New Wyclef Jean (Feat. Paul Simon) - "Fast Car"
Interesting to see developments within the Fugees tribe over a decade after The Score. Pras is making films and docs, Lauryn's erratic as ever, and Wyclef is, well, still exuberant and indiscriminately inclusive (his forthcoming The Carnival II: Memoirs Of An Immigrant has guest spots by everyone from Akon to Serj Tankian to Paul Simon).
Paul's track's the one we've keyed in on, and ... hey, we like it. A lot, actually, at least during the hooks and anytime still-crazy Simon's singing (lead, harmony, you know he's got 'em both down); not surprising to hear Paul's in his element over Wyclef's African-inflected rhythm and guitar work. The Jean verses are lacking, but his background vox during the Paul parts are just compensation. Still suckers for Simon.
The Carnival II: Memoirs of an Immigrant is out 12/4 on Sony.
Posted at 12:06 PM in Video
Tags: Paul Simon | Wyclef Jean
wyclef: adult contemporary for the post-rap set
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this website blows now. i wish i could purge it from my typing memory. i come here even when i don't want to. sometimes I even come here when am already here. this sucks.
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does anybody else out there think about paul simon in the same context as peter gabriel? as david byrne? contemporary (pop) classical has the three tenors, and, like, we should have the three godfathers of indie pop?
think about it:
each one of these guys has grandfathered in the necessary cred, mystique and global riddims to establish an iconography. this by way of simon/garfunkel + early solo work, genesis, and talking heads respectively.
the similiarities are astounding: early success leading to even more solo success,all founded upon musical hybridization WHILE constantly staying true to the folksy, neo-americana vocal style that made each famous.
we know their voices first and foremost, so i'm glad to see paul still pushing. this probably belongs on my own site, but as the readership is um, suffering, i thought i'd see what stereogum readers thought.
xoxoxo
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Oh man. I was so hoping that it was going to be a cover of the Tracy Chapman song. Wouldn't that have been fucking awesome/awful? (awesomeful?)
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Yo D:
I think the old joke (pre-David Byrne's solo influence) was that Peter Gabriel discovered world music; Paul Simon introduced it to western audiences; and Sting ruined it for everyone.
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poor d. ever the hipster. hip enough to trash stereogum for their posts. hip enough to check hipster blogs they hate so often that they check em even when they're already at them.
no one ever said being a hipster was easy.
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ne'er fading hipster elitism aside...
i've never understood why paul simon doesn't get more credit in the indie/hipster circles.
he's one of the great lyricists of our time. he was twee way before twee was hip and then unhip again and maybe it's hip again? i can't keep up. he's recorded with some of the greats. covered by some of the greats. graceland is still a great, great album.
he lacks the mystery of dylan. he lacks the edge of neil young. but he certainly deserves to sit in their class of Still Relevant Honored Elders.
besides, he duetted with george harrison and schooled connie hawkins in basketball.
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Can we please drop the 'hipster' insults/debate and talk about music?
Please?
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This isn't bad. Clef is hit or miss.
I just hope this gets a video.
Dylan was in "Gone 'Til November."
"Fast Car" can have Paul Simon.
Then zombie Woody Guthrie can cameo on the next.
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S'gum: Can we get a tribute to Graceland for Christmas, plz?
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paul, you are SO right about the "twee" label! i usually eschew labels for a more appropriate type of attention, but the more i think about it the more it perfectly fits.
dig paul's often-overlooked gem the one, an album from 2000 which not only features bakithi kumalo's second most ridiculous bass passage but is also throughly grounded in the kind of creolized stew that made taj mahal so important. the album features a number of songs that certainly fits the twee mold. almost sounding like fables, aesop with more pop and melody sense.
oh, and the graceland tribute album would be choice, but what instruments could do ladysmith justice? or vocal groups? are there any acapella groups who have flirted the peripheries of indie rock?
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Hey 'Gum,
I'd second the Graceland Tribute... with a comment that Rythm of the Saints holds up pretty well too... I usually listen to them back-to-back.
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Rhythm of the Saints is an amazing album, hypnotic and so very different from Graceland. Casual fans of Paul Simon might check out the track 'Wartime Prayers' from his most recent album, "Surprise". You can draw a line directly from 'The Boxer' to this song...
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para mi Wyclef es un genio de la musica
soy jimmy estudiante de medicina en UTESA
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