www.paulsimon.com Archives - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

Happy Lafayette

27th May 202527th May 2025 funtime65

A long time ago before you was born dude when I was single and life was great I hung on Paul Simon’s every word… and learned about Happy Lafayette.

Now swap Paul’s ‘travelling salesman’ for selling travel and we’re just different sides of the same coin.

The great lyricist was sharing happy vibes about Cajun and Creole culture, zydeco music and the Louisianan locale.

And all that, long before it was named Happiest City in the USA by the Wall Street Journal’s Market.com.

Paul Simon’s jazzy paean to the Louisiana jewel popped back into this mush of a mind of mine.

Ahead of World Wellness Day on June 16.

On the back of our Louisiana pals flagging up the best places to chill.

On the trail of Simon’s Lafayette

Now, in the best traditions of American songsmiths Rhymin’ Simon gives us a mailman’s route through his hits.

You see he was standing on the corner of Lafayette after all, State of Louisiana.

Across the street from The Public/Heading down to the Lone Star Cafe.

Now through this great travelling community of ours I sought out Mr Jumbo’s advice for the aforementioned hot spots.

Only to find that our salesman was either trippin’ or being transported through the music.

From Lafayette Street, in Simon’s native New York, where these iconic venues buzz, to the Lafayette in Cajun country.

Louisiana jazz has that effect on you, it trumpets you to the heart of the Deep South.

Marching in

So for Paul Simon’s Clifton Chenier, the King of the Bayou, I’ve been drinking in the sounds of Louisiana and the Sazerac.

On annual trips to the American Travel fair which will be hotfooting its way back to The Big Easy in the coming years.

Until then I’ll let myself be transported by the Louisiana delegation and their famous IPW breakfasts.

Their jambalaya, Sazeracs and the New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band marching us into the conference hall.

To run us through why you’ll come away feeling all kinds of wellness.

And those Sazeracs too will likely make you feel like you’re in Happy Lafayette.

Africa, America, Countries, Culture, Music, South America, UK

Paul Simon, 80 years young today

13th October 202113th October 2021 funtime65

I often think I was born out of my time… not ahead of it, more behind it, which is why when my peers were expressing their angst through Joy Division I was finding meaning through Paul Simon, 80 years young today.

As the youngest of three boys with a five and eight year gap between us my early influences were The Beatles, The Stones, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Pink Floyd, Heavy Metal… and Simon & Garfunkel.

And as a gangly shy adolescent I find solace in the longing, introverted, wanderer music of Paul Simon… I still do.

Now there have been rockier, wilder concerts (The Killers, The Proclaimers), equally as iconic singers (David Bowie). and more celebrated venues (OneRepublic in Red Rocks, Colorado) but there have been no more rewarding gigs than Paul Simon on his farewell tour which touched down in Dublin.

So how does your favourite Travel blog mark the 80th birthday of the Poet Laureate of Pop?

Well, by shining a light on the places Rhymin’ Simon loved the most and whose musical influences burst out in his timeless songs.

Apple of his eye

New York: A proud son of Queen’s borough, Simon’s songs about New York are some of the most recognisable about the Big Apple.

The Boxer is a plaintive exploration of down on your luck New York life which includes a reference to the ‘whores on 7th Avenue’.

Simon told the story at a concert of a fan who told him she would sing the song to her child only she changed the words to ‘toy stores’.

There’s something quite playful too about the 59th Street Bridge Song and I referenced it too on my route to the RDS for that 2019 concert.

You’ll find, in truth. New York references in numerous Simon and Simon & Garfunkel songs, some with NY in the title as in The Only Living Boy In New York and the Statue of Liberty in my own favourite, American Tune.

Rainbow Simon

Cool for cats… in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

South Africa: Now, how many of us, hand on heart can say that they knew much South African music before Paul Simon introduced it to a Western audience with his seminal album Graceland.

And, before we get to that, let’s just reference the titular song Graceland, a tribute to Elvis, which Simon revealed was his favourite piece of song-writing (few arguments here).

Of course none of us outside of South Africa knew of Ladysmith Black Mombasa either… but once heard never forgotten.

Simon also opened up the joy of South Africa at a time when understandably we associated the country with injustice, bigotry and hopelessness.

But which lit a fire for many of us to go visit the Rainbow Nation. We give you Simon and the band’s Under African Skies.

Samba music

Brazil: And once Simon had got on a roll (or a rock’n’roll if you like) he was off to South America.

Who can forget those huge drums on The Obvious Child. Nothing obvious though about the drummers’ talent or Simon’s songwriting.

And finally in an English train station

He was here: Widnes Railway Station plaque

Widnes, England: And, of course, unless you’re a Rugby League fan, you’ll never have been to Widnes in Merseyside.

Unless you’re a budding New York musician (Paul Simon) who was feeling homesick here and penned the classic Homeward Bound. There is a plaque there now.

Or if you’re another budding wordsmith, en route to Liverpool from Scotland (you have to wait here for the next connection) to take the next rung in his celebrated writing career.

But that’s another story.

Happy Birthday Paul Simon, 80 years young today.

America, Countries, Culture, Ireland, UK

Rainy Days and Songdays – Paul Simon in New York

8th June 20208th June 2020 funtime65

We’ve lived so well so long But when I think of the road we’re travelling on I can’t help but wonder what’s gone wrong – Paul Simon, American Tune

Rhymin’ Simon never billed himself as a protest singer but his American Tune spoke to the Nixon Years… and to today.

It is apt then that he is singing it now in his virtual set.

And chose it as the penultimate song in Dublin in his farewell tour. See him perform it here on American TV https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pHZ72yHQ0K8.

In American Tune, the New York prophet has caught the zeitgeist.

Paul Simon in his pomp. www.paulsimon.com

I unashamedly and boldly sang it on the streets of Manhattan on my last visit.

As I jostled through the throb of Times Square.

Sweltering in my cowboy hat, a rucksack on each shoulder, and dragging a suitcase behind me.

Simon & Garfunkel’s protests were never in the same vein as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.

But they spoke to a Scottish adolescent in the 70s and sang of a different freedom, of travel, in a greyhound bus.

I went to look for America https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sFAoWwUwknc in the Eighties in the iconic coach from New York https://www.nycvb.com to Boston https://www.boston.gov/visiting-boston.

Where we came across our first Native Americans, a vagrant, but alas no shifty-looking spy in a gaberdine suit.

Thirty years later I was on another Greyhound on the way from Washington DC https://washington.org and Easy DC to Philadelphia https://www.visitphilly.com and Philadelphia Freedom.

And I was thankful to the driver for making up the time we had lost waiting in DC for passengers.

You see I only had an afternoon to see the cracked old bell and follow in the footsteps of Benjamin Franklin and Rocky Balboa.

Before it was then off to NY https://www.google.ie/amp/s/jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2020/03/28/old-new-york-hamilton/amp/.

When I ‘counted the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike.’

Another famous New Yorker was waiting for me in Times Square when I got there.

And he obviously had his hand out.

MEET YOU BACK IN THE USA