Paul Simon gets BAMed, Byrned
As if the nine-man acapella harmonies of Ladysmith Black Mambazo (nice site, guys!) weren’t a mind-bending enough way to start last Friday’s Paul Simon celebration, David Byrne had to up the ante. Initially entering as a backing vocalist during one of the two-hour set’s previous songs, Bryne eventually took over the Under African Skies program, launching into a characteristic-nervous-energy rendition of “I Know What I Know” from the former &-Garfunkeler’s masterwork Graceland. Video!:
As was customary for the program when someone else took the lead vocal on a number and Paulie’s unobtrusively-competent acoustic guitar strum was unnecessary, Simon left the stage entirely to Bryne and the band, and the former Talking Head brought the Caucasian shuffle to previously unknown heights. Byrne’s second song detailed and YouTubed after the jump.
Your SAK correspondent, truth be told, didn’t even want the overly-crowd-pleasingly “You Can Call Me Al” dropped into the set that evening, but as the opening chords announced Byrne, still shimmying with awkward joy front-and-center, would be taking a shot at it–well, suddenly the prospect was welcome. “What if I die here?” Byrne sang, “Where is my wife and family?” The song had all the lyrical oddities and left turns that the Talking Heads lyrics did way back when, with the singer half-hiccuping and almost-interrupting himself. Byrne deftly navigated “Al,” sounding anxious and confident all at once. More amateur video evidence:
These YouTubed clips don’t quite capture the true joy that was attending the show, but one supposes it’s nice to say (a claim that’s rarer and rarer in the capital-’I’ Internet age): “You had to be there.”
Bonus: If Byrne had tackled the tracks at a show of his own, you can well imagine he would have re-arranged the songs substantially to suit his own needs, but being back by Simon’s band meant an almost note-for-note album track recreation with an entirely different vocal style taking the lead. Kudos to BAM for bringing this live-band-mash-up-karoake-oddity to our fine Borough.
Once your SAK correspondent finds out what Grizzly Bear has planned for American Tunes, you’ll be the first to know.
Tags: Brooklyn Academy Of Music, David Byrne, Grizzly Bear, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Paul Simon