Paul Simon is 69 years old.
Can you please stop a moment and think of that.
Your grandfather could be 69, or younger really. One year shy of seventy. Seventy year old men wear their pants up under their ribs with white v neck undershirts and jingle change in their pockets. Seventy year old men soak their teeth in a cup. It's unimaginable to me that Paul Simon is that old.
He is Mr. New York, a simple fixture 'the only living boy in…', just a New York icon.
Tonight he is on Saturday Night Live. He has been on before but never at age 69. Iman just came off of seeing him live at The Beacon Theater earlier this week, but I did not. To me Paul is still the cover of "Bridge Over Troubled Water". We all know he's no longer that boy, but what is he now?
Why is he still touring and why on Earth did he sign on to do Saturday Night Live tonight?
In a skit Simon looks like a grandpa, slack jawed and glazed as if hes waiting for the nurse to take him to the dining hall for bingo night. Didn't anyone tell him that cameras would be rolling and that this is live TV? I'm embarrassed to watch him. Between commercial breaks they cut to a live shot and hes rubbing his eye–again.. this is live TV! Look alive man! Look alive!
But when he sings……….if you don't look…its beautiful. That soft and high pitched voice is as clear and touching as ever. Just. Don't. Look. During a brief guitar game of slide the strings I expect him to pull a quarter out of someones ear like a grand pappy would. Just… don't… look.
"Rewrite'' was one of the best songs on the album, and a highlight of the Beacon show, according to Iman. Calling his vocals 'too cute'.. I disagree. But then again, I am not looking. I would find that voice from that visual too disturbing. Iman watches, so I can expect that to be a bit "off"
The quote of the night? That belongs to Iman, "His best song since "father an daughter" but he won't stop fucking twinkling and winking",
This once again proves my theory that you just cant be cool over 65, visually anyway. Paul kicked some ass for those of us who only listened.
Iman adds: "the second song, "So Beautiful, So What" is a tired old blues riff with a coat of paint and a bowtie. Dreadful, boring and, er, did i mention dreadful?