album #27

graceland (paul simon)

I deliberately chose Graceland, my favorite album, for #27 (my lucky number.) This is just a beautiful album, melodic, rhythmic, poetic, playful. Every track is a jewel, Every track. Do I need to come up with a flowery synonym for each track? Or a thing I love about each track?

"The Boy In the Bubble"- iconic opening, just perfect. "Graceland," the smile of the bass, and 'he's the child of my first marriage,' and 'losing love is like a window through your heart,' but gosh, I better watch out for mentioning lyrics I love, or else it'll take forever. "I Know What I Know," I love the hectic chant of the chorus. "Gumboots," holy shit- 'you don't feel you could love me but I feel you could,' one of the great lyrics; and the romantic, animated sway of the brass, I Love it. "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes," one of the true beauties, and those lyrics, and that sexy, joyful little dance of a chorus. "You Can Call Me Al," the breakthrough hook, and actually probably the weakest song on the album (funny how that goes.) The end, when the key changes, might be my favorite part. "Under African Skies" reminds me of elementary school, 'follow the drinking gourd' or something. A lovely song. "Homeless"- holy shit, 'some people say…' that whole sequence is so, so beautiful- 'hello! hello! hello!', the way the words land. Perfect. One of my favorite moments of the album, I'd say. "Crazy Love, Vol II." is a beauty, 'fat Charlie the archangel files for divorce…' heartbreaking, 'she says the joke is on me, the joke is on her'- a painfully beautiful line, delivered with a beautiful turn of falsetto. That whole song, the sweet, high, delicate melody. A true gem. "That Was Your Mother," a sassy cajun tale, and "All Around The World Or The Myth Of Fingerprints," I love the rhythm, the energy, the whole thing.

Some personal lights from this album: the summer drives to the condo, and one trip in particular with Mom driving, and Alex was with us, and he expressed disapproval, and it was one of those times that I just Knew he was wrong (or at least, right now, I've added that opinion to my memory); 'Vote For Al' was the parody song I wrote for the 2000 election (I still remember most of the words); JD, my best friend or at least in the club of best friends, on our first night hanging out one-on-one, the first thing we truly agreed on- after several mild disputes and missed connections- was the magnificence of "Graceland."

The best album.