Album 'Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover', Track 4 from 'Still Crazy After All These Years', 1975

Paul Simon's works are all unique, but this song, with its unusual title and Steve Gadd's brilliant drumming flowing throughout, is filled with a mysterious atmosphere. Doesn't the title particularly intrigue you? Where there is a meeting, there is always a parting. It is one of the eternal themes of humanity.

The repetitive, one-pattern drumming. Combined with the dry tone of the electric guitar, it creates a strangely lonely opening from the prelude. The hopelessness of this chord progression...

For a Paul Simon lyric, it is unusually told from a woman's perspective.

I wonder what the setting is. There is a man who wants to break up with his lover. But he is lost, worried, and suffering because he doesn't know how to do it. The person watching him seems to be a woman other than his lover. I see... This situation might be a common pattern.

It's a casual chord progression, but it's not your standard major or minor chords; it's a sound that doesn't follow the rules, always including 6ths, -9s, or dims. The accompaniment proceeds calmly along with the drum pattern, and the melody line is not complex either, but Paul's skillful narrative style fits the lyrics perfectly, making it refreshing to listen to.

Paul says that when he writes songs, he usually tries out various chord progressions according to his imagination and then decides on the melody line. And after the melody is decided, he writes the lyrics. I found this quite surprising. Because many of his songs have lyrics and melodies that are integrated. But he says that sometimes the song and lyrics come to him at the same time. He says this '50 Ways' came to his mind while he was taking a shower in the morning, and I personally believe that the melody must have been born at the same time.

She is being considerate of him, surely. She is a little hesitant to speak her mind plainly. But if she doesn't, the man won't wake up, so she speaks directly without sugarcoating it.

The song, which until then had been led by Paul's narrative style and jazz-like chord progressions, shifts to a rock and roll or blues-style chord progression in the middle section. With the addition of female backing vocals and a catchy rhythm, it makes you want to move your body.

The reason the lyrics sound so catchy is, of course, the pronunciation of the endings.
back, Jack
plan, Stan
coy, Roy
bus, Gus
key, Lee
He skillfully matches keywords with men's names. It's what you call wordplay.

Paul likes this kind of wordplay (rhyming) and often played with his son. It was a big hit with his son, and Harper would always laugh his head off whenever Paul started doing it.

When it gets to this point, it feels like making a loose translation is really wrong. Although I write down a translation (or rather, my own arbitrary creation based on the English lyrics) every time to convey the content and atmosphere of the song, in this case especially, once it's turned into Japanese, it loses its original meaning.

Such kind words. The man, slightly bewildered by her offer to teach him how to leave his lover, listens to her words. Perhaps because they have been talking for a long time, he decides to sleep on it.

Paul Simon wrote this music using a drum machine called the Rhythm Ace. Using this machine creates a rhythm that is tense and slightly awkward. The same rhythmic pattern is repeated throughout the song and gradually fades out at the end. It brings to mind the image of a parade walking away into the distance.

Victoria Kingston says this in her book.

At first, I wrote that it was a woman other than the lover. I interpreted it on my own as being another female friend, but she could be a good confidante to the male protagonist, such as an aunt or an older sister. No, actually, I think it is possible that this woman is the lover herself.
Please feel free to set the identity of the characters using your own imagination.

Within the album 'Still Crazy After All These Years,' the presence of this song, which is no less significant than the title track, is extraordinary. Paul Simon, who consistently introduces deeply unique songs, is always offering something new to the listener, which really keeps one on the edge of their seat. Among them, this song can be called a masterpiece, with its melody, accompaniment, and lyrics all being flawless. It is definitely a song I would want to include in my top 10 Paul Simon songs.