{"id":792480,"date":"2019-01-29T06:45:16","date_gmt":"2019-01-29T13:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=785875"},"modified":"2019-01-29T06:45:16","modified_gmt":"2019-01-29T13:45:16","slug":"watch-paul-simon-talk-rewriting-old-songs-on-colbert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/watch-paul-simon-talk-rewriting-old-songs-on-colbert\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch Paul Simon Talk Rewriting Old Songs on \u2018Colbert\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Paul Simon<\/a> discussed revisiting and revising old songs for his new album, Into the Blue Light<\/em><\/a>, and performed two tracks from that album on The Late Show<\/em> Monday.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Stephen Colbert, Simon said that, in making the album, he wanted to focus on deep cuts that hadn\u2019t gotten much attention, joking,\u00a0\u201cEither because they were on an album that had a bunch of other hits, or because they were on an album that had no hits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simon explained his revision process as well, saying, \u201cI rewrote the parts that I thought were weak, like there\u2019d be a song where, I\u2019d say, there was a really good set-up but the last verse didn\u2019t really explain the point clearly. So the song really could\u2019ve been better\u2026 It\u2019s really quite a treat to be a composer and have the opportunity to go back and fix your mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simon also spoke about the origins of one of the songs he revised for Into the Blue Light<\/em> and performed on The Late Show<\/em>, 1983\u2019s \u201cRene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War.\u201d The musician said the title came from a photo caption in a book he found at Joan Baez\u2019s house, adding that Magritte\u2019s surrealist paintings inspired him to compose a tune based on the music of Fifties R&B groups.<\/p>\n

For his rendition of \u201cRene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War,\u201d Simon added another surreal layer to the song by performing it alongside the chamber ensemble, yMusic. Over the soft swoon of strings and horns, Simon crooned, \u201cThe deep, forbidden music\/They\u2019d been longing for\/Rene and Georgette Magritte\/With their dog after the war.\u201d<\/p>\n