Podcasts · Word In Your Ear

Paul Simon’s Graceland and how the masterpiece was made

18 Jun 2026 · 33 min · Episode 927

‘Graceland’ was an almighty gamble for Paul Simon, a costly, high-risk departure from the music he’d been making and a complex international venture. And a game-changing, worldwide triumph. When Ashley Kahn taught a course about it at New York University, Simon turned up to contribute. His book ‘Days Of Miracle And Wonder’ tells the story of what inspired the album, the way it was recorded and the global reaction when it arrived in 1986. We talk to him here about …

… the bootleg cassette of township jive that inspired the Graceland project

… fraying relations with Art Garfunkel and Carrie Fisher

... his habit of playing unfinished tracks to people – David Byrne, Philip Glass, Neil Diamond – while singing the vocal into their ear

… the extraordinary way he apologised for the failure of One Trick Pony

… how Bakithi Kumalo’s bass solo on You Can Call Me Al is a palindrome – “first half forwards, second half reversed!”

… the advice Quincy Jones gave him about South Africa’s cultural boycott

… the key role of Roy Halee, engineer and long-time creative collaborator

... the Johannesburg sessions that “started with rhythm and worked backwards”

… Kind Of Blue, A Love Supreme, other albums that merit a book to themselves

… the details you hear in the tracks’ last seconds

… and the Grammy telecast that cemented the album’s US success.

Order copies of ‘Days of Miracle And Wonder’ here: https://geni.us/DaysofMiracleandWonder

Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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Links in the notes 3

• https://geni.us/DaysofMiracleandWonder
• https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear
• https://acast.com/privacy

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