I'm
supposed
to
go
to
Graceland."
I′ve
never
been,
maybe
I'm
supposed
to
go
on
a
trip
and
see
what
I'm
writing
about.
So
I
did.
And
then
I
began
to
describe
the
trip.
The
Mississippi
Delta.
′Cause
I
was
driving
up
from
Louisiana,
where
I
cut
the
Zydeco
track
on
"Graceland."
I
was
driving
from
Highway
61.
You
know,
I′m
just
writing
about
what
the
countryside
looked
like.
And
finally
got
there,
to
Graceland,
and
just
made
a
tour
through
Graceland.
But
what's
interesting
about
all
of
this
is
that
the
part
of
me
that
had
"Graceland"
in
my
head,
I
think
subconsciously
was
reacting
to
what
I
first
heard
in
the
drums,
which
was
a
kind
of
Sun
Records
country/blues
amalgam.
And
what
Ray
was
doing
was
mixing
up
his
aural
recollections
of
what
American
country
was,
and
what
kind
of
chord
changes
I
played.
And
so
the
whole
song
really
is
just
one
sound
evoking
a
response.
And
that
eventually
became
a
lyric
that
evoked
instead
of
being
specifically
about
a
South
African
subject
or
even
a
political
subject,
it
became
a
traveling
song,
that
had
to
do
with
the
original
sound
which
was
the
drums,
and
Sub
Records
and
Graceland.
That′s
really
the
secret
of
world
music,
is
people
are
able
to
listen
to
each
other
and
make
associations,
and
play
their
own
music
that
sounds
like
it
fits
into
another
culture.
And
that's
how
it
works,
and
that′s
how
it
worked
then.
The
story
of
Graceland.
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