The Simon half of Simon and Garfunkel brings us today’s classic song of the day. Paul Simon released “Slip Slidin’ Away” as a single in October of 1977 and the song went to #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #4 on Billboard’s Easy Listening list.
“Slip Slidin’ Away” is a song about things in life unraveling. The first verse is about a man whose love for a woman is so overpowering he’s afraid he’ll disappear. The second verse is a wife unhappy in her marriage. The third verse is about a divorced Dad who can’t bring himself to explain things to his son. They’re all, in their own ways, slip slidin’ away.
I particularly like that third verse. It’s just a heartbreaker:
And I know a father
Who had a son
He longed to tell him all the reasons
For the things he’d done
He came a long way
Just to explain
He kissed his boy as he lay sleeping
Then he turned around and headed home again
“Slip Slidin’ Away” made its debut as a non-album single. Mr. Simon did include it on his Greatest Hits, Etc. compilation album, but it didn’t appear on any proper album of his.
Paul Simon used a trusted cadre of studio musicians to record this one. His backing guys included Richard Tee on Fender Rhodes electric piano, Anthony Jackson on bass, Ralph MacDonald on percussion, and the inimitable Steve Gadd on drums. Mr. Simon played the acoustic guitar and he enlisted the Oak Ridge Boys to sing backup vocals.
Mr. Simon originally recorded “Slip Slidin’ Away” during the sessions for his Still Crazy After All These Years album but didn’t feel that the tune fit with all the other tracks on that album. In addition, Mr. Simon wasn’t particularly satisfied with his writing on this one. In his own words:
“The last verse is a powerful one, but the chorus, it keeps coming back to the chorus. You know what that chorus is going to say. I always felt it should be shorter, but I didn’t know which verses to take out. Either the last verse or the father/child verse. But they all seemed like they had to be in there, so I left it. But I always felt that the record and the song stayed on a plateau. It didn’t build.”
It sounds okay to me.
Today’s daily bonus video of the day is Paul Simon and his band performing “Sllp Slidin’ Away” in July of 2012 at London’s Hard Rock Calling Festival in Hyde Park. It’s a good one.
