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Paul Simon and Wyclef JeanFast Car Performed by Gershwin Prize Winner and Hip Hop'sA look at the song "Fast Car" from Paul Simon and Wyclef Jean, and what it says about music in the 21st century.
Wyclef’s latest album, Carnival, Volume II: Memoirs of an Immigrant, features his song “Fast Car,” which nestles Simon’s striding vocals within pulsing backbeats, steely guitar drones, and DJ scratches, all astutely strewn together as the duo ponders death. It’s a prescient tale of DUI and driving high in a world where cars are a foreboding crystal ball where you can see “heaven in the headlights.” An Odd Couple?It’s a duo that only makes sense in retrospect: Paul Simon’s previous forays into African rhythms and themes were documented on his album Graceland, while Wyclef’s hip-hop origins have always been laden with guitar heroics and folk underpinnings. And it works. The whole tune flows and throbs, with a chorus and melodic shape that Simon should be proud to be a part of (Wyclef gets writing credit). It is musical blending of the highest order, and a sonic baton-passing from one generation to the next. Grammys and GershwinIn 2007, Paul Simon was given with the first-ever Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. Though Wyclef may not be heir apparent to the throne, he does share Simon’s complex range of influences and inspirations, with appreciation for the global, and ubiquitious, nature of music itself. He's also a Grammy-award winner in his own right. Here are 2 men not afraid to shy away from South American polyrhythms or doo-wop, all the while singing of prostitutes and drug abuse in the same melody-drenched breath. (Check out Simon’s tune “The Boxer” from the album Bridge Over Troubled Water, and Wyclef’s latest single, also from Carnival, Volume II, called “Sweetest Girl.”) Global Music-SharingThis important thing to take from this track is not its catchiness or creativity, but how it renders genre impotent. It is impossible to describe the song without using a hyphenate or simile, as this new century is seeing more and more music spring from the well of “Uncategorizable.” In addition, music-sharing sites like Anywhere FM website and Last FM website are pulling fans together, fans previously separated by bodies of water and mountain ranges. As technology brings the global community closer, the notion of “musical style” is fast becoming a useless quality to ascribe. While it convolutes advertising and marketing attempts, it is also causing music to drift through society freely and without strings. Listeners will want an encore from “those Jersey boys,” and see more inspiration derived from the mingling of hip-hop and folk music.
The copyright of the article Paul Simon and Wyclef Jean in Pop Music is owned by Mark H. Mulvey. Permission to republish Paul Simon and Wyclef Jean in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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