In 1986, Paul Simon released his landmark album ‘Graceland’. The album is renowned for its exploration of world music, particularly South African music. One of the most celebrated songs on ‘Graceland’ is “You Can Call Me Al”, which was released as the album’s lead single. With its iconic intro and catchy chorus, the song became one of Simon’s biggest solo hits. But what’s the meaning behind the song? And who is Al? In this article, we will dive into the story and meaning behind Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al”.
Who Is Al?
Well, the answer is simple! Paul Simon is Al. He can be long-lost pals with Betty, who refers to Simon’s first wife Peggy Harper. The names were inspired by a party the pair threw in the early 1970s. Among the invited friends was composer Stanley Silverman, who brought along New York Philharmonic’s new director Pierre Boulez.
While Silverman properly introduced Boulez to Simon and Harper, the names didn’t stick with Boulez. When he left the party, he went to Simon and said: “Thank you, Al, and please give my best to Betty.” The names became an inside joke for Simon and Harper, who reportedly referred to each other as Al and Betty for months after the party. More than a decade later, Simon decided to use the inside joke for “You Can Call Me Al”.
The Meaning of the Song
“You Can Call Me Al” tells the story of a man who is experiencing a mid-life crisis and questions his identity and purpose in life. The song is autobiographical for Paul Simon, who was going through a difficult period in his life when he wrote the song. He had just divorced actress Carrie Fisher and his popularity as an artist was at an all-time low. Luckily, Simon’s life took a turn in the right direction when he received a cassette tape with South African music from singer-songwriter Heidi Berg. The cassette tape was the origin behind Graceland.
Read more: The Meaning Behind “Graceland” by Paul Simon
The song starts in a lighthearted joking manner; a man who walks down the street wonders why he is so soft in the middle while the rest of his life is so hard. Paul Simon deliberately chose to start the song in a similar vain to the joke cliché ‘a man walks into a bar’, as it would give him a lot of directions to go to next.
The rest of the verse delves into Simon’s mid-life crisis. He explains he doesn’t want to end up like his current situation in life and wants another opportunity to turn his life around. While the first verse has a humorous undertone, Simon reveals he doesn’t find his situation amusing anymore at the end of the verse.
“The second verse is really a recapitulation of the first,” Simon told SongTalk magazine in 1990. “A man walks down the street he says… another thing. And by the time you get to the third verse, and people have been into the song long enough, now you can start to throw abstract images. Because there’s been a structure, and those abstract images, they will just come down and fall into one of the slots that the mind has already made up about the structure of the song.”
The third verse reflects Simon’s experiences in South Africa. “You Can Call Me Al’ is really the story of somebody like me, who goes to Africa with no idea and ends up having an extraordinary spiritual experience,” he later said in the documentary Under African Skies.
“Now you have this guy who’s no longer thinking about the mundane thoughts, about whether he’s getting too fat, whether he needs a photo opportunity or whether he’s afraid of the dogs in the moonlight and the graveyard,” Simon told Songtalk. “He’s off in: ‘Listen to the sound, look what’s going on… there’s cattle and scatterlings… And these sounds are very fantastic. And look at the buildings – there’s angels in the architecture.’ And that’s the end of the song. It goes ‘phooomp,‘ and that’s the end.”
Release and Music Video
Paul Simon released Graceland on August 25, 1986. “You Can Call Me Al” was released as the album’s lead single. Initially, the song and album performed moderately, especially in the United States. Everything changed, however, when Simon released “You Can Call Me Al’s” iconic music video. He had originally filmed another video for the song, but due to dissatisfaction with the video, he decided to film another one.
In the video – directed by Gary Weis – Paul Simon and actor/comedian Chevy Chase humorously lip-sync the lyrics and mimic playing the instruments of the song. MTV loved the video and added it to their rotation in September 1986. While “You Can Call Me Al” (initially) only reached number 44 on the US charts, its music video caused a surge in sales of the album. At the end of 1986, Graceland was on its way to a million sold copies, largely thanks to the popularity of the music video.
In mid-1987, the strong sales of Graceland caused “You Can Call Me Al” to re-enter the US charts. It eventually peaked at number 23. In other countries, including the UK, Australia, The Netherlands, Ireland, and South Africa, the song was a top 5 hit. At the end of July 1987, the album had sold over 6 million copies worldwide.
Legacy of Graceland and You Can Call Me Al
Graceland eventually became Paul Simon’s best-selling solo album, selling over 16 million copies worldwide. In 1987, the album won a Grammy for Album of the Year. “You Can Call Me Al” became Simon’s most recognizable solo song, largely thanks to its iconic intro. While the making and release of the album is not without its controversies, Graceland – and the songs on it – undoubtedly rank as musical icons.
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