Paul Simon decided to punish himself on stage after messing up the lyrics to a song during his concert at Portland, OR’s Moda Center on Saturday. Interestingly, Simon’s pain may have also been his fans’ pleasure, as the punishment consisted of the legendary singer-songwriter busting the Simon & Garfunkel favorite “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)”.
As reported by JamBase, the ordeal began when Simon flubbed the lyrics to “The Cool, Cool River”, a live staple that originally appeared on his 1990 record The Rhythm Of The Saints. “Anybody know the words?,” Simon asked his band before finishing the song.
“Ok. Because I made a mistake and forgot the lyrics to that song, I’m going to penalize myself… I need my acoustic guitar,” Simon continued after wrapping up the tune. “I’m going to sing one of my songs that I loathe. Bring me my six string.”
“You guys, if you want to play you can. If you don’t want to play, you don’t have to play. This is totally—” Simon told his band. “Ok.This’ll teach me because I, I just hate this song.”
The video below is set to start when Simon forgets the lyrics to “The Cool, Cool River”, but you can skip to 08:45 to catch his mea culpa followed by “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)”.
Simon’s distaste for the 1966 Simon & Garfunkel classic—which appeared on the duo’s third studio album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme—has never been a secret. The singer-songwriter even discussed his hatred for the tune with Stephen Colbert during a 2017 appearance The Late Show. Evidently, Simon considers the song “naive” and doesn’t think it speaks to our current era. Fortunately for Simon, Colbert was able to update the song’s lyrics to make them more reflective of the times.
Paul Simon is currently in the midst of his “Homeward Bound” farewell tour, which will mark his final outing (though not his final shows). You can check out a list of his upcoming tour dates via his website.
[H/T – JamBase]