1
00:00:15,436 --> 00:00:22,556
Speaker 1: Pushkin. Hello, Hello podcast listeners. Malcolm Glabble here. As you know,

2
00:00:22,636 --> 00:00:25,676
Speaker 1: I'm the president of Pushkin Industries. What you might not

3
00:00:25,836 --> 00:00:28,076
Speaker 1: know is that I've been a fan of Paul Simon

4
00:00:28,316 --> 00:00:31,716
Speaker 1: since i was a wee little Malcolm, and recently I

5
00:00:31,756 --> 00:00:34,956
Speaker 1: sat down with Paul Simon and my oldest friend and

6
00:00:35,036 --> 00:00:37,996
Speaker 1: the co host the Broken Record podcast, Bruce Hedlam to

7
00:00:38,036 --> 00:00:44,036
Speaker 1: create a new audiobook, Miracle and Wonder Conversations with Paul Simon.

8
00:00:44,756 --> 00:00:47,796
Speaker 1: Miracle and Wonder is the product of thirty hours of

9
00:00:47,876 --> 00:00:51,516
Speaker 1: sessions with one of the greatest songwriters in music history.

10
00:00:52,116 --> 00:00:55,396
Speaker 1: We talked about his life growing up in Queens, his influences,

11
00:00:55,716 --> 00:01:00,476
Speaker 1: and the sources of his extraordinary creativity. This isn't a biography.

12
00:01:00,796 --> 00:01:04,556
Speaker 1: There are two perfectly good biographies out there already. Miracle

13
00:01:04,636 --> 00:01:08,196
Speaker 1: and Wonder is an audio biography at Shed's new light

14
00:01:08,556 --> 00:01:12,116
Speaker 1: on all Simon's life in his own words and through

15
00:01:12,516 --> 00:01:17,316
Speaker 1: his own music. You can go to Miracle audiobook dot com,

16
00:01:17,556 --> 00:01:20,596
Speaker 1: enter your email and payment. You'll then receive an email

17
00:01:20,956 --> 00:01:25,116
Speaker 1: and follow the easy instructions and Miracle and Wonder will

18
00:01:25,156 --> 00:01:28,876
Speaker 1: be added to your favorite podcast app. Now, I'd like

19
00:01:28,956 --> 00:01:31,596
Speaker 1: to play you a chapter a Miracle and wonder. I

20
00:01:31,636 --> 00:01:34,636
Speaker 1: think you'll hear and understand why I and so many

21
00:01:34,636 --> 00:01:37,516
Speaker 1: others consider him to be one of the greatest musicians

22
00:01:37,716 --> 00:01:45,916
Speaker 1: and songwriters of all time. You know, listen to this story.

23
00:01:45,956 --> 00:01:48,676
Speaker 1: This is quite amazing. I took a trip on the

24
00:01:48,716 --> 00:01:53,276
Speaker 1: Amazon and we stopped in this village. It didn't even

25
00:01:53,316 --> 00:01:56,636
Speaker 1: have any roads, and there's a girl who's sitting in

26
00:01:56,676 --> 00:02:01,236
Speaker 1: there and she's practicing a nylon string guitar. So I

27
00:02:01,396 --> 00:02:03,516
Speaker 1: listened for a while, and then we say to her

28
00:02:03,836 --> 00:02:06,076
Speaker 1: and I said, I know a South American song, and

29
00:02:06,116 --> 00:02:21,676
Speaker 1: I play Dud Daddy dudd but and she says, I

30
00:02:21,796 --> 00:02:24,796
Speaker 1: know an American song. I say, really yeah. He goes,

31
00:02:31,716 --> 00:02:35,476
Speaker 1: this is Malcolm Gladwell. That's Paul Simon talking to me

32
00:02:35,476 --> 00:02:38,836
Speaker 1: and my friend and colleague Bruce Headlam. A moment I

33
00:02:38,916 --> 00:02:42,156
Speaker 1: never believed could happen. I've been a fan of my life.

34
00:02:42,436 --> 00:02:45,636
Speaker 1: The very first pop music I ever remember hearing was

35
00:02:45,716 --> 00:02:49,076
Speaker 1: Simon and Garfuncle. It was nineteen seventy I was seven,

36
00:02:49,716 --> 00:02:53,796
Speaker 1: and now fifty years later, here he was having lunch

37
00:02:53,796 --> 00:02:56,716
Speaker 1: with me. I asked him, what do you think of

38
00:02:56,716 --> 00:03:00,356
Speaker 1: sitting down and having an extended conversation about your career?

39
00:03:00,796 --> 00:03:04,596
Speaker 1: You know what I'm gonna stand I'm gonna stand up.

40
00:03:04,636 --> 00:03:08,876
Speaker 1: He liked the idea. I think this is going to

41
00:03:08,916 --> 00:03:13,796
Speaker 1: be a contest. Let's just check to retort. I enlisted

42
00:03:14,036 --> 00:03:16,396
Speaker 1: my oldest friend, Bruce had them to help with the interviewing,

43
00:03:16,636 --> 00:03:19,236
Speaker 1: because Bruce knows a lot more about music than I do.

44
00:03:19,476 --> 00:03:21,196
Speaker 1: But what do I think? I think the second one

45
00:03:21,276 --> 00:03:25,116
Speaker 1: is the Martin and the first one is your favorite guitarist, Gurian.

46
00:03:26,156 --> 00:03:29,716
Speaker 1: We met nine times. We'd listen to music and Paul

47
00:03:29,756 --> 00:03:34,676
Speaker 1: would play and tell stories. Each conversation lasted four, sometimes

48
00:03:34,716 --> 00:03:38,556
Speaker 1: five hours. Missus Robinson was a little snatch of blues

49
00:03:40,156 --> 00:03:45,116
Speaker 1: singing talking. That's a lick. That's not too different from

50
00:03:45,236 --> 00:03:48,956
Speaker 1: arguing teaching to either girl with the damn on ring.

51
00:03:49,556 --> 00:03:52,436
Speaker 1: So we took all these conversations and wove them into

52
00:03:52,476 --> 00:03:57,996
Speaker 1: something entirely new. It's part memoir, part biography, part investigation

53
00:03:58,276 --> 00:04:01,556
Speaker 1: into the heart of creativity. I have no anxiety about

54
00:04:01,596 --> 00:04:03,716
Speaker 1: running out of ideas. You don't have that at all. No,

55
00:04:03,996 --> 00:04:07,316
Speaker 1: I think another idea, you want another idea, Okay, here's another,

56
00:04:07,756 --> 00:04:11,236
Speaker 1: here's another idea. In our time with him, Paul talked

57
00:04:11,276 --> 00:04:13,556
Speaker 1: about doo wop and queens and his dad, and a

58
00:04:13,596 --> 00:04:16,476
Speaker 1: million other things. I thought that the idea of Earth

59
00:04:16,556 --> 00:04:20,636
Speaker 1: Angel was so lyrically spectacular. I can remember trying to

60
00:04:20,676 --> 00:04:22,876
Speaker 1: explain it to my father, do you get it? And

61
00:04:23,276 --> 00:04:27,596
Speaker 1: Earth Angel? What he thinks of all the different cover

62
00:04:27,716 --> 00:04:31,156
Speaker 1: versions of his songs about the countless people he's collaborated

63
00:04:31,196 --> 00:04:34,036
Speaker 1: with over the years. I learned early on that you

64
00:04:34,116 --> 00:04:38,076
Speaker 1: can ask musicians to write in somebody else's handwriting. And

65
00:04:38,196 --> 00:04:41,316
Speaker 1: about the day he hung it all up after I

66
00:04:41,436 --> 00:04:46,596
Speaker 1: finished the album Stranger to Stranger and was like literally

67
00:04:46,636 --> 00:04:53,316
Speaker 1: a click that said I'm done, But you weren't done. No,

68
00:04:54,076 --> 00:05:01,116
Speaker 1: I wasn't. This is Paul Simon as you've never heard

69
00:05:01,196 --> 00:05:05,476
Speaker 1: him before, the stories and songs behind an unbelievable life

70
00:05:05,516 --> 00:05:09,396
Speaker 1: in music. Pull up your chair and listen. In lip

71
00:05:09,436 --> 00:05:15,956
Speaker 1: Sliding Away, there's still the big mystery of why this happens,

72
00:05:15,996 --> 00:05:19,876
Speaker 1: and it's just a great mystery. I love it. I

73
00:05:19,916 --> 00:05:25,636
Speaker 1: love that mystery. Shong memorial Slip Sliding Away. You can

74
00:05:25,676 --> 00:05:30,156
Speaker 1: buy Miracle and Wonder at Miracle audiobook dot Com, Audible

75
00:05:30,596 --> 00:05:38,316
Speaker 1: and everywhere audiobooks are sold. Hometown. You wore his passion

76
00:05:38,436 --> 00:05:38,476
Speaker 1: for