In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon

A 2023 comprehensive & some might say exhaustive documentary (running 3 & 1/2 hours) on the musical career of one Paul Simon. Tracing his roots from Queens & his hit or miss early days in the industry, things started to click when he hooked up w/an old school chum, Art Garfunkel (heard via audio interviewers), who provided the perfect vocal accompaniment to his songwriting (something he remarks over & over again, he wrote all the songs). Soon enough, especially after the Graduate came out, the pair became the duo par excellence for the age but as the 70's encroached & Simon soon ventured into acting (appearing in Annie Hall) w/many appearances on Saturday Night Live (he became close friends w/producer Lorne Michaels so much so Michaels was his best man when he married Carrie Fisher) but after his 1st marriage dissolved & his one foray into starring (& co-writing) in a film named One Trick Pony failed to find an audience, he was in the doldrums which finally broke when he released his world music tinged Graceland in the 80's which proved to be immensely popular along w/his vaulted reunion w/Garfunkel for a free concert in Central Park, he managed to conquer the world again. W/his song lyrics & on camera musings sprinkled in w/his visual history, filmmaker Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side/Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) follows Simon around his Texan studios which is occasionally frequented by his wife & fellow singer Edie Brickell as he talks out his process & we get an insight into this consummate songwriter & performer.

Let me begin by saying some thought Paul said at the end of episode 1 that Garfunkel was a person he never wanted to see again. But that's not what he said. He was talking about himself never wanting to "see" or be that person again. Himself, being that way..

I really enjoyed it. They were truly a unique duo and so talented. Still are, really. Unfortunately, and also ironically, Paul has lost most of his hearing but he's still writing songs. Reminds me of Johnny Cash at close to the end of his life, and his reflecting on his life through song.

It brought back a lot of memories of troubled, but good, times in a lot of ways.

Let me begin by confessing that Simon was a source of tremendous comfort during my adolescence, my primary guitar teacher, me being a self taught guitarist, and the single most direct influence on my own musical creations. I can do a few things on the guitar because of learning by ear (no tabs, no internet) that few guitarists can do. And the backdrop to all of this was what I believed to be a strongly human ethic as evidenced in at least a few of his songs. Alas, the fire disappeared over the years. No one writes anything like the protest songs of old. Remember that Scarborough Fair had an antiwar counter melody? I will refrain from reciting the obvious reasons for this. However, there is still a weird thing that is bugging me. The transformation of Sounds of Silence from a folky niche piece to a gigantic hit is covered in this documentary, and it is covered wrong. Simon did not know they were doing it, he sure as heck did not give anyone permission, and the entire coverage discounts the massive luck or divine destiny which he was blessed with. There are also bizarre issues regarding Simon's recognition of the inspiration for the Seven Psalms, but, hey, we all get old. Why am I being so hard on Paul?

To whom much is given, much is expected.

This is a great documentary and it gives a very nice insight on the way Paul Simon shapes his latest (last?) album. Along the way we see the story how Simon's career started with it's ups and downs. It is a great miss the film maker stops around the succes of Graceland (okay, we got a few minutes on the follow up album "Rhythm of th Saints" in the movie as well.

This film is missing out on the second half of Paul's career. The description of the movies mentions the six decades Paul Simon's career is spanning. Too bad the great works from the last 3 decades are not mentioned or talked about.

This makes that this film feels like incomplete. There is life after Graceland! Very much so. Too bad this was not included.

Basically this film is about "7 Psalms", Simon & Garfunkel and Graceland. Highlights in Paul Simon's career, but not doing right to the career itself.

Still a joy to watch and listen to!

The historical overview of Simon and Garfunkel and their breakup is excellent. Less excellent is Paul Simon in his homemade Texas studio putting together his latest solo album.

So lets's talk about the Simon and Garfunkel history, then, where we learn some very insightful things. Paul Simon is an excellent songwriter and his songwriting during the 1960's was beautiful, mesmerizing and groundbreaking. It spoke to the generation that grew up in the NYC metropolitan area and were impacted by the major events of the 1960's including assassinations and an extremely unpopular war. For the most part this generation was Liberal, open minded socially, politically, musically. Anti-war, anti-racism, pro-women's rights, pro-culture in general. These were Simon and Garfunkel's people and they are the one's who showed up for the Simon and Garfunkel reunion in Central Park in 1981 in an extremely emotional outpouring of love. A love of a by gone time of open mindedness and culture that Simon and Garfunkel represent.

Simon's songwriting spoke to this cultured generation but he had vital help - the beautiful, angelic voice of Art Garfunkel which transformed Simon's songs from very good to the stratosphere of angelic beauty. And why these albums are all classics.

Simon needed Garfunkel and they never should have split up. What they created together was not just good songs but something far more - great art!

Why the split? It wasn't either musician it was a comic turned movie maker, Mike Nichols, who pushed Garfunkel into acting. A horribly bad, selfish move by Nichols who knew full well it would break up the pair. An unconscionable act of sabotage that destroyed great art. I can't watch any of Nichols movies because of this.