#Graceland November 6

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During a three mile walk I decided to listen to Paul Simon’s 1986 studio album called GRACELAND.

In America some things are beloved including Elvis Pressley’s home and Paul Simon’s album that share a name. In June I got to visit that Memphis landmark and yesterday I listened to the album from start to finish.

Here are a couple of pictures from my June 2021 trip to GRACELAND

GRACELAND-The Album

Measuring success in the music industry often involves awards and record sales. GRACELAND won a Grammy in 1986 for Album of the Year along with selling 15 million copies. When it comes to winning the Album of the Year Paul Simon is in rarefied air. Simon has won the Album Of The Year award three times: Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970), Still Crazy After All These Years (1975) and Graceland (1986).

Recording for a number of tracks on this album were black musicians from South Africa. Controversy followed when it was released But because South Africa was still a white-run apartheid state, and many other western musicians were playing an active role in trying to bring the system to an end. Paul Simon intentions were to bring the talents of these African musicians to the rest of the world yet he found himself to many others to be on the wrong side of the argument.

This was an album I had never listened to from start to finish. Yes I had heard several tracks multiple of times including “You Can Call Me Al“, “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes“, and of course “Graceland” The song You Can Call Me Al became a big music video hit on MTV with Chevy Chase stealing the spotlight by lip synching the lyrics much to the dismay of Paul Simon.

One song I had never heard of before giving the album a comprehensive listen was “All Around The World or The Myth of Fingerprints”. Los Lobos collaborated with Paul Simon on this tune which is the last track on the album. When the album was released there was no credit given to Los Lobos-they were not happy

Listed below are all the tracks from GRACELAND

In the song GRACELAND there is a verse I will leave you with

But I’ve reason to believe
We all will be received
In GRACELAND