Influence and imitation can go hand in hand. Artists who lean heavily into their influences can often tread a fine line, barely balancing between blatant stealing and respectful homage. Paul McCartney is influential in many ways. He’s been copied more times than we can count. And it’s not just his sound; the way he has gone about his career has been influential. There was one album in particular from a fellow musical giant that McCartney thought was in “dangerous territory.” Find out why Macca thought Paul Simon stole from him while making one of his most popular albums below.
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Paul McCartney Thought Paul Simon Ripped This Album Off
For Band on the Run, McCartney and Wings took to Lagos. McCartney sought a change of scenery for this project. “I thought it’d be good to get out of the country to record, so I asked EMI where they had studios round the world,” McCartney once said. “There were some amazing countries where they had studios and I thought ‘Lagos… Africa… rhythms… yeah’, cause I’ve always liked African music.”
Whether it was his new surroundings or a stroke of unexplained creative genius, McCartney earned one of his greatest post-Beatles albums with Band on the Run. Due to his success with this record, many of his contemporaries decided to record albums in various parts of the world. For one of his most significant efforts, Graceland, Simon followed McCartney’s footsteps and recorded in Africa.
“Dangerous Territory”
While McCartney isn’t the only artist to have ever stimulated his creativity by traveling, he saw Simon’s decision to record in Africa as a direct result of the success of Band on the Run. However, he didn’t see this as a negative. He commended Simon for his ability to take his inspirations and build upon them.
“What’s the expression?” McCartney once said, “A good artist borrows, a great artist steals? Fair enough! We’re all heavily influenced. When I heard Graceland, I had always loved African things. I’d gone to Lagos to do Band on the Run. I had a similar idea in mind—to be influenced. Everybody does it in all forms of art—uses their influences as a turn-on. The difference with Paul is he does it very well. Graceland was dangerous territory, and he more than pulled it off.”
Graceland is certainly not seen as a derivative work by any means. This is one of Simon’s most beloved efforts and shouldn’t be cut down in any sense. And that’s one of the greatest things about McCartney, even if he sees his influence in action, he extends praise back—something many of his peers don’t do.
(Photo by David Redfern/Redferns)
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