The most famous musician named Paul is certainly the legendary Beatles songwriter, bassist and singer Paul McCartney. However, there are many other incredible musicians who share the same name.
One of them is Paul Simon, of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, whom McCartney has spoken about over the decades, expressing his opinions on his work.
What is Paul McCartney’s opinion on Paul Simon
Paul McCartney and Paul Simon are good friends and admired each other a lot. The Beatle even listed the American musician as one of the greatest songwriters of all time. “Oh, there are a lot (of great songwriters). I think Paul Simon has written some amazing songs. I wouldn’t want to just say one of them but he’s certainly written some great stuff.”
“Bob Dylan has written some great stuff. I think there’s a lot of great songs that weren’t written by me or us. And those two people I have mentioned – Paul Simon, particularly, Dylan, I think Neil Young has come up with some classics, Beach Boys, ‘God Only Knows,’ I think that’s a great classic.”
“And in a way, I could say I wish I’d written them, but I’ve written enough. I’ve got enough to go on with. But yeah, there are some great writers and artists out there,” Paul McCartney told James Daunt in 2021.
Curiously, John Lennon said in the 1970s that he believed “Bridge Over Troubled Water” inspired Paul McCartney to write “Let It Be.” The late musician recalled that his bandmate had told him he wanted to write a song like that.
Simon & Garfunkel songs Paul McCartney loves
Paul Simon first achieved fame being part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, which he formed with his friend Art Garfunkel back in 1956, being originally called as Tom & Jerry. In 1973, when they had released all their albums, McCartney was asked by Punch Magazine to review a song book released by Simon. When talking about it, he mentioned some songs he loved.
“Music publishers from the old days don’t like song lyrics to appear on a record cover because ‘it harms sheet music sales’. This type of book is the epitome of what they’re talking about being, for someone like Paul who is smart enough to own his own publishing rights or so the story goes jolly lucrative. And jolly good luck to him, because, really, some of his things have been very good. ‘Bridge over Troubled Water’, ‘Sound of Silence’, ‘Mrs. Robinson’, ‘The 59th Street Bridge Song’, and ‘Homeward Bound’… to name but a few personal ‘faves’; and that’s what it’s all about,” he said.
The duo’s first album was “Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. released in 1964. Then they put out “Sounds of Silence” (1966), “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme” (1966), “Bookends” (1968) and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (1970).
Over the decades they played together on and off. The most recent reunions happened from 2003 to 2005 and 2007 to 2010. Simon also has an extensive solo career, having released 15 studio albums so far. The most recent one is the praised “Seven Psalms” (2023). He had several solo hits like “You Can Call Me All” and “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”.
Simon and McCartney performed together
Like McCartney, Paul Simon was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. Once as a member of Simon & Garfunkel and once as a solo artist. They have been good friends for decades already and had the chance to play together on many occasions. A special one was when they performed a snippet of The Beatles “I’ve Just Seen a Face” on the 40th anniversary of Saturday Night Live.
Simon is a fan of The Beatles and also was a good friend of other Beatles members like George Harrison. Curiously, that was not the first time the American musician performed with a Beatle on SNL. He had played “Homeward Bound” back in 1976 alongside George Harrison on the show. One year later, he co-present the Grammy for Record of The Year with John Lennon.
McCartney once surprised Paul Simon on a television show
Back in 1990, when Paul Simon was being interviewed on British television, the hosts announced that he would be taking questions from callers and Paul McCartney appeared on the line. He first wished the American musician a happy birthday and then asked him a question.
“My question to Paul Simon is: ‘What do you like best about Great Britain?’” McCartney said. Simon replied that the first thing that came to mind was his memory of living there. By the end of the conversation, the Beatle joked that he had been ringing the TV show all morning just to get through and speak to Simon.