feldmanlarry

I have very few memories of a trip to Europe in 1955 before our family went to Sri Lanka but I do remember falling in the pond at Luxembourg Gardens in Paris while using a stick to push little boats around. Of course, I had to return here and pretend to fall in again.

My neighborhood, the Marais, is known for its Jewish culture and even though I had walked around it quite a bit I hadn’t seen this corner with several Jewish restaurants and delis.

Months ago when I planned this I searched for concerts in Paris and discovered that Paul Simon and Sting were playing together in Paris while I was there. I think of Paul Simon’s fans being a little older than Sting’s fans but Paul Simon has had more than one career. I saw Simon and Garfunkel at Ithaca College in probably 1965. In the 1990’s I saw Garfunkel by himself at IUP. Paul Simon wrote the songs, played guitar, and sang. Garfunkel didn’t write any songs or play any instruments but he had the supposedly beautiful voice. I heard Simon once comment about how he felt snubbed when everyone was cheering loudly for Garfunkel and not for him.

One thing both Sting and Paul Simon have in common is their love of world music. I have an album somewhere of South African music, which I used to play over and over again. I loved the African influences and singers on the Graceland album.

Surprisingly, there was no attempt to stop people from taking pictures, videos, using flash photography, etc. It felt funny to be taking videos but everyone else was doing it. I got 30 second clips of several songs Simon sang. I didn’t bother so much with the Sting songs except for the few I recognized. I don’t think I can upload video clips in WordPress unfortunately.

At first I gained a lot of respect for Sting’s poetry and musicality. His voice is very expressive and unique but after a while I found he used the one vocal phrasing he has too much. Of course, Simon doesn’t have a great voice but it’s so distinctive and the songs are so wonderful that it much more than makes up for it.

This was truly an amazing concert. What a treat to see these greats! They seemed to really love each other’s music and sang together for part of the time. Here are some of the songs.

Paul Simon with Sting

These are the days of Miracles and Wonder

Mother and Child Reunion

Mrs. Robinson (with French accent, son)

The Boxer

Cecelia

Bridge Over Troubled Water

When Will I Be Loved

Paul Simon by himself

50 ways

Graceland

Still Crazy

Me and Julio down by the school yard

New York city winters are bleeding me

Louisiana type song

Whisky Train

Diamonds on the Soles of her shoes

You can call me Al

Sting by himself

Roxanne

Message in the Bottle

Sting with Paul Simon

Every Move You Make