Neat song. I’m often surprised by how little music relatively gets across the border. I remember driving across the border listening to top 40 radio in Canada and recognizing only maybe half the songs on there.
“A Fifth of Beethoven” it is, partly because it’s a well-played instrumental and partly for nostalgic reasons. Anyone remember quadraphonic stereo? My older and more sophisticated cousin was showing off his new system and chose this song to demonstrate. It was the first time I’d heard either the song or a really first-rate sound system.
Jesus, the year Punk broke and this is the chart?
Anyway, I went with “Love Rollercoaster”. It was either that or “Oh What A Night”
In the sense that it is better to have your nuts bit off by a rabid wolverine than to be boiled alive in moose diarrhea.
Regards,
Shodan
This is the perfect description of almost all of Paul Simon’s solo work (or the radio hits, anyway).
The only good thing I can say about “50 Ways” is that it’s not “Kodachrome.” All down to personal taste, I know, but the appeal of these songs (the second one in particular) utterly baffles me.
I should never have read this thread. I was extremely comfortable not remembering any of these songs. (I turned 14 that year, lots of it was overplayed middle school fare.) But alas, I was ignorant of my comfort, and only now know it in hindsight.
Hey, I’d never noticed that before. It lends it a sort of Beatles vs. Jackson 5 feel that predated “The Girl Is Mine” by several years.
Nifty!
Wow, what a dreadful year! But as I recall there was a lot of great music that year, it’s just not on the list.
75-76 was my Freshman year at UM. My roommate looked like Roger Daltry in Tommy. His name was Lee. I remember his year-long girlfriend, near the end of the year, saying “DROP OFF THE KEY, LEE!”
I was 15 in 1976. It was the year my father and I camped out for Paul McCartney tickets outside the Omni in Atlanta. I look back on that time and am floored by my father’s patience and generosity. He would have never denied me that concert experience. In '76, this was Wings Over America. I’ve never not been a fan of McCartney, so he gets my sentimental vote here.
1976 would’ve been the year I turned 8, and I had 45s of “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” and “I Write the Songs.” I let my 8-year-old self vote in this poll for “I Write the Songs,” even though my current self can see how bombastically over-the-top it is.
Chicago’s “If You Leave Me Now” is arguably one of the best love songs ever written, so I am going with that.
Skyrockets in flight! A sappy pop song but it stays in my head.
Had to go with Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music.” It’s the only one on the list that actually sounds good.
I recall an episode of either “Sesame Street” or the Muppets where Simon appeared with a satire of that song titled “50 Ways To Love Your Lever”…
Can’t find it on YouTube but I swear I’ve seen it…
It wasn't a song, just a little throwaway gag at the very beginning of the clip. (Though as I post this, I haven't watched the rest of it, so maybe there's a song too)
The 10/11-year-old me, still rattling around in this cage, completely agrees.
I love Paul Simon as much as the next guy, but I’ve never really enjoyed “50 Ways.” For me it was a toss-up between “Love Rollercoaster” and “If You Leave Me Now” (mmm…Peter Cetera’s voice…).
The Rollercoaster won. How much of that decision is due to my enjoyment of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ cover twenty years later I leave as an exercise for the reader.
It would take a Quaalude, a six pack and a gram of coke to get me to vote for any of these.
Love Rollercoaster still makes me laugh, though.
I remember hearing “Back in the USSR” a lot during the summer of '76.
“50 Ways” reluctantly - what a crappy set of songs.