Discord & Rhyme: An Album Podcast

Discord and Rhyme is a podcast where we discuss the albums we love, song by song.

177: Paul Simon - There Goes Rhymin' Simon (1973)

September 29, 2026  /  Amanda Rodgers

“I think I have a superior brain and an inferior stature, if you really want to get brutal about it.”

–Paul Simon

Paul Simon, famously short of stature but enormous in talent, is one of the most beloved and acclaimed American songwriters of the past century. He has at least four solo albums that would have made for great podcast episodes, but Amanda picked There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. This is probably not his absolute best album, but it’s incredibly good and serves as an excellent introduction to his solo career. He departed from the folk-rock style of Simon and Garfunkel and expanded on his experimentations with jazz, reggae, and R&B (some of these experiments being more successful than others), always accompanied by his characteristically clever turns of phrase. The result is an album that is widely varied but also sonically consistent, very early-’70s but also timeless, and extremely interesting and fun. 

Miscellany

  • In 1976, Paul Simon won a Grammy for Album of the Year after being shut out by Stevie Wonder the prior two years in a row, so he was very grateful that Stevie had taken a year off.

  • Roy Halee actually did produce one of these songs, “Tenderness,” before he signed that ill-fated contract with Art Garfunkel. 

  • The “radical priest” mentioned in “Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard” was Daniel Berrigan, a Jesuit priest and anti-war activist who once was included on the FBI’s most wanted list. 

  • The one downside of using a trademarked brand as a song title was that “Kodachrome” couldn’t be released as a single in the UK, thanks to the BBC’s policies around brand names. 

  • “Take Me To the Mardi Gras” may actually be a metaphor for death. We’re not sure.

  • Amanda misspoke; “Anji” was properly credited to Davey Graham on Sounds of Silence. It was “Scarborough Fair/Canticle” from Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme that was miscredited, since the arrangement came from Martin Carthy and was based on a traditional English folk song.

  • Paul Simon taught a songwriting seminar in New York in 1970, which is where he first met Maggie and Terre Roche. 

  • No need to write to us about Amanda’s German pronunciation, we are aware that it was terrible. 

Other links 

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call 

  • Amanda Rodgers (host)

  • Ben Marlin (moderator)

  • Rich Bunnell 

There Goes Rhymin’ Simon tracklist 

  1. Kodachrome

  2. Tenderness

  3. Take Me to the Mardi Gras

  4. Something So Right

  5. One Man's Ceiling Is Another Man's Floor

  6. American Tune

  7. Was a Sunny Day

  8. Learn How to Fall

  9. St. Judy’s Comet

  10. Loves Me Like a Rock 

Other clips used 

Paul Simon:

  • You Can Call Me Al

  • I Am a Rock (The Paul Simon Songbook version)

  • Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard

  • Homeward Bound (with George Harrison)

  • American Tune (with Rhiannon Giddens)

  • Mother and Child Reunion

  • Father and Daughter

  • Peace Like a River

  • Allergies 

Others:

  • Sesame Street - Put Down the Duckie

  • The Band - Life Is a Carnival

  • The Staple Singers - I'll Take You There

  • Bob James - Take Me to the Mardi Gras

  • Run-DMC - Peter Piper

  • Swan Silvertones - Oh Mary Don't You Weep

  • Bob James - Angela (Theme from Taxi)

  • James Taylor - Steamroller Blues

  • Johann Sebastian Bach - Matthäus-Passion, BWV 244, Pt. 1: No. 17, Chorale. Ich will hier bei dir stehen

  • Wings - Live and Let Die

  • The Roches - We

  • Paul McCartney - Put It There

  • The Dixie Hummingbirds - Loves Me Like a Rock

  • Alison Krauss & Jerry Douglas - Graceland

  • Paul McCartney - Fine Line

  • Tico and the Triumphs - Motorcycle

  • Kompressor - You Will Call Me Kompressor

Band/album personnel 

  • Paul Simon – vocals, acoustic guitar (1, 3, 4, 6–10), production, arrangements

  • Barry Beckett – keyboards (1, 3, 9), acoustic piano (5), vibraphone (9)

  • Paul Griffin – acoustic piano (2)

  • Bob James – keyboards (4, 6)

  • Bobby Scott – acoustic piano (4)

  • Carson Whitsett – Hammond organ (8)

  • Pete Carr – acoustic guitar (1), electric guitar (3, 5, 9)

  • Jimmy Johnson – electric guitar (1, 3)

  • Cornell Dupree – electric guitar (2)

  • Al Gafa – guitar (4)

  • David Spinozza – guitar (4)

  • Jerry Puckett – electric guitar (8)

  • David Hood – bass guitar (1, 3, 5, 9, 10)

  • Gordon Edwards – bass guitar (2)

  • Bob Cranshaw – bass guitar (4, 6, 7)

  • Richard Davis – double bass (4)

  • Verne Robbins – bass guitar (8)

  • Roger Hawkins – drums (1, 3, 5, 10), percussion (9)

  • Rick Marotta – drums (2)

  • James Stroud – drums (8)

  • Grady Tate – drums (4, 6)

  • Don Elliott – vibraphone (4)

  • Airto Moreira – percussion (7)

  • Onward Brass Band – horns (3)

  • Allen Toussaint – horn arrangements (2)

  • Quincy Jones – string arrangements (4)

  • Del Newman – string arrangements (6)

  • The Dixie Hummingbirds – group vocals (2, 10)

  • Claude Jeter – falsetto vocals (3)

  • Maggie and Terre Roche – backing vocals (7)

  • The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section – co-producers (1, 3, 5, 9, 10)

  • Roy Halee – co-producer (2, 7), engineer (2, 7)

  • Paul Samwell-Smith – co-producer (6)

  • Jerry Masters – supervising engineer, engineer (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10)

  • Phil Ramone – supervising engineer, engineer (2, 4–7, 10), co-producer (4, 7, 8, 10)

  • Roger Quested – engineer (6)

  • Gerald Stephenson – engineer (8)

  • Richard Blakin – assistant engineer 

  • Uncredited – horns (1, 8), Hammond organ (2), strings (3), flute (4), shaker (4), choir (5)

Credits 

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of: 

  • Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf

  • Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste

  • The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...

  • Faith No More - Midlife Crisis

  • Herbie Hancock - Hornets

  • Kraftwerk - Autobahn

  • Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen

  • Paul Simon - One Man's Ceiling Is Another Man's Floor (this episode only) 

You can buy or stream There Goes Rhymin’ Simon and other albums by Paul Simon at your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Instagram and BlueSky @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.

tags / Amanda Rodgers

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