While he's initially 'pretty upset,' the Simon and Garfunkel musician has decided to embrace his deafness as 'part of the process' while making his latest LP 'Seven Psalms'.
- Dec 10, 2023
AceShowbiz - Paul Simon has learned to embrace his deafness in one ear as "part of the process" for his 2023 album "Seven Psalms". The 82-year-old legendary singer/songwriter - who quit from touring in 2018 - was saddened when he found out he had hearing loss, but he didn't let his disability hold him back when making the 33-minute piece of work that he says came to him in a dream.
"I was, as you can imagine, pretty upset. Then I thought, maybe this sudden disability is part of the process. Maybe it goes with the effortless stream of information coming my way through the dreams," he said in an interview with Britain's The Times newspaper.
The "Bridge Over Troubled Water" hitmaker - who is best known as one half of the folk rock duo Simon and Garfunkel alongside Art Garfunkel, also 82 - insists he does not expect to top the charts at his age.
He explained, "Well, it is generationally inappropriate for me to write hits anymore. And I envisioned Seven Psalms as one long thought, combined with sounds powerful enough to make the thought come alive, so that's how it had to be."
And Paul has denied the suggestion he's "always seeking to change" his direction with his music. He said, "One of the big misconceptions about me, which started with 'Graceland' actually, is that I'm always seeking to change. It's not true. I'm always continuing the piece I last worked on. I'm just leaving the parts I'm no longer interested in."
The acoustic collection is accompanied by the two-part documentary, "In Restless Dreams". In the trailer, Simon explained how the album - his first new material in seven years - came to be, sharing, "On January 15th, 2019, I had a dream that said 'You are working on a piece called 'Seven Psalms'. The dream was so strong that I got up and I wrote it. But I had no idea what that meant."
"Gradually information would come. I would start to wake up two or three times a week between 3,30 and 5 in the morning, and words would come, I'd write 'em down, then start to put it together. I like to work and then discover."
"Well, it's really interesting. I'm trying all the time to move things in this kind of flow way that puts you in a dream, and I think if you're willing to fall into a dream space, you're willing to let your judgment down. This is a journey for me to complete. This whole piece is really an argument I'm having with myself about belief or not."
The docuseries - which has just been acquired by MGM+ and will be streamed on March 17 and March 24 - ponders "how the limitation of your belief always tends to be tied to your conception of your mortality."
Paul told The Times it's "hard to avoid" thinking about his death at this time in his life, but he does his best. He said, "You know that saying, live every day like it's your last? I always think, really, must I? Can't I squander a couple of days doing nothing?"
