Paul Simon: ‘Over the Bridge of Time’

By Mad Dog
Published: Oct 16, 2013

Paul Simon just turned 72, and he has a new release. Actually, a new/old one: the first single disc compilation of the best of Simon & Garfunkel and Simon’s solo career. If you collect Simon’s CDs, you probably have all these songs. If not, "Over the Bridge of Time" isn’t a bad place to start. Or you could get it simply because, once again, I wrote the introductory notes.

How much do I admire Paul Simon? Like this: "In ‘Hearts and Bones,’ he wrote of ‘the arc of a love affair.’ The songs on this record trace a larger, longer arc — the arc of a life. Professionally, it is the stuff of legend: 12 Grammys, early induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the first recipient of the Library of Congress’s Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The artist who has described himself in a song as ‘an ordinary player in the key of C’ is clearly joking; Paul Simon is the master of the popular masterpiece." [To buy the CD — and get the MP3 download free — from Amazon, click here. For the MP3 download, click here.]