Paul Simon Announces Upcoming Audiobook and New Music
Paul Simon has announced a new audiobook, Miracle and Wonder: Conversations With Paul Simon. It will be released on Nov. 16.
Simon, who turns 80 today, has also announced the release of Seven Psalms, his first new music since 2018's In the Blue Light. A preview of the new album can be heard in the audiobook.
In Miracle and Wonder: Conversations With Paul Simon, the singer-songwriter discusses his upbringing in New York City, his collaborations with Art Garfunkel and the legacy of his work throughout the years. The audiobook will include five hours of conversation between Simon and author Malcolm Gladwell, plus archival audio, previously unheard live studio versions of tracks and original recordings of songs like “The Boxer," “The Sound of Silence" and “Graceland.”
“Over my career, I must have given hundreds of interviews on various projects, but speaking and collaborating with Malcolm on this was especially enjoyable,” Simon said in a statement.
“The puzzle is this guy was relevant in every decade since the 1960s,” Gladwell told Variety. “I was trying to answer the question, ‘What is different about Paul Simon?'”
Miracle and Wonder also includes audio appearances from fellow songwriters like Sting, Herbie Hancock, Rosanne Cash and Jeff Tweedy, who note their personal favorite Simon songs and his influence on their work. “He’s the most un-rock-star rock star," Gladwell noted. "Paul is surprisingly down-to-earth and approachable. Even if he wasn’t the most successful musician of his generation, he’d be the same person.”