Best Songs Ever

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“You Can Call Me Al” is a song by Paul Simon, the first single released from his album Graceland. The song originally charted in the U.S. at No. 44 in October, 1986 but it was reissued with greater promotion in March, 1987 and hit No. 23. In the UK it peaked at No. 4, while in Sweden and the Netherlands reached No. 2. The lyrics can be interpreted as describing a man experiencing a midlife crisis (“Where’s my wife and family? What if I die here? Who’ll be my role model?“). The song features a bass run performed by Bakithi Kumalo (whose birthday it was on the day of recording the track); the solo is palindromic as only the first half was recorded, and was then played backwards for the second half. The names in the song came from an incident at a party that Simon went to... Read on...