There Goes Rhymin' Simon


There Goes Rhymin' Simon is the third solo studio album by American musician Paul Simon rush-released on May 5, 1973. It contains songs covering several styles and genres, such as gospel and Dixieland. It received two nominations at the Grammy Awards of 1974, including Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male and Album of the Year.
As foreshadowed by the feel-good lead single "Kodachrome", There Goes Rhymin' Simon was a bigger hit than its predecessor, reaching #2 on the Billboard 200 chart, and #1 on Cashbox Magazine for one week from June 30, 1973. In the United Kingdom, the album peaked at #4. Subsequent singles were also the #2 single "Loves Me Like a Rock", and the Top 40 hit "American Tune". Also "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" was released in the UK reaching the Top 10.
The song "Kodachrome" is named after the Kodak film of the same name. Kodak required the album to note that Kodachrome is a trademark of Kodak. The song was not released as a single in Britain, where it could not be played on BBC radio due to its trademarked name.

Reception

Critics praised the album. The Denver Posts Jared Johnson called it "a brilliantly executed masterpiece, and surely the finest album in three years," citing such 1970 releases as Bridge Over Troubled Water and After the Gold Rush. Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times said, "Combining a variety of musical textures, Simon's new album firmly establishes him as one of our most valuable and accessible artists." Stephen Holden of Rolling Stone praised the album as "a rich and moving song cycle, one in which each cut reflects on every other to create an ever-widening series of refractions."
However, Stereo Reviews Noel Coppage, while giving the album an "excellent" rating, nonetheless felt that it was "deficient in spontaneity, excitement, strain", calling its arrangements "clean and sensible" but "oddly predictable".
In 2000 it was voted number 421 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.

Track listing

All tracks written by Paul Simon. The melody of "American Tune" is almost note-for-note written by Johann Sebastian Bach, who was not credited on the album. In turn, Bach had imitated the melody of Mein G'mueth ist mir verwirret by Hans Leo Hassler.
;Side one
  1. "Kodachrome" – 3:32
  2. "Tenderness" – 2:53
  3. "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" – 3:27
  4. "Something So Right" – 4:33
  5. "One Man's Ceiling Is Another Man's Floor" – 3:46
;Side two
  1. "American Tune" – 3:43
  2. "Was a Sunny Day" – 3:41
  3. "Learn How to Fall" – 2:44
  4. "St. Judy's Comet" – 3:19
  5. "Loves Me Like a Rock" – 3:31
;2004 remastered reissue bonus tracks
  1. "Let Me Live in Your City" – 4:21
  2. "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" – 2:31
  3. "American Tune" – 4:03
  4. "Loves Me Like a Rock" – 3:24

    Personnel

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications