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Paul Simon…

“The first line of a song is very hard. I always have this image in my mind of a road that goes like this (motions with hands to signify a road that gets wider as it opens out) so that the implication is that the directions are pointing outward. It’s like a baseball diamond; there’s more and more space out here. As opposed to like this. (motions an inverted road getting thinner). Because if it’s like this, at this point in the song, out of options.

So you want to have a first line that has a lot of options, to get you going. The other thing that I try to remember, especially if the song is long, you have plenty of time. You don’t have to kill them, you don’t have to grab them by the throat with the first line.

In fact, you have to wait for the audience – they’re going to sit down, get settled in their seat… the concentration is not even there. You have to be a good host people’s attention span. They’re not going to come in and work real hard right away. Too many things are coming: the music is coming, the rhythm is coming, all kinds of information that the brain is sorting out.

So give them easy words and easy thoughts, and let it move along, and let the mind get into the groove of it. Especially if it’s a rhythm tune. And at a certain point, when the brain is loping along easily, then you come up with the first kind of thought or image that’s different. Because it’s entertaining, at that point. Otherwise, people haven’t settled in yet.”

Here’s Paul Simon performing his song ‘You Can Call Me Al’. In the interview he uses this opening line as an example of what he’s talking about. Let’s give it a listen.

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