0:00:23 > 0:00:27COMMENTATOR: Live from Los Angeles,
0:00:27 > 0:00:30the 29th annual Grammy awards.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35BOTH: And the album of the year is...
0:00:36 > 0:00:38Unbelievable! That's beautiful!
0:00:38 > 0:00:39The crowd is happy!
0:00:39 > 0:00:42GRACELAND!
0:00:45 > 0:00:52I'd like to thank the singers and musicians from South Africa who worked with me on Graceland,
0:00:52 > 0:01:00who live, along with other South African artists and their countrymen,
0:01:00 > 0:01:05under one of the most repressive regimes on the planet today
0:01:05 > 0:01:09and still they are able to produce
0:01:09 > 0:01:14music of great power and nuance and joy.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17THEY SING A SOUTH AFRICAN SONG
0:01:23 > 0:01:27We were influenced by American music. It was influenced by us.
0:01:27 > 0:01:32It was sharing information, so it was a two-way traffic.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34We used Paul as much as Paul used us.
0:01:34 > 0:01:39There was no abuse.
0:01:39 > 0:01:46He came at the right time to break South African music more into the mainstream market.
0:01:46 > 0:01:53If he has sold more than 14 million copies worldwide of Graceland, that says a lot.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58Over 14 million people in the world know what South African music is.
0:01:59 > 0:02:04Graceland was a particularly benign record.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08I think it described
0:02:08 > 0:02:13South African culture in a way that was very accurate.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16It was certainly not complete.
0:02:16 > 0:02:21It didn't touch on the anger that was pervasive,
0:02:21 > 0:02:27but it did touch on the other part of the culture where people laughed,
0:02:27 > 0:02:32where there was dancing, where life was being celebrated.
0:02:42 > 0:02:50The global village and the vocabulary are getting smaller because we are speaking one language.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52But it's the search for one's self...
0:02:55 > 0:03:01..that you end up finding yourself in somebody else's thing, you know.
0:03:01 > 0:03:07It's something in the air. It's not controlled by any individual.
0:03:07 > 0:03:14When there is a good songwriter somewhere, he'll touch the rest of the world with just one word.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18- #- It was a dry wind and it swept across the desert
0:03:18 > 0:03:20- #- And it curled into the circle of birth
0:03:21 > 0:03:25- #- And the dead sand was falling on the children
0:03:25 > 0:03:28- #- The mothers and the fathers and the automatic earth
0:03:28 > 0:03:32- #- These are the days of miracle and wonder
0:03:32 > 0:03:35- #- This is the long-distance call
0:03:35 > 0:03:38- #- The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
0:03:38 > 0:03:41- #- The way we look to us all Oh, yeah
0:03:41 > 0:03:44- #- The way we look to a distant constellation
0:03:44 > 0:03:47- #- That's dying in a corner of the sky
0:03:48 > 0:03:51- #- These are the days of miracle and wonder
0:03:51 > 0:03:55- #- Don't cry, baby, don't cry, don't cry...- #
0:03:58 > 0:03:59Let's roll back.
0:04:04 > 0:04:09I think we always knew that this would be the start of the album.
0:04:09 > 0:04:15I mean, it began so unusually and the sound of those drums at the top
0:04:15 > 0:04:18sounded so African...
0:04:18 > 0:04:26that it really was like an announcement that said, "You haven't heard this before."
0:04:26 > 0:04:30HEAVY DRUMS AND ACCORDION
0:04:46 > 0:04:50- #- It was a slow day and the sun was beating
0:04:50 > 0:04:53- #- On the soldiers by the side of the road
0:04:53 > 0:04:57- #- There was a bright light, a shattering of shop windows
0:04:57 > 0:05:00- #- The bomb in the baby carriage was wired to the radio
0:05:00 > 0:05:04- #- These are the days of miracle and wonder
0:05:04 > 0:05:07- #- This is the long-distance call
0:05:08 > 0:05:11- #- The way the camera follows us in slo-mo...- #
0:05:11 > 0:05:14My favourite track is "The Boy In The Bubble".
0:05:14 > 0:05:20It represents that whole feel and experience - a very dark,
0:05:20 > 0:05:23brooding quality about it.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27And, er, to me it most represents the whole trip,
0:05:27 > 0:05:33the whole concept and the whole feel of recording in that studio over there.
0:05:38 > 0:05:47These were originally jams. Basically, they were jams - 10, 15 minutes, half an hour.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51And lo and behold maybe a song would come out of that.
0:05:56 > 0:06:03It was important to record these guys with good eye contact, close together.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06Not everybody in their own little room.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10Let's try to control the leakage the best we can,
0:06:10 > 0:06:15so the eye contact and the feel is in the room.
0:06:15 > 0:06:20And record it, so back in New York we can delete that, add this,
0:06:20 > 0:06:25add these four bars, put these four over here, these three bars here,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28and be able do that without a mess.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38What we added to the accordion to make the sound deeper was...
0:06:40 > 0:06:45We added a synthesizer to deepen the sound.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52- Like this. - MUSIC GETS DEEPER - In proportion...
0:06:55 > 0:06:58Similarly, with the drums...
0:06:58 > 0:07:01Here's the sample added to the snare.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03STEADY DRUM BEAT
0:07:03 > 0:07:07This happens quite a bit in Graceland.
0:07:07 > 0:07:13Sounds are added to the original sounds to make things sound deeper.
0:07:15 > 0:07:21Over here...
0:07:17 > 0:07:21BELLS CHIME
0:07:21 > 0:07:23Well, here's bells.
0:07:28 > 0:07:35They're tucked in the background just to give things a natural echo sound.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39Here's me singing voices to fit in with the accordion.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43VOCAL TRACK IS ADDED
0:07:43 > 0:07:45I'm just making up sounds.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51- #- These are the days of miracle and wonder
0:07:51 > 0:07:55- #- This is the lo-ong-distance ca-all
0:07:55 > 0:07:59- #- The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
0:07:59 > 0:08:02- #- The way we look to us all, oh, yeah
0:08:03 > 0:08:05- #- The way we look to a distant constellation
0:08:05 > 0:08:08- #- That's dying in a corner of the sky
0:08:09 > 0:08:13- #- These are the days of miracle and wonder
0:08:13 > 0:08:17- #- Don't cry, baby, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry...- #
0:08:22 > 0:08:25It was clear that Paul
0:08:25 > 0:08:31was coming to the end of writing songs the way he had written before.
0:08:31 > 0:08:37He said to me a number of times that he wasn't interested in writing hits.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40He wasn't interested.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44Here was a man at a very crucial place in his career,
0:08:44 > 0:08:50looking for something to do, for a larger canvas to work on.
0:08:50 > 0:08:56It's important to look at it in the context of Paul's music at that time.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02It was a difficult time for me.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04I started to work on an album
0:09:04 > 0:09:08that became Hearts And Bones.
0:09:08 > 0:09:15When I did a reunion concert with Art Garfunkel, half a million people showed up.
0:09:15 > 0:09:21Then we decided to go out and do some concerts - a classic mistake.
0:09:21 > 0:09:28The album came out - an album that had been announced as Simon and Garfunkel -
0:09:28 > 0:09:32now came out as this solo album.
0:09:34 > 0:09:40I was exhausted. I didn't do any work to promote it. I just put it out.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42And it was a flop.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46And in the midst of all of that touring,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49um, I got married.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52And, er...
0:09:52 > 0:09:54I married Carrie Fisher
0:09:54 > 0:09:57in the middle of that tour.
0:09:57 > 0:09:59You know, I mean...
0:10:01 > 0:10:06What was I thinking? Certainly not thinking about life.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09You actually have to stop.
0:10:09 > 0:10:15Marriage is a hard thing to... to...er, to do.
0:10:15 > 0:10:20You need to concentrate on that. Not everything can happen at once.
0:10:20 > 0:10:25All kinds of mistakes on top of mistakes, on top of mistakes.
0:10:27 > 0:10:32So now I had, you know, a personal blow in my life,
0:10:32 > 0:10:34and a career setback.
0:10:34 > 0:10:39And the combination of the two put me into a tailspin.
0:10:50 > 0:10:55Around that time, I was building a house in Montauk, Long Island.
0:10:55 > 0:11:02And while I drove out, I would listen to this tape that a friend had given me.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04And I really liked that tape.
0:11:04 > 0:11:09After weeks of driving back and forth and listening to the tape,
0:11:09 > 0:11:14I thought, "What is this tape? This is my favourite tape.
0:11:14 > 0:11:19"I wonder who this is." And that's when things perked up.
0:11:19 > 0:11:26That led me to asking the people at Warner Brothers to trace them for me.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28They traced it to South Africa,
0:11:28 > 0:11:35and in early 1985 I set off with Roy Halee to begin this.
0:11:35 > 0:11:40And in a very good mood, too. I said, "This is going to be fun."
0:12:17 > 0:12:22Warner Brothers had never heard of a recording process like this.
0:12:22 > 0:12:28They thought - I'm sure - when we were doing this, that Paul Simon and Roy Halee were crazy.
0:12:28 > 0:12:36You can't make a record like that. How can you go to Africa? You don't even have a song.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40I'm sure, I KNOW they thought we were both nuts.
0:12:45 > 0:12:50I said I have one big advantage going by being as cold as I am.
0:12:50 > 0:12:58Nobody is paying any attention to me. I can do this all, you know, very privately.
0:12:58 > 0:13:04Nobody will ask, "Can you send us a copy? Can we hear it?" None of that will happen.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13I had finished with my disappointments and sorrows.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16WOMEN SING IN ZULU
0:13:26 > 0:13:28'My father was a musician.
0:13:28 > 0:13:35'I grew up with musicians. I'm comfortable with musicians. I hang out with musicians.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38'Studios are friendly environments to me.'
0:13:38 > 0:13:42There's nothing in a studio you can't solve.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47It's not the same as life. You'll figure it out one way or the other.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50It's a happy work environment.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52- #- I'll sing what I said
0:13:52 > 0:13:54- #- We come and we go
0:13:54 > 0:13:57- #- That's a thing I keep in the back of my head
0:13:57 > 0:14:00- #- I'll sing what I have said
0:14:00 > 0:14:02- #- We come and we go-o
0:14:02 > 0:14:07- #- It's a thing that I keep in the back of my head...- #
0:14:07 > 0:14:09I was having a ball, recording it.
0:14:09 > 0:14:16To record these guys for a guy like me, from my background - everything so organised.
0:14:16 > 0:14:23Hearing the rawness, the earthiness of this, I was in seventh heaven.
0:14:24 > 0:14:30It was getting good grooves and coming back and rewriting it.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32There was nothing really written.
0:14:32 > 0:14:38All of Paul's albums - anything I ever did - songs were written in the studio.
0:14:38 > 0:14:43Paul loved to write and create great things in the studio.
0:14:43 > 0:14:49But in the studio, Paul would say, "Wait till you hear this!"
0:14:49 > 0:14:52and you'd hear Mrs Robinson. There it is.
0:14:52 > 0:14:58Here there's nothing. It's an idea, a concept, nothing on paper.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01So it was a gamble, I guess.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13We cut another track with the Tao Ea Matsekha group.
0:15:13 > 0:15:20I only liked the drums. I kept them in and we overdubbed on these drums.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22DRUM BEAT
0:15:22 > 0:15:29To my ear, certain words or certain sounds that became words,
0:15:29 > 0:15:33sometimes those words formed a phrase and it was interesting.
0:15:33 > 0:15:40Sometimes it was banal. Sometimes it made no sense, like "I'm going to Graceland."
0:15:40 > 0:15:46That phrase sang very well against what was happening in the track.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50It was comfortable to sing that, so I sang it,
0:15:50 > 0:15:54thinking all along that I would replace it.
0:15:54 > 0:16:02Until I realised I'm not going to replace it. It's always going to be in my head.
0:16:02 > 0:16:07- #- I'm going to Graceland, Graceland Memphis, Tennessee
0:16:07 > 0:16:09- #- I'm going to Graceland...- #
0:16:11 > 0:16:17I was concerned that that lyric, with all those words, was very wordy.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20Rhythmically, they didn't fit.
0:16:20 > 0:16:27He would alter the way he would sing. He would phrase it thousands of different ways to make it work.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30It would always feel uncomfortable.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35There were times we both thought, "We're not going to get this."
0:16:35 > 0:16:39But Paul, with his spirit, "I'm going to get this."
0:16:39 > 0:16:43At first I thought I had a problem.
0:16:43 > 0:16:48Soon after that, I began to think, "No. Now I have an adventure.
0:16:48 > 0:16:53"Instead of resisting what's going on, I'll go with it.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58"And I'll be carried along and find out where we're going.
0:16:58 > 0:17:03"Instead of assuming I'm captain of the ship, I'm just a passenger."
0:17:11 > 0:17:16- #- The Mississippi Delta was shining like a national guitar
0:17:18 > 0:17:22- #- I am following the river down the highway
0:17:22 > 0:17:26- #- Through the cradle of the civil war
0:17:26 > 0:17:31- #- I'm going to Graceland, Graceland Memphis, Tennessee
0:17:31 > 0:17:33- #- I'm going to Graceland
0:17:35 > 0:17:38- #- Poor boys and pilgrims with families
0:17:38 > 0:17:41- #- And we are going to Graceland
0:17:42 > 0:17:46I always think of this shape -
0:17:46 > 0:17:52meaning that you begin and the possibilities are going to go out this way.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57It means you have a good story to tell, as opposed to this shape,
0:17:57 > 0:18:02which means in the second verse or something, you've finished.
0:18:03 > 0:18:08So you want to begin in a way that leaves a lot of possibility.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12Sometimes you play something and you don't know what it is.
0:18:12 > 0:18:17Later, if the person you're working with has more information than you,
0:18:17 > 0:18:21you end up knowing what you are playing.
0:18:21 > 0:18:26What I heard him play was great, but it lacked something.
0:18:26 > 0:18:32Hence, I ended up saying to him, "Why don't you put a minor there?"
0:18:32 > 0:18:37I could hear him playing a straight...
0:18:40 > 0:18:44Then I thought that if I went to the minor instead of the major...
0:18:47 > 0:18:51HE MOVES TO THE MINOR
0:18:51 > 0:18:56This is what I played against Ray's electric guitar on Graceland.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58When he played it up here,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01I played it over here.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11Except I used a lighter pick.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16HE HUMS THE MELODY
0:19:33 > 0:19:37Graceland is my favourite record.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41Favourite record, my favourite...
0:19:41 > 0:19:43song that I ever wrote.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46This is it, the best I ever did.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50HE HUMS THE MELODY
0:19:51 > 0:19:53Perfect.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01It begins so relaxed. There's no lyrics.
0:20:05 > 0:20:07It's taking its time.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14- #- The Mississippi Delta was shining like a national guitar...- #
0:20:14 > 0:20:17'Good opening line.'
0:20:17 > 0:20:20- #- I am following the river down the highway
0:20:20 > 0:20:24- #- Through the cradle of the civil war
0:20:25 > 0:20:29- #- I'm going to Graceland, Graceland Memphis, Tennessee...- #
0:20:29 > 0:20:34- #- Umbada-ba-dah.- # - In the major, but if I want to go...
0:20:34 > 0:20:39- #- Bo-doh, bo-boh, bo-oh, Dee-doh, doh-un-doh, bo-boh.- #
0:20:39 > 0:20:41I can make it major or minor.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45- #- My travelling companion is nine years old
0:20:45 > 0:20:48- #- The child of my first marriage...- #
0:20:48 > 0:20:53I don't know why I like that. I guess there are a lot of first marriages.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55- #- ..received in Graceland...- #
0:20:58 > 0:21:01'Now the lick is under the lyrics.'
0:21:02 > 0:21:05- #- She comes back to tell me she's go-o-one...- #
0:21:05 > 0:21:06Under.
0:21:06 > 0:21:11- #- As if I didn't know that As if I didn't know my own bed...- #
0:21:11 > 0:21:14Now it's not...
0:21:14 > 0:21:16- #- As if I'd...- #
0:21:16 > 0:21:18There's the lick again.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20- #- ..her hair from her forehead
0:21:22 > 0:21:27- #- And she said lo-oo-sing love is like a window in your heart...- #
0:21:27 > 0:21:30'I found that line touching.'
0:21:30 > 0:21:33- #- Everybody sees you're blown apart
0:21:34 > 0:21:37- #- Everybody sees the wind blo-ow
0:21:37 > 0:21:40- #- I'm going to Graceland
0:21:40 > 0:21:44- #- Memphis, Tennessee I'm going to Graceland...- #
0:21:44 > 0:21:50- I didn't sing Graceland twice here. The first time, I'm going, - #- Graceland, Graceland.- #
0:21:50 > 0:21:55This time, I only sing it once. Each time, I vary it.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00- #- ..ghosts and empty sockets, are looking at ghosts and empties...- #
0:22:00 > 0:22:03The only line I'd rewrite.
0:22:03 > 0:22:09- #- But I've reason to believe we all will be received in Graceland...- #
0:22:09 > 0:22:15We've got the Everly Brothers. Let's see what they sound like.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19# Poor boys and pilgrims with families
0:22:19 > 0:22:22# And we are going to Graceland.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28# My travelling companions are ghosts and empty sockets
0:22:28 > 0:22:30# I'm looking at ghosts and empties... #
0:22:30 > 0:22:32Too many words.
0:22:32 > 0:22:37# But I've reason to believe We all will be received in Graceland... #
0:22:37 > 0:22:42This was a very in-depth compositional effort.
0:22:42 > 0:22:47It wasn't just a question of taking a few rhythms and a few drummers.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49This was a real composition...
0:22:49 > 0:22:54that was made on the basis of that material.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57Ah...but...so...ah...
0:22:57 > 0:23:03So he elevated this research that turned into this record.
0:23:03 > 0:23:09He elevated that enterprise into something I don't think anyone has done since.
0:23:09 > 0:23:14It's been recomposed and processed by the way Paul worked on it.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16- #- I'm going to Graceland...- #
0:23:16 > 0:23:21No "Memphis, Tennessee". I'm not talking about Memphis, now.
0:23:22 > 0:23:27Memphis was only in the beginning. Now we're in another place.
0:23:27 > 0:23:34- #- ..obliged to defend Every love, every ending Or maybe there's no obligations now
0:23:35 > 0:23:41- #- Maybe I've a reason to believe We all will be received in Graceland...- #
0:23:44 > 0:23:50When I was there, when I first went there, Nelson Mandela was in prison.
0:23:50 > 0:23:57And although I always thought there would be a peaceful resolution to the politics of South Africa,
0:23:57 > 0:24:01I never thought it would be this fast.
0:24:01 > 0:24:06The younger generation was ready and hungry for the outside world,
0:24:06 > 0:24:12tired of being ostracised, ready to celebrate their own culture.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16And so did black South Africans feel that way.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19Because when I was there to record,
0:24:19 > 0:24:22they were listening to American music.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26They weren't listening to their own music.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29That was already passe.
0:24:29 > 0:24:35South African music was oppressed as the people were.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38But there was a lot of apartheid in the music.
0:24:38 > 0:24:45I remember it was called "gaffle" music, you know. Bantu music, it was called.
0:24:48 > 0:24:55But we listened to American music and Rock 'n' Roll, The Beatles, Paul Simon.
0:24:55 > 0:25:02It's not unusual that cultures misjudge their own history's value, that they're willing to discard it.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06I mean, American culture's doing it.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14What emerged from Graceland,
0:25:14 > 0:25:17as an album and as a tour,
0:25:17 > 0:25:22was that, for the most part,
0:25:22 > 0:25:27it made a very powerful point gently.
0:25:29 > 0:25:35It wasn't an album that said, "There's terrible evil here."
0:25:35 > 0:25:39It said, "There's incredible beauty here."
0:25:41 > 0:25:44That was a very powerful point.
0:25:44 > 0:25:49And in conjunction with the world's anger towards South Africa -
0:25:49 > 0:25:55the attack on the fortress of apartheid -
0:25:55 > 0:26:00the walls eventually cracked and I think Graceland was a factor in that.
0:26:00 > 0:26:05People could think, who hadn't thought this before,
0:26:05 > 0:26:09"How can people be treated so inhumanely,
0:26:09 > 0:26:14"when they have so much to give the world?"
0:26:14 > 0:26:19# Emaweni webaba
0:26:17 > 0:26:19Silale maweni
0:26:19 > 0:26:22# Webaba
0:26:20 > 0:26:22Silale maweni
0:26:22 > 0:26:24# Webaba
0:26:24 > 0:26:26- #- Silale maweni
0:26:26 > 0:26:28# Webaba
0:26:28 > 0:26:29- #- Silale maweni
0:26:29 > 0:26:33- #- Webaba silale maweni
0:26:33 > 0:26:37# Webaba
0:26:34 > 0:26:37Silale maweni
0:26:37 > 0:26:40# Webaba
0:26:38 > 0:26:40Silale maweni
0:26:40 > 0:26:44# Webaba
0:26:41 > 0:26:44Silale maweni
0:26:44 > 0:26:47- #- Webaba silale maweni
0:26:47 > 0:26:51- #- Webaba silale maweni...- #
0:26:51 > 0:26:54Sing. # Homeless
0:26:54 > 0:26:56# Homeless
0:26:56 > 0:27:00# Moonlight sleeping on a midnight lake
0:27:00 > 0:27:02# Homeless
0:27:02 > 0:27:04# Homeless
0:27:04 > 0:27:08# Moonlight sleeping on a midnight lake... #
0:27:08 > 0:27:12I don't think I'm a good "angry" writer.
0:27:12 > 0:27:21I can be an angry person and even articulate my anger in speech, but I'm not a good angry songwriter.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24I think that's why Graceland came out,
0:27:24 > 0:27:27feeling the way that it did.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31Black Mambazo is also not an angry group
0:27:31 > 0:27:35and has done an enormous amount for South Africa and for people.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42After we met with Paul Simon in 1985,
0:27:42 > 0:27:47and we promised each other that we were going to do something together,
0:27:47 > 0:27:52and he composed the song alone. # Homeless, homeless
0:27:52 > 0:27:57# Moonlight sleeping Chai, chai, chai. #
0:27:57 > 0:27:58# Homeless
0:27:58 > 0:28:00# Homeless
0:28:00 > 0:28:04# Moonlight sleeping on a midnight lake... #
0:28:04 > 0:28:07I listened to their records a lot.
0:28:07 > 0:28:14Then I tried to write a melody that would be something like a Black Mambazo melody.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18And we listened and we read the letter from him,
0:28:18 > 0:28:21"Joseph, here's the song."
0:28:21 > 0:28:26And then, when we listened to the lyrics, it was beautiful!
0:28:26 > 0:28:32The time came and we went to join Paul Simon in London.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34# Too-loo lo Too-loo lo
0:28:34 > 0:28:39# Too-loo-lo loo loo loo loo loo-loo lo
0:28:39 > 0:28:44# Too-loo lo, Too-loo lo Many dead Tonight it could be you... #
0:28:44 > 0:28:49This is the first little rehearsal in London.
0:28:49 > 0:28:51# ..Tonight it could be you
0:28:51 > 0:28:53# Homeless
0:28:53 > 0:28:54# Homeless
0:28:54 > 0:28:58# Moonlight sleeping on a midnight lake... #
0:28:58 > 0:29:03I don't know what happened when we got into the studio.
0:29:03 > 0:29:07It felt like, "Hoo! Where to begin? Where to start?"
0:29:07 > 0:29:14We started to work. Ooh! This language is a little bit hard, talking to him.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17And he's a polite man.
0:29:17 > 0:29:23I told the guys, "Don't worry. He's very good. He's a polite man."
0:29:23 > 0:29:30He said, "Joseph, how do you think about this song?" I said, "Very good. Do you have something...?"
0:29:30 > 0:29:32"Yes. We have something."
0:29:32 > 0:29:37And then we sing that part and we come to "Homeless"
0:29:37 > 0:29:44and it's a little bit difficult to blend the voices -
0:29:44 > 0:29:46an American voice, African voice.
0:29:46 > 0:29:51The first day, it was tough. We're just touching there and then.
0:29:51 > 0:29:57Many people were trying to help us and that was confusing me.
0:29:57 > 0:29:59Ah! I said, "OK."
0:29:59 > 0:30:04And Paul discovered that there was something wrong.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07 He said, "Joseph, let us tape this."
0:30:07 > 0:30:11We taped it and he said, "Right. Just go and relax.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14"We see each other tomorrow. OK?"
0:30:17 > 0:30:21At the beginning, it felt a little strained, strange,
0:30:21 > 0:30:26like they weren't sure. Everybody was feeling everybody out.
0:30:26 > 0:30:30And it was hard because they don't produce a lot of sound.
0:30:30 > 0:30:37They are tricky to record. The bass voices are soft. But it warmed up the second day.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40HE HUMS HOMELESS MELODY
0:30:40 > 0:30:44- #- Moonlight sleeping on a midnight lake
0:30:44 > 0:30:46- #- And we are homeless...- #
0:30:46 > 0:30:52- That's how they sang it. - #- Homeless Moonlight mm-mm, mm-mm...- #
0:30:52 > 0:30:54I think I did it...
0:30:54 > 0:30:59I think I didn't use a major chord. I think I used minor...
0:30:59 > 0:31:02- #- Bah-dah...- #- Yeah.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06- - #- Di dah-dum.- # - But they wouldn't use...
0:31:08 > 0:31:09They'd sing...
0:31:09 > 0:31:13- #- Bah lah-dah
0:31:13 > 0:31:14- #- Lee-dah
0:31:14 > 0:31:19- #- Dee dah-dah Do dee-dah dum.- #
0:31:19 > 0:31:21But I was playing...
0:31:21 > 0:31:24- #- Homeless Homeless
0:31:24 > 0:31:28- #- Moonlight sleeping on a midnight lake
0:31:28 > 0:31:31- #- And we are homeless Ho...- #
0:31:32 > 0:31:37When we got into the studio, I said, "Paul, we have something."
0:31:37 > 0:31:40And Paul said, "Yes!"
0:31:40 > 0:31:47And Paul just, I remember when he said, "Everybody in this studio must go outside."
0:31:47 > 0:31:51We'd begin it # Emaweni webaba... #
0:31:51 > 0:31:55We sang those parts # Silale maweni
0:31:55 > 0:31:58# Silale maweni, silale maweni
0:31:58 > 0:32:02# Webaba silale maweni
0:32:02 > 0:32:06# Webaba silale maweni. #
0:32:06 > 0:32:09And Paul said, "Yes! That's beautiful!"
0:32:09 > 0:32:15And then, "Joseph, I was listening to your record. There's another part in your record...
0:32:15 > 0:32:19"E-i-i. E-i-i-ee. E-i-i-ee." And I was confused.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22"What is that, Paul?"
0:32:22 > 0:32:25"In your record - E-i-i-ee."
0:32:25 > 0:32:28I said. "No. Hih-ih, hih-ih." He said, "Yes!"
0:32:28 > 0:32:33- # Hih-ih, hih-ih, hih-ih - Somebody say - Hih-ih, hih-ih
0:32:33 > 0:32:36- #- Somebody sing - Hello, hello, hello
0:32:36 > 0:32:38- #- Somebody say - Ih, hih-ih, hih-ih
0:32:38 > 0:32:41- #- Somebody cry - Why, why, why?
0:32:41 > 0:32:44- #- Somebody say - Ih, hih-ih, hih-ih
0:32:44 > 0:32:47- #- Somebody sing - Hello, hello, hello
0:32:47 > 0:32:49- #- Somebody say - Ih, hih-ih, hih-ih
0:32:49 > 0:32:53- #- Somebody cry - Why, why, why?
0:32:53 > 0:32:55- #- Kulumani
0:32:55 > 0:33:01# Kuluman, Kulumani sizwe Singenze njani
0:33:01 > 0:33:04# Baya jabula abasi thanda
0:33:04 > 0:33:06# Yo-oh. #
0:33:08 > 0:33:14This type of music originated from Zulu songs and dances.
0:33:14 > 0:33:21We grew up on the farm. Now, people - each and every one of us - singing and dancing.
0:33:24 > 0:33:30When we were at home, it was beautiful because there were men, women,
0:33:30 > 0:33:37young, old, grandmother, grandfather, when there's something, they come together
0:33:37 > 0:33:40and share the sound, the music.
0:33:40 > 0:33:46But it started to be lonely when people left their loved ones and went into town to work.
0:33:56 > 0:34:02Now they started to try to find the place where they can get together and sing.
0:34:06 > 0:34:11The music, it's always political because the truth is political.
0:34:11 > 0:34:16That's why, when we started to sing, our people were very happy
0:34:16 > 0:34:21and we just make them have power.
0:34:23 > 0:34:31It was high time that South African artists and international artists should highlight
0:34:31 > 0:34:38the importance of exposing the evils of the past eras of South Africa, like the apartheid era.
0:34:38 > 0:34:42Culture can't be owned by an individual.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45It can be shared by us all.
0:34:45 > 0:34:50But a lot of people were saying negative things -
0:34:50 > 0:34:53"This white man has used our black brothers' music."
0:34:55 > 0:35:00But then you ask yourself, "Where were they?"
0:35:05 > 0:35:09I didn't feel that I was going to South Africa
0:35:09 > 0:35:15to come back and then express a South African outrage -
0:35:15 > 0:35:21"I'll tell the world how you guys are feeling."
0:35:21 > 0:35:24I really didn't feel comfortable with that.
0:35:24 > 0:35:31My feeling was I'm playing with musicians that I have the highest respect for.
0:35:31 > 0:35:38And the way I can show my respect is to write the best possible song
0:35:38 > 0:35:41from my heart that I can write.
0:35:41 > 0:35:48Not to say, "I'll write the best possible song from your heart." I felt that was presumptuous.
0:35:48 > 0:35:56The most unfortunate thing about the beast in us is that we always find wrong when it is right
0:35:56 > 0:35:59and we find right when it is wrong.
0:35:59 > 0:36:04Some things that are beautiful can be turned into an ugly thing
0:36:04 > 0:36:09just for the sake of scoring political points.
0:36:09 > 0:36:13If Paul came to record the album, he would have been in the blacklist,
0:36:13 > 0:36:22but he went a step further because he didn't politicise it by simply writing about what was happening.
0:36:22 > 0:36:27He said, "No. Who am I to talk about people's situations?
0:36:27 > 0:36:34"Why don't I get those people to come on and let us share these beautiful rhythms with the world?"
0:36:48 > 0:36:55# Joseph's face was black as night
0:36:55 > 0:37:01# The pale yellow moon shone in his eyes
0:37:01 > 0:37:05# His path was marked
0:37:05 > 0:37:08# By the stars in the southern hemisphere
0:37:08 > 0:37:11# And he walked his days
0:37:11 > 0:37:16# Under African skies
0:37:16 > 0:37:20- #- This is the story of how we begin to remember
0:37:20 > 0:37:23SHE SINGS IN ZULU
0:37:23 > 0:37:27- #- This is the powerful pulsing of love in the vein
0:37:30 > 0:37:34- #- After the dream of falling and calling your name out
0:37:36 > 0:37:42- #- These are the roots of rhythm And the roots of rhythm remain...- #
0:37:42 > 0:37:50I think one of the things about really good art is that it should be there to evoke.
0:37:50 > 0:37:56Paul asked me if I had an image for him.
0:37:56 > 0:38:03He wanted something on the song we were going to sing. He asked what I remembered from my childhood.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07The thing I love most in Arizona is the St Xavier mission,
0:38:07 > 0:38:11which is the most beautiful mission in North America.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14I told him about that.
0:38:14 > 0:38:21That's why he has "In early mem'ry, mission bells are ringing round my nursery door."
0:38:21 > 0:38:27Everybody has their own scenario that can unfold under an African sky.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30It's an idea of possibility.
0:38:30 > 0:38:35It's a story-telling thing like in the African tradition,
0:38:35 > 0:38:39whereby you find that musicians are storytellers.
0:38:39 > 0:38:43They've got to document every happening.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47His lyrics end up complementing the rhythm,
0:38:47 > 0:38:51or the rhythm complementing the lyric.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55Also he's got the subject that says, "It's you. It's me."
0:38:55 > 0:39:01# In early mem'ry
0:39:01 > 0:39:09# Mission music was ringing 'round my nursery door
0:39:10 > 0:39:17# I said, "Take this child, Lord, from Tucson, Arizona
0:39:17 > 0:39:20# Give her the wings to fly through harmony
0:39:20 > 0:39:24# And she won't bother you no more
0:39:24 > 0:39:29# This is the story of how we begin to remember
0:39:31 > 0:39:36# This is the powerful pulsing of love in the vein
0:39:38 > 0:39:44# After the dream of falling and calling your name out
0:39:45 > 0:39:50# These are the roots of rhythm And the roots of rhythm remain
0:39:51 > 0:39:57- # Kaoomba oomba oomba oh - O-o-oh
0:39:57 > 0:40:04- # Kaoomba oomba oomba oh - O-o-oh
0:40:04 > 0:40:11- # Kaoomba oomba oomba o-o-o-o-o-oh - O-o-oh
0:40:11 > 0:40:18- # Kaoomba oomba oomba o-o-o-o-o-oh - O-o-o-o-o-oh...- #
0:40:20 > 0:40:26South Africans almost look down upon the music that came from South Africa.
0:40:26 > 0:40:33I guess because of the political situation, we were made to, sort of, feel embarrassed about the music.
0:40:33 > 0:40:39In South Africa, you grew up with blinkers on.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42Take them off, and you could see what was going on.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45PENNY WHISTLE MUSIC
0:40:45 > 0:40:49I heard penny whistle music on every corner.
0:40:49 > 0:40:54Every kid was playing a penny whistle along with a guitar player.
0:40:54 > 0:41:00As a teenager, I used to go to the townships. We'd spend hours there.
0:41:00 > 0:41:05This is the way I absorbed a lot of the music from there.
0:41:08 > 0:41:13It was only when Paul Simon came out with Graceland that people said,
0:41:13 > 0:41:17"Wow! We've got all this gold here."
0:41:17 > 0:41:20I think somebody used that phrase once.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24And, er, then people started realising
0:41:24 > 0:41:30that it's such a great fountain of music that comes from South Africa.
0:41:42 > 0:41:46MUSIC: "You Can Call Me Al"
0:41:54 > 0:41:58BASS GUITAR PLAYS
0:42:03 > 0:42:08It took me a long time before I could begin to write.
0:42:08 > 0:42:12I loved the track so much for a long time I thought,
0:42:12 > 0:42:17"Just put the tracks out because you can't do any better than this.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21"Anything I put on here is just going to make it worse."
0:42:21 > 0:42:27So it took a while before I had the courage to write over these tracks.
0:42:27 > 0:42:31- #- Shoo-ca do-do-do Shoo-ca de-de-de...- #
0:42:31 > 0:42:35Not that I particularly wanted to solo,
0:42:35 > 0:42:43but...a lot of voices, a lot of voices, singing instruments
0:42:43 > 0:42:46to create a smoother rhythm sound.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49Here comes the bass.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54- That's the background sample. - #- Mm-mm.- #
0:42:54 > 0:42:59Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The bass, I'll solo it...
0:42:59 > 0:43:02HE PLAYS BASS SOLO
0:43:08 > 0:43:10That bass solo break...
0:43:10 > 0:43:14It was my birthday, May 10th.
0:43:14 > 0:43:21I said to Paul, "I don't know what you're going to do to this part, but I have an idea.
0:43:21 > 0:43:26"I'd like to play something. It's my birthday today. He said, "Wow! OK."
0:43:26 > 0:43:32So, um, then, you know, I came up with this bass line...
0:43:40 > 0:43:42And then a...
0:43:51 > 0:43:55- There's an overdub on the bass. - #- Mwah, mwah.- #
0:43:55 > 0:43:57Two basses happening.
0:43:57 > 0:43:59- #- Mwah.- #
0:44:01 > 0:44:07It sounded conventional, so we took the first bar of the solo...
0:44:09 > 0:44:11Spliced it...
0:44:12 > 0:44:19Flipped it and made the second half of the solo the backwards tape of the first half of the solo.
0:44:21 > 0:44:23Backwards.
0:44:26 > 0:44:28OK.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31FULL BACKING TRACK
0:44:33 > 0:44:34OK.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38Here's another backwards...
0:44:38 > 0:44:41- #- If you'll be my bodyguard...- #
0:44:41 > 0:44:48If you leave whistling a tune, or tapping your foot, that's the single. That's what they listen for.
0:44:48 > 0:44:53# Oo-oo-oo-ooh Oo-oo-oo-oo-ooh
0:44:53 > 0:44:58- #- I can call you Betty - Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooh
0:45:02 > 0:45:04You Can Call Me Al had the hook.
0:45:04 > 0:45:08- And it had the groove. - #- Dah-da-da dah.- #
0:45:08 > 0:45:12What a great hook. That's a great hook.
0:45:12 > 0:45:17- #- If you'll be my bodyguard I can be your long-lost pal...- #
0:45:17 > 0:45:19They said, "Make a video."
0:45:19 > 0:45:25- #- I can call you Betty And, Betty, when you call me You can call me Al...- #
0:45:25 > 0:45:28It was bad. It was really bad.
0:45:28 > 0:45:35I said, "You can't put this out. This is... You just can't put this out."
0:45:35 > 0:45:42Then, Lorne Michaels, the producer of Saturday Night Live, said, "Do one with Chevy.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45"Chevy knows the words. Let him sing it."
0:45:45 > 0:45:49So we organised it quickly and did that.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55- #- A man walks down the street It's a street in a strange world
0:45:55 > 0:45:59- #- Maybe it's the Third World Maybe it's his first time around
0:45:59 > 0:46:03- #- Doesn't speak the language He holds no currency...- #
0:46:03 > 0:46:06Although I do think the Chevy Chase video,
0:46:06 > 0:46:10because it was funny and very light,
0:46:10 > 0:46:15you tend to think of the song as funny.
0:46:15 > 0:46:19It is, but with something much more to say.
0:46:19 > 0:46:26So in a certain sense, it undercut the power of what that song meant.
0:46:29 > 0:46:37- #- I can call you Betty And, Betty, when you call me You can call me Al. Call me...- #
0:46:37 > 0:46:42You Can Call Me Al, I mean, lyrically, if I can remember,
0:46:42 > 0:46:49"A man walks down the street." That's a version of "a guy walks into a bar".
0:46:49 > 0:46:53"There was a rabbi, a minister and a priest..."
0:46:53 > 0:46:57An old set-up - a man walks down the street.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00- #- A man walk down the street He says, "Why am I...?- #
0:47:00 > 0:47:06"Why am I soft in the middle? The rest of my life is so hard." It's a joke.
0:47:06 > 0:47:13- #- ..shot at redemption...- # - "Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard."
0:47:13 > 0:47:17That was me. I was writing about myself.
0:47:17 > 0:47:21I guess I was saying, like any artist,
0:47:21 > 0:47:25"I don't want to be an irrelevancy. I hope I'm not irrelevant."
0:47:25 > 0:47:30- #- Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard...- #
0:47:30 > 0:47:34And from there, it's associative thinking.
0:47:34 > 0:47:39"A cartoon in a cartoon graveyard", bone-diggers.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41Graveyard - bones.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44Bone-diggers. Bone-diggers - dogs.
0:47:47 > 0:47:51"Dogs in the moonlight." Moonlight's in a lot of songs.
0:47:51 > 0:47:56- #- Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard Bone-digger
0:47:56 > 0:47:59- #- Bone-digger Dogs in the moonlight
0:47:59 > 0:48:02- #- Far away my well-lit door...- #
0:48:02 > 0:48:08It's scary. In my mind, there's a graveyard. I can hear dogs howling at night...
0:48:08 > 0:48:13But it's cosy inside with lots of lights. It's not scary here.
0:48:13 > 0:48:20"Mr Beerbelly, Beerbelly. Get these mutts away from me. I don't find this stuff amusing any more."
0:48:20 > 0:48:25It's like enough of this garbage. I'm afraid. Death is coming. Oh-oh.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28Like, OK.
0:48:28 > 0:48:30Verse two is a variation on the first.
0:48:30 > 0:48:36- #- "Why am I short of attention?" Got a short little span of attention...- #
0:48:36 > 0:48:44"The short little span of... short little span of attention." That was, er, that was a penis joke.
0:48:44 > 0:48:50"Short little span of attention and, oh, my nights are so long.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53"Now where's my wife and family?",
0:48:53 > 0:48:56which, at the time, I didn't have.
0:48:56 > 0:49:01"Where's my wife and family? What if I die here?" A lot of fears.
0:49:01 > 0:49:05"Who will be my role model?" Just fears, a guy's fears.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08Now he's piling up these fears.
0:49:08 > 0:49:16From my perspective as a songwriter, in a sense I had no sympathy for the guy by the second verse.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19He has too many complaints.
0:49:19 > 0:49:27And by then, I think I had, "If you'll be my bodyguard, I'll be your long-lost pal."
0:49:27 > 0:49:33So if we can make an alliance, maybe I won't be in so much trouble.
0:49:33 > 0:49:39I'll look out for you. you look out for me. I'll call you Betty. You call me Al.
0:49:39 > 0:49:47We'll make a deal. That'll be our deal against all these modern things that we have to fear.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50By the third verse,
0:49:50 > 0:49:54it's time to say what this is all about.
0:49:54 > 0:49:59"A man walks down a street in a strange world. Maybe it's the Third World."
0:49:59 > 0:50:03This is obvious - I'm talking about Africa.
0:50:03 > 0:50:09- #- A man walks down the street It's a street in a strange world Maybe it's the Third World...- #
0:50:09 > 0:50:14"Maybe it's his first time around. Doesn't speak the language." Me.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18"He holds no currency. He's a foreign man.
0:50:18 > 0:50:22"Surrounded by the sound." It was an amazing place.
0:50:22 > 0:50:27- #- Cattle in the marketplace Scatterlings and orphanages...- #
0:50:27 > 0:50:31"Cattle in the marketplace." It's a faraway place.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35You can imagine cattle in the streets and the marketplace.
0:50:35 > 0:50:40- #- He looks around, around Sees angels in the architecture...- #
0:50:40 > 0:50:44"He looks around, sees angels in the architecture."
0:50:44 > 0:50:49It has become a spiritual journey now, a spiritual adventure.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52That's what that song was about.
0:50:52 > 0:50:56And that was a pretty accurate description of my journey.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02- #- A man walks down the street It's a street in a strange world
0:51:02 > 0:51:05- #- Maybe it's the Third World Maybe it's his first time around
0:51:05 > 0:51:09- #- Doesn't speak the language Holds no currency
0:51:09 > 0:51:13- #- He is a foreign man He is surrounded by the sound
0:51:13 > 0:51:18- #- The sound There's cattle in the marketplace Scatterlings and orphanages
0:51:18 > 0:51:23- #- He looks around, around He sees angels in the architecture
0:51:23 > 0:51:27- #- They're spinning in infinity He says, "Amen! Hallelujah!"
0:51:27 > 0:51:31- #- If you'll be my bodyguard I can be your long-lost pal
0:51:34 > 0:51:41- #- I can call you Betty And, Betty, when you call me You can call me Al...- #
0:51:41 > 0:51:48The whole process of this writing came from a deep analysis of what was going on in the tracks.
0:51:51 > 0:51:56Because the African musicians were playing what they'd normally play
0:51:56 > 0:52:05in a way that was different from the way American musicians that I was familiar with would play.
0:52:07 > 0:52:12I was coming out of folk-rock. That was pretty symmetrical.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15It didn't change from verse to verse.
0:52:15 > 0:52:24Their patterns altered in some subtle way and I was either playing in the studio when that happened,
0:52:24 > 0:52:31or in the control room, and wasn't aware of what the pattern was at all.
0:52:31 > 0:52:38I didn't realise there had been a variation in the pattern, either intentional or unintentional
0:52:38 > 0:52:42until many months later when I was writing.
0:52:42 > 0:52:49I'd work on songs and say it's good. The first verse is good, the second is not so good,
0:52:49 > 0:52:53The third verse, that's good. Things are good, except...
0:52:54 > 0:52:57Why doesn't the second verse work?
0:52:57 > 0:53:02I mean, OK, now I'm really going to listen to the second verse.
0:53:02 > 0:53:09Now... Putting aside my assumption that it's exactly the same and should work,
0:53:09 > 0:53:14which I stayed with for a long time. It should work, so that's it.
0:53:14 > 0:53:19I'm not going to change because it's supposed to work.
0:53:19 > 0:53:26Then I would begin to listen and I'd say, "Sure enough, there's a variation in here.
0:53:26 > 0:53:31"There's a variation that I'm not taking into account."
0:53:34 > 0:53:36And that degree of listening...
0:53:37 > 0:53:40was my education.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43That's... That's what I learned.
0:53:43 > 0:53:47I learned to listen on a level I had never experienced before.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50He pulled it off. He did it.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54He slaved over it. He sweated blood over it.
0:53:54 > 0:53:56My gums bled over it.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59Unbelievable. Just unbelievable.
0:54:03 > 0:54:08- #- People say she's crazy She got diamonds on the soles of her shoes
0:54:09 > 0:54:13- #- Well, that's one way to lose these walking blues
0:54:13 > 0:54:16- #- Diamonds on the soles of her shoes...- #
0:54:16 > 0:54:22Diamonds on the soles of her shoes was a phrase I had written down, but hadn't used.
0:54:22 > 0:54:26Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes was the last song we recorded.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29It was never intended to be on the album.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33The album was originally supposed to come out in June 1986
0:54:33 > 0:54:38and we were going to play Saturday Night Live.
0:54:40 > 0:54:45Everybody was here, the whole band. We were all going to do the show.
0:54:45 > 0:54:50Then Warner Brothers said they'd prefer to release this in the fall.
0:54:50 > 0:54:55So Roy and I said, "Why don't we try another song?"
0:54:55 > 0:54:59RAY PHIRI: It was more a jam than a song.
0:54:59 > 0:55:03Then the following day we were at the Hit Factory.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06After two takes, it was in.
0:55:06 > 0:55:14Because we were having such fun, we'd developed a working relationship that said something.
0:55:14 > 0:55:20You find that even by # Zoh ba-dibbi-dibbi-dibbi do-ba dibbi-duh bib-ba zah ba-dum bo
0:55:20 > 0:55:24# Bi-dum boom-boom beh. # It is in reply to...
0:55:28 > 0:55:30He answers...
0:55:47 > 0:55:51That's how... That's what makes it very exciting.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54The singing is very relaxed, too.
0:55:54 > 0:55:57It just feels like everybody was very comfortable.
0:55:57 > 0:56:00I tried to write a part here in words.
0:56:05 > 0:56:10I couldn't think of anything, so we left it as a horn solo.
0:56:10 > 0:56:15Not even a horn solo, I probably wrote this part as a background.
0:56:22 > 0:56:24- #- Oo-ooh-oo...- #
0:56:24 > 0:56:27Nothing here. Just letting it go, I guess.
0:56:27 > 0:56:29- #- Oo-ooh-oo...- #
0:56:29 > 0:56:32Letting the band play.
0:56:36 > 0:56:41- #- She makes the sign of the teaspoon He makes the sign of the wave...- # - 'Domesticity.'
0:56:41 > 0:56:46- #- The poor boy changes clothes and puts on aftershave...- #
0:56:46 > 0:56:49- #- To compensate for his ordinary shoes...- #
0:56:49 > 0:56:53I love that. "He compensates for his ordinary shoes."
0:56:53 > 0:56:56- #- She said, "Honey, take me dancing" But they...- #
0:56:56 > 0:57:01Finishing the record and going to play it back for Warner Brothers,
0:57:01 > 0:57:06having them look at each other and wonder what this was all about!
0:57:06 > 0:57:09It was a lot of fun.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12Then to see the success, man... Woo!
0:57:12 > 0:57:18What if it hadn't worked? I've thought that at the first night of an opera.
0:57:18 > 0:57:23What if they laugh? What if it doesn't work?
0:57:23 > 0:57:29And you've put all this into it. And you have to have that confidence in the work.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33Even though, in fact, you don't really know.
0:57:33 > 0:57:39I think that was particularly true for Graceland. In retrospect, it was an instant classic.
0:57:39 > 0:57:44So what was to worry about? But I don't think Paul knew that.
0:57:44 > 0:57:50Graceland was going to college for me. Rhythmically. Everything.
0:57:50 > 0:57:54But also just in the sense of...
0:57:54 > 0:57:58in a sense of playing the world, a larger world.
0:57:59 > 0:58:03- #- Ta na na-na na - Ta na na-na...- #
0:58:03 > 0:58:06The ability to interweave the cultures,
0:58:06 > 0:58:11to me, it's obvious to interweave them musically.
0:58:11 > 0:58:16We're just taking songs and having a musical discussion
0:58:16 > 0:58:20across a language barrier without any problems.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23And understanding each other.
0:58:23 > 0:58:27- #- Ta na na-na na Ta na na-na...- #
0:58:27 > 0:58:29And that was, like, Graceland.
0:58:29 > 0:58:35That's what that album had - an unusual degree of understanding
0:58:35 > 0:58:38amongst people who had just met.
0:59:11 > 0:59:15Subtitles by Alison Dilly BBC - 1997