Paul Simon: ‘You’re the one’

By John Metzger

The Music Box, January 2001, Volume 8, Number 1

After his Broadway debut failed to find an audience, Paul Simon picked up the pieces and salvaged what he could for a mediocre album titled ‘Songs from The Capeman’. Rather than allow his defeat to get the best of him, however, Simon returned to the recording studio to produce an exquisite new batch of material that became ‘You’re the one’, putting the gifted singer-songwriter right back on course.

Once again, Simon has turned to the ’50s styles that he tapped for ‘The Capeman’, but this time around he merged them with the world-beat sounds he explored on ‘Graceland’ and ‘The rhythm of the saints’. Given that he always has had a predisposition towards the early roots of rock’n’roll, ‘You’re the one’ also serves to touch upon and summarize the entirety of his solo career. Consequently, the album doesn’t break new ground so much as it offers a refreshing glimpse into the mellifluent melting pot that has defined Simon’s music.

A few of the tracks on ‘You’re the one’, such as the Buddy Holly-like vamp of ‘Old’ and the rhythmically driven title track, are immediately infectious, but long ago, Simon gave up writing simple pop songs. Instead, he prefers the challenge of crafting dynamic, rhythmic orchestrations that merge a kaleidoscope of sounds into fluid sonic visions. While the percussion interludes are more subdued than they were on ‘The rhythm of the saints’, the grooves remain the driving force behind Simon’s compositions.

As with both ‘Graceland’ and ‘The rhythm of the saints’, the majority of the material on ‘You’re the one’ requires frequent visits in order to adequately absorb the full scope of the music, but those willing to invest the time certainly won’t be disappointed. “Somewhere in a burst of glory/ sound becomes a song,”, Simon sings on the opening track, ‘That’s where I belong’, offering a perfect description for his compositions. Throughout ‘You’re the one’, the songs softly flow and mutate, and their gentle melodies lovingly caress the ear while displaying their complex inner beauty. The chime of a triangle, the smooth ascent of acoustic guitar, the flurry of percussion, the tearful strains of a pedal steel and the soothing whisper of a bamboo flute all swirl together to form fanciful, rippling textures of rapturous aural ecstasy.

‘You’re the one’ is unquestionably Simon at his best, making his already impressive catalog of albums even stronger. One can only hope that in the future he will record with more regularity, but if nor, waiting a little longer between releases is well worth it if the result is as perfect as this.