We thought Paul Simon delivered an excellent performance last week during a tour stop in Toronto, but despite the popularity of his latest run of shows supporting new LP Stranger to Stranger, the aging songwriter says he's ready to close the curtain on a storied career.
"Showbiz doesn't hold any interest for me," Simon, 74, told the New York Times yesterday (June 28). "None."
Simon's current run of dates finishes this Thursday and Friday in Forest Hills, Queens, where he grew up. From there, he'll begin a tour of Europe in the fall shortly after he turns 75.
"It's an act of courage to let go," Simon said. "I am going to see what happens if I let go. Then I'm going to see, who am I? Or am I just this person that was defined by what I did? And if that's gone, if you have to make up yourself, who are you?"
In reflecting further on his career, Simon discussed the idea of fame and how it turned into "a poison" in the 1960s. "It killed Presley. It killed Lennon. It killed Michael Jackson. I've never known anyone to have gotten an enormous amount of fame who wasn't, at a minimum, confused by it and had a very hard time making decisions," he said.
Stranger to Stranger is out now through Concord.
"Showbiz doesn't hold any interest for me," Simon, 74, told the New York Times yesterday (June 28). "None."
Simon's current run of dates finishes this Thursday and Friday in Forest Hills, Queens, where he grew up. From there, he'll begin a tour of Europe in the fall shortly after he turns 75.
"It's an act of courage to let go," Simon said. "I am going to see what happens if I let go. Then I'm going to see, who am I? Or am I just this person that was defined by what I did? And if that's gone, if you have to make up yourself, who are you?"
In reflecting further on his career, Simon discussed the idea of fame and how it turned into "a poison" in the 1960s. "It killed Presley. It killed Lennon. It killed Michael Jackson. I've never known anyone to have gotten an enormous amount of fame who wasn't, at a minimum, confused by it and had a very hard time making decisions," he said.
Stranger to Stranger is out now through Concord.
