9 Paul Simon BBC TV (American Tune)

[powerfullogic]

among the most wondrous combovers of all time!

[THEclimberclimber]

スタジオ・バージョンとライブ・バージョンはキーが違うんですね­。

[maryrichardskallman]

Not a "song rip-off" as someone has suggested. JS Bach I'm sure would be honored to have such a meaningful use of one of his classics. Many great composers have used Bach's contrapuntal genius. This is just one example.

[ashleyhockenberry]

Superb !

[Diatommy554]

this should have wayyyyyy more views. *sigh*

[TeresinOrg]

Geniallll todo Paul es genial...the59th, y los temas 6 y 7 de este concierto?ponlos por favor...

[mwebber69]

The outro is amazing !!!

[runninglikewind]

This is quite simply genius.

This stands up strong and true all these years later and will continue to do so for several lifetimes to comes

Bravo, Paul Simon, Bravo

[ktowncapitalist]

I was born the day he sang this. People used to ask me when I was a teenager why I like 'old music' like Simon and Garfunkle. Paul Simon is a national treasure. His music is so timeless and beautiful. He's a genius.

[marnalah]

I, too, love this song; but it's also one of the most overlooked song rip-offs in history. Much of the tune is the Passion Chorale from Bach's St. Matthew Passion. Oh well...



[Xlorntabis]

@marnalah Pretty sure it actually came from the hymn "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded" by 16th century German composer Hans Leo Hassler. Borrowing great ideas (in this case melody only) in music was a "rip-off", it must be murder for painters to use the same colors. lol

[marnalah]

I, too, love this song; but it's also one of the most overlooked song rip-offs in history. Much of the tune is the Passion Chorale from Bach's St. Matthew Passion. Oh well...

[PaulSimonIsCUTE]

timid as ever. XD

[MsLizp]

Maybe I'm just getting old, but his lyrics are making more and more sense to me

[faradyeva]

I can cry at this song.

[dawbtreader22]

When I die I want this to be played at my wake.

[anthonypepitoneVideo]

Just beautiful!

[jerryxever]

One of my favourite songs ever. Best version's on Live Rhymin'

[sbbinahee]

What an artist! That understated vocal knocks me out everytime.............

[monoyamono]

incredible,its nice to have the japanese translation for my friends,i hope i can see more of these videos here?

[danielleb1993]

heavenly.

[TheCavalierPoet]

This is a love song.

[wanderer5461]

名曲ですね。歌詞の日本語訳を読んで、はじめてこの歌の意味がわ­かりました。

[calafsdream]

no idea what this says, but I'll give it a thumbs up anyway

[faustus999]

one of his greatest songs it is sublime. paul simon is simply a musical genius.

[archibaldcutter]

See Greil Marcus on Charlie Rich's "Feel Like Going Home."

In this performance Simon is alive to the significance his song had taken on since writing it. "American Tune" is bigger than Vietnam, although it's in there, and bigger than Watergate, for reflection on which it seems to have been an anthem.

And of course it resonates like crazy now.

If our nation has a shot at greatness, it's not our blustery might but the generous streak that basically accepts our fellows that will take us there.

[612franklin]

Yah, that's why each successive generation still riffs off the music of that horrible cultural deterioration of the late sixties. Nixon's crimes? They center around concern for his legacy over humanity. Self-interest doesn't take you there... it's about doing the right thing, even when it doesn't make immediate sense. God save this country from itself...

[JeanLouisBarrault]

The horrible deterioration of culture in the late 60's is what this song is about. Johnson's meatgrinder war didn't help. A few tapes and someone breaking into the DNC offices pales into comparison to the crap that was society in this time period. I am still not sure exactly what Nixon's heinous crimes were. Sadly, nothing most other presidents haven't done, just didn't get caught. If the Washington Post investigaged Obama, they would get much more than anything that came out of Watergate.

[1Doz]

@JeanLouisBarrault

Nixon's real crime was outing Alger Hiss as a traitor back in 1950. The left hated him from that day forward. Watergate was their big get-even. It's interesting -- the guys who got caught breaking in were called "the plumbers". That name came from their earlier work tracking down the leaks of sensitive info about US negotiating strategy prior to the Paris accords. Turned out to be Democrat senate staffers leaking to the UN which was then tipping off the N. Vietnamese.

[56Edify]

@1Doz  Speaking of Nixon. One of the impeachable charges against him in the Rodino paper was attempting to get files of people from the FBI. The FBI would not let him have them. Another was trying to get the IRS to go after his enemies. The IRS would not do it. All things that Bill Clinton got both the FBI & the IRS to do for him. Oddly, a young lawyer who worked on putting the Rodino Paper was........Hillary Clinton. Ain't history great.

[tranurse]

@1Doz i'm sorry g.gordon liddy is a scary bastard. and nixon din't need to cheat, he was going to win.

[bostonteabagger71739]

he looks like shakespear in this vid haha.

[NoRefillsLeft]

So lovely. Paul is singing this a key higher than he normally does, and sings it in a more melancholy way than any version I've heard before. Brings tears to my eyes . . .

Thanks for sharing this wonderful clip.

[ZIPPTPH77]

Happy Birthday America!

[Ragland1952]

This song was on his second album, "There Goes Rhymin' Simon," released 05/1973, the month the U.S. Senate began the Watergate hearings. Simon was tired when he wrote it. I don't know if Simon (or anyone else) was much aware of Watergate's implications until the hearings began, but I've always HEARD it as a commentary on that sad chapter of U.S. history..."mistaken," confused," forsaken," "misused," "soul battered," dream shattered," "Statue of Liberty sailing away..." "what's gone wrong."

[ZIPPTPH77]

Sounds more like what Obongo is doing to our country now......

[mabsps]

So, are you looking at..... a picture, a window or a mirror ...???

[Tia1ko]

London BBC TV? Looks more like Tokyo BBC TV. :)

[Mariopv1174]

he kinda look as ron jeremy

[MBLeano]

beautifull

[jrjr227]

respect paul simon

[terrafirma91]

I've always marveled at the splendor of this composition by Mr. Simon. The lyrics, music/arrangement, and substance are beautifully written. This is one of my all time favorites, and my top pick of Paul Simon's writings.

[rocksinger45]

After 9/11 this was the song I most wanted to hear. It's melancholy feel brought tears to my eyes and thats what I needed at the time. Thanks Paul for putting my feeling into words as only you can.

[rockitmanjohn]

He looks like Chevy Chase circa '75 in a couple of those profiles!

[pasifjpasojifpsa]

he's doing a crap job with that karaoke... he should learn to read that japanese

[mwebber69]

hahaha !

[maddie11195]

ahaha XD

[meshaktaylor]

That is one powerful moustache.

[togaroc345]

but he didn't have the cheesy stache

[togaroc345]

he did a great version of this on the colbert report the other night .... it was great.

[ZIPPTPH77]

I saw that, it was great!

[ZIPPTPH77]

What a cheesy looking mustache.....

[biglmac]

Maybe you wouldn't have said that 20 years ago.

[nsj2103]

I would have.

[limeginger]

This is a song I sought out to listen to on 9/11(and had in my head for months afterward).

[SonnyCaecar]

this concert upload is one of the great kind deeds in youtube history. i take my hat off and just say thanks. what sensible and fantastic performance.

[Tbwee]

This is simply lovely.

[mwhigha]

Be sure to check Eva Cassidy's "American Tune". You may not have heard of her, but its definately worth a listen. While you're at it, listen to some of her other songs she's really good!

[thefoole]

As John Forster once wrote:

"This pretty tune was written by Hans Leo Hassler

In 1599

I wrote some words and changed about three notes

Now ASCAP says it's mine

I love constructing albums

From objects that I find..."

[stevebenbob]

I always thought this was wrote by P Simon,

another version of this song ive heard often9whilst learning to play guitar is The Music Of Paul Simon by Fred Sokalo,he cant sing to save his life,but i find his version of this particular song on his video ,highly likeable

[MFIORE7511]

The third song of the supposed soundtrack just came to me. I think it was Lennon's Imagine.

[MFIORE7511]

There was supposed to be a movie made,along with Randy Newman's "Sail Away" and another artist's song which I can not remember.

If anyone knows the director or movie that was supposed to made please let me know,I think the movie was going to be about the pilgrims or immigrants coming to America.

[PickUsername]

rip off

[lovercat2942]

What on earth do you mean, "rip off"? This is one of the most beautiful songs, and it's so, so true... I wonder what's gone wrong.....

[ElvenDane]

I think he means that this fantastic tune is based on an old hymn - but I wouldn't call that a "rip off". And it seems there has been a long tradition for reworking this old melody.

look for

"christmas-break-and-american-­tune.html"

And wonderful, thought provoking lyrics anyway.

[lovercat2942]

Thanks for the history lesson. I would have never known. Just shows how a beautiful tune can be an inspiration to so many people over the ages.

[ElvenDane]

You are welcome.

I had heard some mention of this recently, so I just had to check it out ;-)

Yes, there are a lot of those "traditional" tunes that go way back.

[nhodge08]

great insight. thanks.

[jthaw]

The melody to Paul Simon's "American Tune" is based upon the J.S. Bach chorale "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden". But I would hardly call it a "rip-off". There is a long tradition of doing this even amongst the great "classical" composers. There is another example in popular music where this melody is used, and that is the song "Because All Men Are Brothers" sung by Peter, Paul, and Mary. You can hear it on their album "See What Tomorrow Brings" or their boxed set (accompanied by Dave Brubeck).

[ElvenDane]

I see - thank you.

No, I don't think it's "rip-off" either -

I think he adds a lot to the basic idea of this theme.

[scotpens]

I just checked out "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden," and it's really only the first eight bars that Paul Simon used for "An American Tune," with some of the chords changed. That kind of musical recycling has been around as long as music itself. One of the most familiar examples is "A Lover's Concerto," based on Bach's Minuet in G.

[jthaw]

Paul Simon's use of the Bach chorale is clearly not note for note. The middle chorus of "American Tune" is pretty much all his, and it fits quite nicely with the surrounding choral. As I mentioned in my earlier comment, this sort of thing is standard in most music. If there are people out there who believe it was a rip off, I would challenge them to write a hit, as Simon did, using any classical piece as its basis. Paul Simon is a consummate composer and lyricist!

[Ragland1952]

Also that Billy Joel song based on a Beethoven piano tune.

[Ragland1952]

The original Christian tune this is based on also asks, "I wonder what's gone wrong?" The 17th cent. tune is a beautiful German chorale that sings to Jesus during His Passion. In some U.S./English hymnals the 12th cent. lyrics' opening line is translated, "O sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down; now scornfully surrounded with thorns thine only crown. How pale thou art with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn! How does that visage languish which once was bright as morn!

[monosynthluv]

failure at life

[MagiMan77]

One Word, AWSOME!!! So Great, and Such a True Song!!!

[MagiMan77]

One Word, AWSOME!!! So Great!!!

[Hansa94]

This is a beautiful song! Love Simon (& Garfunkel)

[andysnadden]

In many ways he's the "song writer's song writer". For depth, craft, sophistication, few can touch him, perhaps Joni Mitchel ...

[ragingbull7]

I thought about this song after 9-11, especially that second verse.

[scotpens]

One of Paul Simon's best compositions. The song perfectly sums up the American zeitgeist of the Watergate era.

[ZIPPTPH77]

Watergate was a liberal's idea of a big tragedy, just look at what these low life scumbags are doing to our country today!

[Ragland1952]

scotpens, I agree in many ways. However, the release date for the album/song was BEFORE the Watergate hearings actually began, and I've heard nothing about Simon actually having had Watergate in mind...but see my other comment posted separately just moments ago.

[siga82]

Very nice, as usuall by Paul Simon! Like his haircut and the mustasch too :P

The greatest singer in the world!

[guarddave]

Outstanding!!!! Pure poetry! Where are singer/songwriters of this caliber today?

[donnerbrandpear]

@guarddave They are out there. They just aren't getting major record deals anymore. Thank God for the Internet, so we can find them.

[lucasrem]

@guarddave lots of good stuff nowdays, so borring always long for the past. This kinda music is not commercial anymore, but still people make folk/Christian styled stuff like this.

[Xlorntabis]

@guarddave Maybe try Damien Rice or Xavier Rudd for similar caliber. Paul is still my hero, but there are some out there that do us justice still.

[SilentRaindrops87]

Another perfect performance by Paul Simon! I love him...he's such a genius. Thanks for sharing!