
Paul Simon
The Life
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Narrated by:
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Dennis Boutsikaris
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By:
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Robert Hilburn
About this listen
A publishing event from music legend Paul Simon: an intimate, candid, and definitive biography written with Simon's participation - but without editorial control - by acclaimed biographer and music writer Robert Hilburn.
Through such hits as "The Sound of Silence", "Bridge Over Troubled Water", "Still Crazy After All These Years", and "Graceland", Paul Simon has spoken to us in songs for a half-century about alienation, doubt, resilience, and empathy in ways that have established him as one of the most honored and beloved songwriters in American pop music history. His music has gone beyond the sales charts into our cultural consciousness. He was the first songwriter awarded the Gershwin Prize by the Library of Congress and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (twice) and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Deeply private, Simon has said he will not write an autobiography and has refused to talk to previous biographers. But he not only opened up to acclaimed biographer Robert Hilburn for what has amounted to more than 100 hours, he also urged those around him to speak. Independently, Hilburn also interviewed others who have been important in Simon's life, including his first two wives, Peggy Harper and Carrie Fisher, as well as, for the first time, people close to Kathy Chitty, his long-reclusive first muse.
The result is a deeply human account of the challenges and sacrifices of a life in music at the highest level, including the courage to leave Simon and Garfunkel at the peak of the duo's popularity to pursue more fully his expanding artistic goals. Hilburn documents Simon's search for artistry and his constant struggle to protect that artistry against distractions - fame, marriage, divorce, drugs, record company interference, rejection, and insecurity - that have derailed so many great pop figures.
Paul Simon: The Life is an intimate and inspiring narrative that helps us finally understand Paul Simon the person and the artist, including new and absorbing insights into his most enduring songs. Exploring his successes and failures onstage and off, the book combines the scholarship, passion, and storytelling grace of biography at its best.
©2018 Robert Hilburn (P)2018 Simon & SchusterListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Using a conversational tone throughout, Boutsikaris delivers the song lyrics as if they were works of poetry, giving listeners a new perspective on them." (AudioFile)
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By: Bob Dylan
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Dylan Goes Electric!
- Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties
- By: Elijah Wald
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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On the evening of July 25, 1965, Bob Dylan took the stage at Newport Folk Festival, backed by an electric band, and roared into his new rock hit, "Like a Rolling Stone". The audience of committed folk purists and political activists who had hailed him as their acoustic prophet reacted with a mix of shock, booing, and scattered cheers. It was the shot heard round the world - Dylan's declaration of musical independence, the end of the folk revival, and the birth of rock as the voice of a generation - and one of the defining moments in 20th-century music.
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Great book/Awful narration
- By DB on 01-04-25
By: Elijah Wald
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Petty: The Biography
- By: Warren Zanes
- Narrated by: Warren Zanes
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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No one other than Warren Zanes, rocker and writer and friend, could author a book about Tom Petty that is as honest and evocative of Petty's music and the remarkable rock and roll history he and his band helped to write. Born in Gainesville, Florida, with more than a little hillbilly in his blood, Tom Petty was a Southern shit kicker, a kid without a whole lot of promise. Rock and roll made it otherwise.
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Tom Petty gets some bio love
- By tru britty on 12-15-15
By: Warren Zanes
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All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words
- Unpublished, Unvarnished, and Told by The Beatles and Their Inner Circle
- By: Peter Brown, Steven Gaines
- Narrated by: Adam Stevens, Anthony Howell, Ben Jacobson, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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All You Need Is Love is a groundbreaking oral history of the one of the most enduring musical acts of all time. The material is comprised of intimate interviews with Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, their families, friends and business associates that were conducted by Beatles intimate Peter Brown and author Steven Gaines in 1980-1981 during the preparation of their international bestseller, The Love You Make, which spent four months on the New York Times bestseller list in 1983 and remains the biggest selling biography worldwide about the Beatles
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Absolutely Riveting!!
- By CB on 04-29-24
By: Peter Brown, and others
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I Hate the Ivy League
- Riffs and Rants on Elite Education
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Malcolm Gladwell has long relished the opportunity to skewer the upper echelons of higher education, from the institution of U.S. News & World Report’s Best College rankings to the LSATs to the luxe Bowdoin College cafeteria. I Hate the Ivy League: Riffs and Rants on Elite Education, upends the traditional thinking around how education should work and tries to get to the bottom of why we often reward the wrong people.
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Great content but don’t bother purchasing if you have heard the podcasts
- By katieKo on 10-23-22
By: Malcolm Gladwell
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What a Fool Believes
- A Memoir
- By: Michael McDonald, Paul Reiser
- Narrated by: Michael McDonald, Paul Reiser
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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A sweeping and evocative memoir from the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Grammy Award-winning, platinum selling singer-songwriter Michael McDonald, written with his friend, Emmy Award-nominated actor, comedian, and #1 New York Times bestselling author Paul Reiser.
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Those eyes! 😍
- By Linda Lehman on 06-26-24
By: Michael McDonald, and others
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Live from New York
- The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told by Its Stars, Writers, and Guests
- By: James Andrew Miller, Tom Shales
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine, Paul Woodson
- Length: 28 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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When first published to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Saturday Night Live, Live from New York was immediately proclaimed the best book ever produced on the landmark and legendary late-night show. In their own words, unfiltered and uncensored, a dazzling galaxy of trail-blazing talents recalled three turbulent decades of on-camera antics and off-camera escapades.
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The First Forty Years ... and Counting
- By Dubi on 10-21-18
By: James Andrew Miller, and others
A great Biography
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I have been a fan of Paul Simon since my early teens and found this book to open a window to the man behind the music. Well worth the credit!
Getting to know the man behind the music
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Quite good even if no big surprises
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Exceptional
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I liked it
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Well written, well told
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All about the music and more.
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Nice story
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The narrator was great for the story, he was engaging with the writing. I highly recommend this for any Simon fan. Thanks.
What an incredibly talented man
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Great Authorized Biogreaphy of Paul Simon
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