Making Records: The Scenes Behind the Music by Ramone Phil

Author:Ramone, Phil [Ramone, Phil]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, pdf
ISBN: 9781401388294
Publisher: Hyperion
Published: 2007-10-09T07:00:00+00:00

With Paul Simon, A&R Recording, New York City, circa 1975 Phil Ramone Collection

TRACK 14

Rhythms of a Saint (Recording Paul Simon)

I’ll never forget the day I met Paul Simon.

Our first collaboration was in 1972, on Paul’s hit “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard.” Paul was cutting his first solo album (Paul Simon), and I was asked to engineer the session because Roy Halee—Paul’s longtime engineer and producer—wasn’t available.

One afternoon the phone in my studio rang.

“This is Paul Simon,” the voice on the other end said.

“Sure it is,” I replied, thinking that one of the other engineers was pulling my leg.

“No—it’s really Paul Simon,” the person said. “I heard you’re a good engineer. I’m doing a solo project, and I’d love to work on a song with you.”

At the time, Roy Halee was one of Columbia Records’ most progressive producers, and I admired him.

Simon and Garfunkel’s Bookends and Bridge over Troubled Water were albums that reflected a high musical and technical watermark; both records opened my eyes to the possibilities of production.

I distinctly recall hearing Bookends for the first time in 1968.

I was at a party, and the host had an elaborate stereo system with speakers in every room. The bathroom was probably the quietest place in the house, and when I chanced to use the facility, the sound of Simon and Garfunkel songs such as “Bookends Theme,” “America,” and “Old Friends,” offered a welcome respite from the cacophony outside the door.

“America” was a whimsical precursor to Simon and Garfunkel epics such as “Bridge over Troubled Water” and “The Boxer”—both of which established new rules for the standard three-minute pop single. The album’s contrasts—the understated gentility of the “Bookends Theme” juxtaposed with the dissonance of the violins in “Old Friends”—were especially haunting. I bought a copy of Bookends the very next day, and listened to it three times in a row.

There are few albums recorded during the last forty years in which almost every song on the album has become embedded in the musical lexicon. Bridge over Troubled Water, released in February 1970, is one such record.

The production and the sound of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel’s harmonies on this album are astounding. Then, the spacious sonority of songs such as “The Boxer,” “El Condor Pasa,” “The Only Living Boy in New York,” and “Bridge over Troubled Water” are unparalleled examples of Roy Halee’s expert touch.

When I prepared to make “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” with Paul, I considered the high standard that he and Roy had set with these groundbreaking records. How can I give “Me and Julio” an innovative bite? I wondered.

The answer came as the session began.

As guitarist Dave Spinozza rehearsed on his unamplified, solid-body electric guitar, I noticed that his pick made a percussive chukka-chukka sound when it hit the strings. There was no tonality and it was subtle, but I liked it. Instead of amplifying it, I placed a microphone directly in front of Dave’s guitar.

Paul began running down “Me and Julio” for the band, and I rolled tape.

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