Paul Simon has not ruled out playing live shows in the future, despite announcing his retirement from touring.
The You Can Call Me Al singer had previously announced his retirement from music, following the release of his 2016 album Stranger to Stranger.
Back in 2021, Paul Simon had spoken of his decision to step away from making albums, saying that he was “fine” with it.
“After I finished the album Stranger to Stranger, it was like, literally a click that said, ‘I’m done. I think I’m done,’” Paul Simon recalled in a book excerpt.
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“I’m optimistic”
However, in a recent interview, Paul Simon said that he is “optimistic” about a possible return to the stage.
“I’m hoping to eventually be able to do a full-length concert,” Simon said. “I’m optimistic. Six months ago I was pessimistic”.
Last month, Simon had appeared at the SoHo sessions in New York, where he performed seven songs in front of 7 people.
In his interview, Paul Simon had insisted that he had always planned a return to the stage, despite his previous announcement.
“I never said I was going to retire,” he said.
The singer added: “I said I was going to stop, which I did. I thought that with that band and the repertoire we were doing we’d developed it as far as we could. It was enjoyable, but I wanted to find out what happens when you stop. Then I had a dream, and everything changed back to a new version of reality”.
Paul Simon Focusing On New Sounds
Such dreams have inspired Simon to create his recent album Seven Palms, which arrived last year, at a time when the singer was suffering with hearing loss.
“It was scary, frustrating,” he explained. “You’re in denial and then you’re overwhelmed by this change in your life because you now have a disability. But even though it wasn’t pleasurable any more, I started to think that this was some new information that I needed to absorb into the piece. I started to focus on sounds, not from computers or synthesizers, but acoustic instruments used in unusual ways”.
As well as performing, Paul Simon has also created two new songs, which he shed light on this interview.
“One of them, a duet with Edie, is different from anything I’ve written. I might just put it out into the ether, see where it goes,” he said, referring to his wife and sometimes creative collaborator Edie Brickell.
He also added: “I’m interested in relearning how to write songs, like I did in England, and developing new acoustic sounds. Maybe I’m something of a lone wolf in that respect. But I’m kinda interested in the conclusion of where my thinking in music finally ends up”.
