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Graceland
Studio album by Paul Simon
Released	August 12, 1986
Recorded	October 1985-June 1986
Genre	Rock Township jive Mbaqanga World music
Length	42:58
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Roy Halee, Paul Simon
Professional reviews
All Music Guide: link Robert Christgau: (A) link Rolling Stone: link
Paul Simon chronology
Hearts & Bones (1983) Graceland (1986) Negotiations and Love Songs (1988)

Graceland is an album released in 1986 by Paul Simon. It was a big hit in the US, becoming his highest-charting album ever at #3. It was also a #1 album in the UK. The title track was inspired by a visit to Graceland, Elvis Presley's estate in Memphis, Tennessee.

Coming at a time when Simon's musical career was at something of a low ebb following the disappointing public response of Hearts and Bones, the project was originally inspired by Simon's listening to a cassette of the Boyoyo Boys instrumental "Gumboots", lent to him by Heidi Berg, a singer-songwriter whom Simon was working with (and who would later become an award-winning jingle singer and writer). Simon later wrote lyrics to sing over a re-recording of the song, which became the fourth track on the album.

Much of the album was recorded in South Africa and featured many South African musicians and groups. Simon faced accusations that he had broken the cultural boycott imposed by the rest of the world against the apartheid regime in South Africa, which was in its final years at the time. This view was not supported by the United Nations Anti-Apartheid Committee, as the album showcased the talents of the black South African musicians while offering no support to the South African government. The worldwide success of the album introduced some of the musicians, especially the vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, to global audiences of their own.

The album also features legendary Ghanaian master drummer Okyerema Asante.

Simon included American 'roots' influences with tracks featuring Zydeco and Tex-Mex musicians. The Everly Brothers sing harmony on the title track. Linda Ronstadt appears on the track "Under African Skies", the second verse of which Simon wrote based on her childhood experiences. The group Los Lobos appear on the last track, "All Around The World or The Myth Of Fingerprints." According to Los Lobos's saxophone player Steve Berlin, Simon stole the song from Los Lobos, giving them no songwriting credit.^[1]

In the Graceland Classic Albums video, Simon states that he considers the title track the best song he has ever written.

A popular music video starring Simon and Chevy Chase was made for the hit song "You Can Call Me Al".

Simon toured the album extensively, featuring many of the artists from the album plus exiled South Africans Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba. A concert in Harare, Zimbabwe, was filmed for release as "The African Concert".

In 2006, the album was added to the United States National Recording Registry, along with another 24 significant recordings that year.

Contents 1 Track listing 2 Chart performance 2.1 Album 2.2 Singles 3 Grammy Awards 4 Rankings 5 References

1. "The Boy In the Bubble" - 3:59
2. "Graceland" - 4:48
3. "I Know What I Know" - 3:13
4. "Gumboots" - 2:44
5. "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" - 5:45
6. "You Can Call Me Al" - 4:39
7. "Under African Skies" - 3:37
8. "Homeless" - 3:48
9. "Crazy Love Vol II" - 4:18
10. "That Was Your Mother" - 2:52
11. "All Around The World or The Myth Of Fingerprints" - 3:15

Year	Chart	Position
1986	Billboard 200	3
1986	UK chart	1
1986	German chart	2

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1986	Graceland	Mainstream Rock Tracks	38
1986	Graceland	Billboard Hot 100	80
1986	Graceland	Billboard Hot 100	81
1986	You Can Call Me Al	Adult Contemporary	14
1986	You Can Call Me Al	Billboard Hot 100	23
1987	The Boy in the Bubble	Mainstream Rock Tracks	15
1987	The Boy in the Bubble	Billboard Hot 100	85
1999	You Can Call Me Al	Billboard Hot 100	41

Year	Album/Track	Award	Winner
1986	Graceland (album)	Album Of The Year	6697
1987	"Graceland" (song)	Record Of The Year	7061

• Voted the best album of the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll.
• In 1998, Q magazine readers voted it the 56th greatest album of all time.
• In 2003 the TV network VH1 placed it at #84.
• It was also ranked #84 in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time.
• In 1989, it was rated #5 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s.
• It is #81 on the list of Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
• The song "Graceland" was voted #485 in the list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
• According to AcclaimedMusic.net, a site which combines hundreds of best-of lists from critics and musicians from around the world, Graceland is ranked at #67 on the greatest albums of all time. It is also ranked #13 for albums released in the 1980s, and it is the second-highest ranking album of 1986, behind The Smiths' The Queen Is Dead).
• Tom Araya from Slayer once said in an interview with Guitar World magazine that Graceland is one of his favorite all time records.
• It is widely believed that Graceland was heavily influenced by South African singer/songwriter Johnny Clegg

v • d • e Grammy Award for Album of the Year:

1950s:  The Music from Peter Gunn  •  1960s:  Come Dance with Me!  •  The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart  •  Judy at Carnegie Hall  •  The First Family  •  The Barbra Streisand Album  •  Getz/Gilberto  •  September of My Years  •  Sinatra: A Man and His Music  •  Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band  •  By the Time I Get to Phoenix 1970s:  Blood, Sweat & Tears  •  Bridge Over Troubled Water  •  Tapestry  •  The Concert For Bangla Desh  •  Innervisions  •  Fulfillingness' First Finale  •  Still Crazy After All These Years  •  Songs in the Key of Life  •  Rumours  •  Saturday Night Fever 1980s:  52nd Street  •  Christopher Cross  •  Double Fantasy  •  Toto IV  •  Thriller  •  Can't Slow Down  •  No Jacket Required  •  Graceland  •  The Joshua Tree  •  Faith 1990s:  Nick of Time  •  Back on the Block  •  Unforgettable... with Love  •  Unplugged  •  The Bodyguard  •  MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett  •  Jagged Little Pill  •  Falling into You  •  Time Out of Mind  •  The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 2000s:  Supernatural  •  Two Against Nature  •  O Brother, Where Art Thou?  •  Come Away With Me  •  Speakerboxxx/The Love Below  •  Genius Loves Company  •  How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb  •  Taking the Long Way