REVISED: Behind The Song: “Something So Right,” by Paul Simon

Since publication, we discovered we had the story of this song directly from Simon himself, which we bring you now

Read this new addendum to the story behind the song, and hear the original demo of the song in its first incarnation,
as “Let Me Live In Your City.”



This is a revision to our original story behind “Something So Right” by Paul Simon. Though I knew that Simon, in one of our many interviews, spoke about the birth of this song, I couldn’t find it anywhere. Until today, that is, when I realized it was not included in any of the published interviews we did, but from interviews I conducted and then adapted for the liner notes of Paul Simon 1964/1993, his first box set.

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That Box Set divided his career into three sections: The Early Years, The Solo Years, and `Graceland’ and Beyond. Kevin Howlett of the BBC did the first chapter, and Paul’s friend, the composer Philip Glass, wrote the third chapter.

I wrote the middle chapter, The Solo Years. This covered his albums from `There Goes Rhymin’ Simon,’ his second solo album (featuring “Something So Right”) and concluded with `Hearts and Bones,’ his final album before `Graceland.’

As mentioned in the first publication of this story, the lyrics of “Something So Right” are so focussed and poignantly human, built around the title, that it’s surprising to discover that Simon wrote it with another chorus and title altogether, before reinventing it as the song we know now.

Simon confirms, in this newly-recovered interview section we are sharing below, that a revision was necessary to unify the love theme of the song.

Here’s that additional material directly from the source, Paul Simon. It’s from a series of interviews I conducted in 1992 at his Manhattan apartment, soon after he married Edie Brickell.

The demo of this first version of the song is below, with the original lyrics.

Paul Simon.
Photo by ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE

PAUL SIMON: I thought that [“Something So Right”] was a nice straight-ahead love song. I wrote the melody first. I had a complete set of other lyrics: different title, different subject matter.

The original lyric was not a love song, it was kind of a gospel lyric. I don’t know when I came to the conclusion that it should be a love song.

But I felt that this was not about a third-person experience; It was going to be a personal song.

Quincy Jones did all the orchestration. It’s a really tasty bit of writing.

I was working with Phil Ramone, and he was introducing me to musicians that he had worked with, such as Quincy as well as the other guys on that – Bobby Scott on piano and Grady Tate on drums.

That was a big session. There is acoustic bass and electric bass on it, plus vibes and three guitars.

VIDEO ABOVE: Paul Simon’s demo of
“Let Me Live In Your City,”
the first incarnation of “Something So Right.”


VIDEO BELOW: Paul Simon, “Something So Right,”
1973, from There Goes Rhymin’ Simon

The title of this ultimate love song reflects a realm of  human love which isn’t expressed often in song: the inability to accept the good things in life. It’s an idea indicative of the human condition, and has been an enduring element of human existence through several centuries. 

Evidence of this comes in 1580, when the author Thomas Lupton introduced the axiom “too good to be true” to the English language in his book Thomas Lupton’s Sivquila, Too Good To Be True. It’s an idea which reflects this human dynamic, often commonly paraphrased as:  If something seems too good to be true, it’s probably because it is.”

Relative to his most famous songs, such as “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” which is a modern standard, it’s  mostly unknown among the mass public. Yet “Something So Right” remains a cherished secret hero among his songs, especially by Simon cognoscenti, for whom its unwarranted outsider status lends it a singular shimmer all its own.

It’s also treasured for being an open window into Simon’s true self, expressed in a chorus of self-effacing admissions. The singer owns his innate negativity, the tendency to focus always on any potential darkness while being unable to even perceive any possible sunny side of any street.

Yet the song stands as  one of Simon’s most essential, both musically – with its sensual, yearning verse melody and intricate, elegant guitar part – and its unique lyrics.

There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, 1973.

In this first incarnation of the song, the title comes in the first line, “Let me live in your city.” The ending of that chorus, about a “traveler in traveling time”, is vague. Yet the entire melody and momentum of the song leads towards that melodic culmination on the last line of the chorus, where he placed the title. And it works. It’s only three words, yet it’s beautiful in its simplicity, creating a sweetly whimsical and colloquial way of describing this sensation.


1. Chorus of “Let Me Live In Your City,” the first draft,
by Paul Simon, of “Something So Right..

Let me live in your city
The river’s so pretty, the air is so fine
Rent me a room where I can lay over
I’m just a traveler eating up travelin’ time
I’m just a traveler eating up my travelin’ time


2. Revised New Chorus of “Something So Right,” as recorded by Paul Simon.

When something goes wrong, I’m the first to admit it
The first to admit it, but the last one to know
When something goes right, it’s likely to lose me
It’s apt to confuse me
Because it’s such an unusual sight
I can’t get used to something so right
Something so right


From “Something So Right”
By Paul Simon


Simon played and wrote the song on a classical gut-string acoustic guitar, as opposed to the acoustic steel-string guitars he usually played and used for songwriting. To expand his musical vocabulary, Simone studied many different kinds of music as played on guitar, including classical, , which is played on a gut-string or nylon-string guitar.The sound and melodic feel of the song was shaped by the instrument.  

The song was recorded ion 1972 at Columbia Records Studio in New York City. It was engineered by Phil Ramone and Roy Halee, who co-produced the album with Simon. Quincy Jones composed the string arrangement. The instrumental credits follow:

“Something So Right”
from There Goes Rhymin’ Simon
CREDITS


Paul Simon – vocals, guitar
David Spinozza – guitar
Al Gafa – guitar
Richard Davis – acoustic bass
Bob Cranshaw – electric bass
Grady Tate – drums
Bob James – Fender Rhodes
Bobby Scott – piano
Don Elliott – vibraphone
Quincy Jones – arrangement








Simon’s original demo is in E, though the  studio version from There Goes Rhymin’ Simon is in F, a half-step higher. On guitar, it is simpler to play in E, and given that the demo is in E, it seems likely it was written in E and then transposed.

Rhythmically, the song, as written and recorded, switches off between a time signature of 2/4, 4/4 and in the bridge and elsewhere, 3/4 time.




It’s a song which is also distinguished by being covered by not one but three of the great musical divas of our time: Barbra Streisand, Phoebe Snow and Annie Lennox.

Barbra Streisand was first. She recorded it in 1975 for her album The Way We Were.

Next was Phoebe Snow, who called it “the ultimate love song.” She had famously dueted with Simon on his song “Gone At Last,” from Still Crazy After All These Years, and also performed live with him.

Her great soul-injected rendition of the song is included on her 1977 album Never Letting Go.

Annie Lennox recorded the song solo in 1995 for her album Medusa. That same year, she re-recorded the song, using the same track, and transformed it into a duet with Paul Simon, adding new vocals provided by Simon, and also new tracks of Simon’s guitar playing.

Released as a single (unlike Simon’s record of it, which was a b-side only), it was popular on UK radio, and went up to 44 on the UK pop charts.


On Phoebe’s version, the chords are changed slightly at the end of the chorus. She sings it in E. Annie Lennox’s version is in A. The chords are changed radically, as is the structure. Barbra Streisand’s rendition is the closest to Simon’s in every way, except the key.