Behind the Album: ‘Still Crazy After All These Years,’ One of the Finest Achievements in Paul Simon’s Brilliant Career

Still Crazy After All These Years represented both a kind of peak for Paul Simon, as well as the end of an era, as he would largely move away from the singer/songwriter vibes that waft from the record. It’s one of his most confessional records, the portrait of a man approaching a life crossroads with humor and heart.

It also was a smash, as it became his first solo album to top the Billboard album charts. Let’s take a deep dive back to this wonderful 1975 that remains one of the finest achievements in Simon’s brilliant career.

All Aboard the Crazy Train

Paul Simon’s career was on a major roll circa 1975. When he separated from Art Garfunkel following their masterpiece Bridge over Troubled Water album, many wondered if he would be able to court the same kind of success as a solo artist. His self-titled 1972 album answered that question with a resounding “yes,” as Simon used world music accents to lend surprise and pep to his originals.

There Goes Rhymin’ Simon in 1973 followed along in the same vein, although it largely stayed within America in its musical exploration (Mardi Gras horns, Muscle Shoals soul, gospel). He found himself at the forefront of the singer/songwriter genre because of how he could easily slide into just about any musical setting.

Alas, his personal life was on a bit shakier ground. His marriage to first wife Peggy, with whom he produced son Harper in 1972, ended in 1975 after six years. The aftershock from that event worked its way into several of the songs on the album that would become Still Crazy After All These Years.

Although some people would balk at calling 34, Simon’s age when the album arrived in October 1975, middle age, there’s no doubt some soul-searching brought about by the passage of time is evident on the record. Perhaps sensing the lyrics needed to stand out, Simon kept the arrangements less beholden to any location or genre, even as a parade of top session players helped out.

The most notable guest on Still Crazy After All These Years? None other than Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote “My Little Town” with the original intent of giving it to Garfunkel to perform for one of his solo records, in part because he thought his old friend Artie was let down by some of the material he was getting. Instead, the two made it a duet like the old days, and it was credited to Simon & Garfunkel.

The Songwriting Brilliance of Still Crazy After All These Years

Produced by Phil Ramone, there’s something about this album that just sounds like the mid-’70s: slick, soulful, and melancholy. That’s all brought to bear on the title track, which features a Michael Brecker saxophone part that soars out of some tentative woodwinds. You also get the brilliance of Steve Gadd’s peppery drums on “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” the perfect accompaniment to a song of twitchy relationship unease.

These two songs are kind of the twin poles of the album. On “50 Ways,” Simon uses gallows humor to talk about the sting of divorce. The title track finds him lonely and aching, trying to make sense of his unmoored status: I fear I’ll do some damage one fine day / But I would not be convicted by a jury of my peers / Still crazy after all these years.

The duet with Garfunkel is another high point, as the two bellow about a kid lamenting the small-mindedness of his upbringing. The big hits are front-loaded on Side One (along with the hidden gem “Night Game”), while Side Two is more laid-back, but no less affecting. Songs like “Have a Good Time,” “You’re Kind,” and “Some Folks Lives Roll Easy” find Simon spilling the contents of his mind and heart, deftly mixing wit and anguish.

It would be another five years before Simon would be back with another long-playing collection of new music. His attempt at movie stardom (One-Trick Pony) and a failed reunion with Garfunkel (Hearts and Bones) rendered the early ’80s a bit spotty. It wasn’t until Graceland in 1986 that he completely found his footing again. But Still Crazy After All These Years certainly put the properly profound exclamation point on his scintillating ’70s catalog.

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