Paul Simon Discusses His Life, Work and New Music

I mean these songs are legendary and they've been going for more than 50 years, The Boxer, Sounds of Silence, Bridge Over Troubled Water, sll those classics and it's as if they were written yesterday.

They still mean so much to so many people.

Are you surprised by that?

Absolutely, absolutely.

I think I was 22 years old when I wrote The Sounds of Silence I think because I closed, when I did the last performance on this final tour, the last song that I sang was The Sounds of Silence and I thought how, at 22, did this even happen?

I didn't know.

Same with Bridge Over Troubled Water, I've said this before.

I wrote the song when it was finished I said, 'That's better than I usually do' and but what I've come to realize over time because of a few other songs that are in this category, Graceland would be in this category, where you feel as if you're a conduit and the song is coming through you.

You're shaping it but you're absolutely surprised at what's happening and you don't know why and you don't know where it comes from, but, but I recognize that that happens sometimes and it's it's led me to be a more spiritual person because of the mystery of it.

So you mentioned the Central Park concert, of course, Sounds of Silence was among the many that you sang there and we're just overlooking Central Park and it's you know I really want to play a little bit of that concert.

[Singing] You sing '10,000 people maybe more' and of course there's probably hundreds of thousands, I don't know how many were there but tons and tons and there was a huge wave and applause.

Do you remember to this day that moment?

Yes I remember I remember playing the two concerts that I did in Central Park and the the last concert that I did in Hyde Park this summer really stay in my in my memory.