Today is Paul Simon’s sixty-sixth birthday. Simon has long since taken his place in the roster of songwriters in the pantheon of the Cosmic American Music. In the video above, Simon is joined by Stevie Wonder and the Dixie Hummingbirds for a moving rendition of Simon’s gospel rave-up “Loves Me Like A Rock.” The estimable Mr. Wonder blows the lyrics the first time around. The second time around everyone outdoes himself. It’s a worthy performance of one of Simon’s wryest songs.
A reader kindly forwards the following information about the source of the video:
The clip is from the concert earlier this year given in honour of Paul Simon’s selection as the first recipient of The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The prize was given to Simon during an all-star gala concert on May 23 at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C. The concert first aired on PBS in June of this year. The Library of Congress link to the award is here. More information on the concert as aired on PBS is here. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like either PBS or Amazon is offering the DVD for sale yet. I caught the whole show and it was pretty damn awesome seeing these diverse talents performing Paul Simon’s music.
I add only that the last time Simon came through town I reflected on “The deep meaning of Simon and Garfunkel.”
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