Today’s classic song of the day is “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” by Paul Simon. Released in December of 1975, it hit #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts early the following year.
“50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” was Mr. Simon’s highest-charting solo hit, the only song to hit number-one. It’s about a guy who’s thinking about leaving his current partner but having cold feet, and the woman he’s cheating with telling him to just do it—there are, after all, fifty different ways to leave your lover.
The song, however, only details five different ways:
- Slip out the back, Jack
- Make a new plan, Stan
- Don’t need to be coy, Roy
- Hop on the bus, Gus
- Drop off the key, Lee
That leaves 45 other ways, which presumably Mr. Simon will detail in some future song.
“50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” was inspired by the breakup of Simon’s marriage to Peggy Harper. “The opening words just popped into my mind” one morning, he said, and he continued from there. The chorus started out as a rhyming game with Simon’s then-three year-old son, Harper—back Jack, plan Stan, coy Roy, and so forth.
The song itself is written around a seemingly intricate drum groove from drummer Steve Gadd. It took me years to realize that it’s just a standard rudimental beat split up across his four limbs—parts of it played on the snare drum, hi-hat (stick and left foot), bass drum, and toms. Once you know this, it’s not that difficult to play. For you drummers out there, it looks like this:
I’ve adapted this approach to playing various songs over the years. Technically, it’s known as linear drumming, because you break up a beat linearly rather than playing everything all together. It’s kind of cool, and we have Mr. Gadd to thank for bringing it to the masses.
And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, Steve Gadd himself demonstrating how to play the “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” beat. Wild!
