Paul Simon on Creating Songs, Joy

Singer and songwriter Paul Simon was more interested in baseball than music as a child, he said in a conversation with creative writing professor Paul Muldoon in Richardson Auditorium March 3. 

Creating art “is about emotions, trying to reach other people. It’s about art as beauty,” Simon said. He explained how art was important to him: “If we don’t acknowledge the highest part of our humanity, it’s not a full picture. It’s not who we are. It doesn’t examine joy enough. That’s the privilege of being a human being.” 

Earlier in the day, he sat in on Muldoon’s class on songwriting and talked to the students about the creative process. Simon told the Richardson audience, “I kept saying in class today, ‘What don’t you like about your song?’ I feel ... the ear goes to the irritant.” He played a recording of a new song, “The Insomniac’s Lullaby,” and closed the event by singing “The Sound of Silence.”