Graceland (album)
| Graceland | ||||
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| Studio album by Paul Simon | ||||
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Publication |
August 12, 1986 |
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| Label (s) | Warner bros. | |||
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Format (s) |
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Title (number) |
11 |
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running time |
44:43 |
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| occupation | Paul Simon | |||
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Paul Simon |
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Studio (s) |
October 1985 - June 1986
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Graceland is an album by the American folk-rock singer and songwriter Paul Simon from 1986. It combines western folk and pop music with African music and was recorded together with musicians from Africa. With over 14 million copies sold worldwide and two Grammy Awards , it is Paul Simon's most successful solo album.
background
Simon's career was badly damaged in the 1980s. A first step towards the realization of the new project was the song Gumboots by the Boyoyo Boys . Simon wrote a text for this instrumental piece and recorded it again. This version became the fourth track on the album.
Simon recorded the album in South Africa , which earned him criticism, as apartheid still prevailed there and there was a ban on cultural contacts in South Africa. However, he mainly worked with black artists from South Africa and Lesotho . He made these artists known to a wider audience in North America and Europe - above all the group Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the guitarist Ray Phiri from the group Stimela . But musicians established in North America and Europe such as The Everly Brothers , Linda Ronstadt and Los Lobos also took part in the sessions.
The album was awarded a Grammy in 1987 as "Album of the Year" . The theme song Graceland was named "Single of the Year" in 1988 .
The title track and album title were not directly inspired by Elvis Presley's Graceland estate . Paul Simon describes u. a. in the documentaries Classic Albums: Graceland and Under African Skies , that he sang “Graceland, Memphis Tennessee” in the absence of a text because it went rhythmically well with the music. Only later did he realize that he no longer wanted to change the text. He then decided to pay a visit to the real Graceland, which he hadn't seen before. Even on the drive to Memphis he was inspired to write further text passages, such as the opening line “The Mississippi Delta was shining like a National Guitar ”.
Track list
All tracks by Paul Simon, unless otherwise stated (text / music)
- The Boy in the Bubble (Paul Simon / Paul Simon and Forere Motloheloa) - 4:00
- Graceland - 4:51
- I Know What I Know (Paul Simon / Paul Simon and General M. D. Shirinda) - 3:13
- Gumboots (Paul Simon / Paul Simon, Jonhjon Mkhalali and Lulu Masilela) - 2:45
- Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes (beginning by Paul Simon and Joseph Shabalala) - 5:48
- You Can Call Me Al - 4:40
- Under African Skies - 3:37
- Homeless (Paul Simon and Joseph Shabalala) - 3:48
- Crazy Love, Vol. II - 4:19
- That Was Your Mother - 2:53
- All Around the World or The Myth of Fingerprints - 3:15
occupation
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Chart placements
Albums
| year | Chart | position |
|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Billboard 200 | 3 |
| 1986 | UK charts | 1 |
Singles
| year | single | Chart | position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Graceland | Mainstream rock tracks | 38 |
| 1986 | Graceland | Billboard Hot 100 | 80 |
| 1986 | Graceland | Billboard Hot 100 | 81 |
| 1986 | You Can Call Me Al | Adult Contemporary | 14th |
| 1986 | You Can Call Me Al | Billboard Hot 100 | 23 |
| 1987 | The Boy in the Bubble | Mainstream rock tracks | 15th |
| 1987 | The Boy in the Bubble | Billboard Hot 100 | 85 |
| 1999 | You Can Call Me Al | Billboard Hot 100 | 41 |
Awards
Grammy Awards
| year | Album / title | Award |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Graceland (album) | Album of the Year |
| 1988 | Graceland (song) | Record of the Year / Single of the Year |
Others
- Graceland received five multiplatins.
- In 1998, Graceland was ranked 56th in Q Magazine's best albums of all time.
- In 1989 it was voted the fifth best album of the 1980s by Rolling Stone .
- The German Rolling Stone put it at number 119 of the best albums of all time.
Others
- Actor Chevy Chase can be seen in the music video for You Can Call Me Al .
- The "Mexican Elvis" El Vez called an album released in 1994 Graciasland and rewrote the title song to Aztlán .
- “Every single song on the album is an incredible hit,” said the writer Charlotte Roche in an arte broadcast in 2018 .
Sales figures and awards
| Country / Region | Award | Sales |
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| Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales) |
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 Australia (ARIA)
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 8 × platinum
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560,000 |
 Germany (BVMI)
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 3 × gold
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750,000 |
 France (SNEP)
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platinum
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300,000 |
 Hong Kong (IFPI / HKRIA)
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gold
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10,000 |
 New Zealand (RMNZ)
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platinum
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15,000 |
 Netherlands (NVPI)
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platinum
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100,000 |
 Spain (Promusicae)
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platinum
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100,000 |
 United States (RIAA)
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5 × platinum
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5,000,000 |
 United Kingdom (BPI)
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8 × platinum
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2,400,000 |
| All in all |
2 × gold 26 × platinum |
9,235,000 |
Main article: Paul Simon / Music Sales Awards
Web links
- Grace land at Allmusic (English)
- Grace land at Discogs (English)
- I lived in a soap bubble , interview with Paul Simon about the recordings in South Africa on spiegel.de , June 10, 2012
- Detlef Siegfried : Aporias of the culture boycott. Anti-Apartheid Movement, ANC and the conflict over Paul Simon's album »Graceland« (1985–1988) , in: Zeithistorische Forschungen 13 (2016), pp. 254–279.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Seven Songs: Charlotte Roche on arte.tv