The new book ´Lyrics 1964-2008´ released by Paul Simon himself will be available at Simon & Schuster November 11, 2008. It will also be available as ebook.
1. There will be definitely some ´new´ songs in it. (BTW, what is ´Rewrite" from Surprise ?)
2. No text signed by Simon, except for lyrics, although there is a comprehensive introduction.
This revive the question of whether or not the new songs will be released no later than the date of the book´s release. Personaly, I think so.
I would not be surprised if the reported quarrel between Simon and Warner would be to the effect that he wants to release these new songs this fall, only in the digital format.
Thanks for the info guys! Definitely putting an order in a soon as it´s released :) Though why do they keep insisting on using pictures from 15 years ago? Surely they can find something more recent? Well I guess it´s part of the marketing strategy. But all that aside, it´s exciting!
The research wasn´t so hard. Julie posted it on AMPS and I thought I share it here.
I wondered too about "Rewrite" maybe it´s the song Paul talked about that Brian didn´t like and didn´t make it to the album?
Hopefully the new songs will be out soon.
About the picture, I think Paul choose for this picture because the book is about the time span of 44 years of his songwriting, in that perspective the picture from the early eighties suits just right, it´s in the middle of his career and he looks really good on it.
Wow, that´s awesome news! Goes straight onto my wishlist for x-mas :-) Will it be available on amazon, too? The simonsays link doesn´t work for me. Couldn´t find it on amazon...
The same publishers produced a similar book of Stings lyrics exactly a year ago, which proved an exemplar of its kind. A self penned introduction, background commentary to nearly all songs,well chosen photos,all immaculately presented. If the PS book lives up to this it will be a worthy buy.
First impressions upon listening to "Love in hard Times" were that it sounded more like a spoken poem than a song. Fitting then that it should be included here, where were invited to consider PS lyrics as poetry, even though Paul has often wished we pay more attetion to his music.
Nikki is right about the books cover photo,a more current picture of Pauls face,showing the accumulated wisdom of nearly fifty years composing, would have been more apt.