Rest in peace to Forere Motloheloa of the Sesotho Traditional band Tau Ea Matšekha. He was the accordionist on this song. He passed away on 9 February 2021 from a short illness, at the age of 74. Rest in peace. 🙏🏿 Robala ka khotso Ntate 🇱🇸
So we've lost, HeadMan Shabalala, Joseph Shabalala, Miriam M'Keba, Hugh Masecela, Forere Motloheloa, and Phiriri. Whoa. Heavy loss over the years, but also, one major impact on an entire generation across the globe. I was about 12 when this was released and I fell in love with Miriam M'Keba and Hugh Masecela. (not sure if I have that right on spelling). Rest well
@@rosalynw2520 Hey man at least they lived. They passed from old age so at least it was natural. Their names are spelled as Hugh Masekela, Ray Phiri and Miriam Makeba. At least you are trying ❤🥰
I watched a Documentary about Paul Simon a few weeks back, about his trip to Africa, to make recordings for the Graceland Album. According to, (I believe), a sound engineer, that worked with Paul over in Africa, once Paul found out what the Session Musicians Pay Scale was, he tripled their pay because according to Paul, because they were just as good, or if not, better than the Session Musicians here in the states. Plus he invited the same musicians to join him on his tour, when he started promoting Graceland. He also had those same musicians tour with him over the years after that.. For me, this was the first time I've ever heard of an artist making sure the Session people were being paid fairly. It goes to show you, just how kind Paul Simon is, and how much he cares for other people. God Bless You Paul Simon, and Thank You For All The Great Music You've Been Giving Us...
This song, this music concert, the whole Graceland album brings back so many happy memories. My mom saw this special on cable and she went wild. She never heard African music in her life, and she went right out and bought this tape. She listened to it so much she wore it out. This album made her so happy. RIP mom
Am always glad to receive positive comments from my lovely fans 🤍🖤 it's absolutely my pleasure bringing sweet melody to you. May God bless you awesomely 🙏 I hope you have fun listening to this music 🎧❣️. Have you been to any of my concert?
He was criticized because African people were treated horribly and he came to make an album not saying once how racially problems were affecting the black population.
To imagine this was Zimbabwe in 80s.. Its painful.. What happened? Where did we go wrong... It was young vibrant nation, euphoria embraced the country everywhere.. So full of hope..
Best concert i was ever dragged to. Didn't want to go, no interest but ended up going. I had great seats and had the bass player in front of me. By the end of the concert i was just staring into the great nothing with my tongue hanging out, drooping to the floor, and when it reached the floor it it bent at 90 degrees and kept going forward. Shortly after i became a Bass player and never looked back.
Am always glad to receive positive comments from my lovely fans 🤍🖤 it's absolutely my pleasure bringing sweet melody to you. May God bless you awesomely 🙏 I hope you have fun listening to this music 🎧❣️. Have you been to any of my concert?
5:03 Shoutout to the Maestro Percussionists!! Issac Mtshalli (Drums) Francis Fuster (green shirt, black conga drums) Okyerema Asante (orange suit, white conga drums)
@@LauraM.Swaager Wow, I don't know your age but I would love to hear your perspective. I was 6 when the album released an it was stuck in the tape deck of our car for years. I feel so fortunate to have had those amazing sounds, feels and rhythms entering my headspace at such a young age. Most anything I had heard prior was jazz, blues, r&b, funk or rock based. This was something completely alien sounding and I remember being haunted by it at first. The only two recognizable constants were Paul Simon's voice and the drums. Everything else was like hearing music for the first time.
this Graceland tune 👌 Is just slick 👌 tune to me I truly recommend it to all viewers and listening public on RUclips he's a dope 👌 guy and the group of other members in the group are extremely dope 👌 guys 👌✋💪💪❤❤👑✌️
Am always glad to receive positive comments from my lovely fans 🤍🖤 it's absolutely my pleasure bringing sweet melody to you. May God bless you awesomely 🙏 I hope you have fun listening to this music 🎧❣️. Have you been to any of my concert?
@@wisechi I hear ya & agree. For some reason a lot of folks still refer to Africa as a country, instead of a continent. This is whats happening. The folks that run all of the gigantic major corporations in the US., Europe, and the Chinese Government, would much rather keep what's happening in Africa toned down as much as possible. The African Continent has so many Natural Resources, it would blow our minds, and the major corporations that want them, stay busy taking them all, while leaving the rest of us trying to look through the smokescreens of organizations, like the Gates Foundation, who go down there to drill some wells, teach people how to grow food, and/or go into certain countries and test vaccines. It just breaks my heart that most of the people in Africa are starving, and living in poverty...
Paul had a decorated career with Art, had a great solo catalogue and then, with some amazing African talent, he somehow gives us Graceland. Bravo, Paul!
Just one of the greatest tunes of all time, perfomed live in Africa one sunny evening in 1987; some 37 years ago. Yet still so fresh and exciting and surprisng, performed by the icocnic and incomperable Paul Simon and his many band mates. Bravo gentlemen, and rest easy to those bandmates no longer with us. They are, no doubt, currrently jamming up in heaven with George Gershwin, Jimmy Rodgers, Maybelle Carter, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Sinatra, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Jimmy Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Townes Van Zandt, Ray Charles, Guy Cark, Michael Jackson, Jimmy Buffet, Gordon Lightoot and my favorite, Steve Goodman, alternating at center stage as the rest of the Cosmic All-Stars effortlessly accompany them...
the mix is brilliant. trying to mix an acousitic with guitar, a fretoess bass with a broken amp horn, and a piano accordian in an african stadium in mid 80s would have been a nightmare. and you can hear everything. the harmonies at the end too.... gorgeous
My late mom used to play this when I was a kid about 4 years old. This song remained in my memory for more than 20years till I was able to google it with a little rhythm I can remember thanks to google. May her soul rest in peace 😢🙏🏻 Love all the way from Nigeria, 2023 ❤
A massive shout out to the incredible musicians who are supporting Paul. Paul Simon is a perfect example of what the word 'musical genius' really means. This is nothing short of a real work of art. Timeless and perfect.
I'm from South Africa and Graceland kept me grounded and connected to my homeland while I was in the States in '87. It has such a special place in my heart.
The songs on this album are all magic, from this world and out of this world -it reaches to the cosmos and delivers us into the universal truth of a greater humanity. It must exist or we'll create it on other planets and dance among the stars as humans .
Am always glad to receive positive comments from my lovely fans 🤍🖤 it's absolutely my pleasure bringing sweet melody to you. May God bless you awesomely 🙏 I hope you have fun listening to this music 🎧❣️. Have you been to any of my concert?
How about Leonard Cohen's "The Future"? That's certainly apocalyptic, as is Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's a-gonna fall". "The Boy in the Bubble" is less apocalyptic, less "doom and gloom", but certainly dealing with transformation and being overtaken by technology which turns the world into a "global village". This was in 1986, before the Internet even.
Leonard Dixon The song is utterly savage. It's not optimistic. it's ironic. it's about the willful blindness, hypocrisy, and the "echo chamber". about how high-minded optimism about the status quo is a luxury afforded to the secluded and the comfortable. the 80's witnessed the end of the geopolitical era of Colonialism, but it also saw the rise Neo-liberalism, simultaneously. how do we look to the distant constellation? i doubt things really looked that much different or better from that far away. those who got fat and those starving looked awfully much the same as ever. "the boy in the bubble" here is the character singing the chorus, and anyone else deluded/naive enough to believe him.
Paul simons musics just incredible love hearing the stories in the comments about him paying the ppl ther n taking them on a tour promoting graceland album Big heart you can tell Paul's a TOPGUY BLESS
Am always glad to receive positive comments from my lovely fans 🤍🖤 it's absolutely my pleasure bringing sweet melody to you. May God bless you awesomely 🙏 I hope you have fun listening to this music 🎧❣️. Have you been to any of my concert?
I was born in Zimbabwe in 1987, about 3 months after this concert (I think this is actually the concert he played in Zimbabwe) and I don't know why, maybe my parents were watching a re-run or maybe they taped it, but I still remember being a baby and watching this on the TV. It's still so vivid, every time I hear those opening chords from The Boy In The Bubble, I just get chills and it takes me back. Graceland might have been the first Album I ever listened to and I still do, I've developed such a deep connection to the music. As a toddler my parents used to put the cassette in the player and put it under my pillow so I'd sleep. I loved the cassette so much I had to get multiple replacements because I'd take it with me everywhere and forget it (one got destroyed in the fridge). I think it's amazing that even after 33 years, these are the songs that move me the most and I still can't get enough of. Thank you Paul for creating the soundtrack to some of my most vivid and beautiful memories!
I agree with you, I also believe this is part of the Zimbabwe Concert. For me the confimation is at 0.19 and lasts just 5 seconds. There is a huge poster promoting Mugabwe as leader of that Country. If we only knew then what he would do in the following years to that amazing Country. I think someone has done an edit of J'burg and Zim here. I wonder if the kids shown at 0.16 to 0.19 are still around or if they ever saw themselves enjoying this great man and his music.
Two years after this concert, Mandela would be released and S Africa freed... yet Mugabe began a choke hold that saw some of Zimbabwe's worst ever suffering. Oh, the irony.
I graduated from high school in 1987.... there is a lyric in this song "...this is the long distance call." Do kids today know what a "long-distance call" is? So much has changed.
These are the days of lasers in the jungle Lasers in the jungle somewhere Staccato signals of constant information A loose affiliation of millionaires And billionaires and baby -should be considered a prophetic since the idea is from 1987 we could never have predicted this then.
Am always glad to receive positive comments from my lovely fans 🤍🖤 it's absolutely my pleasure bringing sweet melody to you. May God bless you awesomely 🙏 I hope you have fun listening to this music 🎧❣️. Have you been to any of my concert?
The guy on guitar, Ray Phiri, is pretty hot too--he fronts a decent band called Stimela too. Pity I missed this concert although I was in Harare at the time.
Love that fretless bass....I've seen this video so many times but I've only just noticed Paul Simon's selection of spare picks on the microphone stand....
Hi Paul, you created so many musical pearls and phantastic songs during the decades. Even I wasn't on any of your concert, I am glad that these concert, your amusing and inspiring talk at Letterman 1982 or your unique version of Scarborough fair with Andy Williams can be found here. God bless you and your passion for great music 🎶🤘🏼😀
He had some great stuff before and he has the brilliance and ability to do so even now, However Graceland and THIS concert to me will be when Paul SImon was at the height of his powers as a songwriter and his ability to tap into African music which for many of us Western fans we had not heard until this Album.
For the past two weeks,I've been thinking of your name, I was thinking it was Don Simeon. I was just a child of 5 years old when My father played your GRACELAND NONSTOP.. seeing this music bring back so many memories of Late Father who died APRIL 24TH 2012 as a Soldier of the Nigeria🇳🇬 Army😭 continue to rest on DANIEL UBAH
![[#2024MAMA] G-DRAGON - 무제(Untitled, 2014)+POWER+HOME SWEET HOME+뱅뱅뱅+FANTASTIC BABY | Mnet 241123 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ox29z5Nf1Uk/mqdefault.jpg)
Graceland is definitely one of the greatest albums ever recorded.
+Valerie Curtis Agreed
+Valerie Curtis indeed! marred only by Paul Simon apparently being a bit of a twat
+Valerie Curtis DEFINITELY. If I was allowed to bring only one album on a desert island, I would bring Graceland.
Valerie Curtis like, ever!
Matty Pee take it easy
This was done in Zimbabwe and I was there. Rufaro Stadium. Harare. Beautiful and timeless music.
Rest in peace to Forere Motloheloa of the Sesotho Traditional band Tau Ea Matšekha. He was the accordionist on this song. He passed away on 9 February 2021 from a short illness, at the age of 74. Rest in peace. 🙏🏿
Robala ka khotso Ntate 🇱🇸
Do not remember Raymond Ray Phiri
@@gigieinaudi24 rip to him also but I'm dedicating to Forere here chief .
RIP tata Forere
So we've lost, HeadMan Shabalala, Joseph Shabalala, Miriam M'Keba, Hugh Masecela, Forere Motloheloa, and Phiriri. Whoa. Heavy loss over the years, but also, one major impact on an entire generation across the globe. I was about 12 when this was released and I fell in love with Miriam M'Keba and Hugh Masecela. (not sure if I have that right on spelling). Rest well
@@rosalynw2520 Hey man at least they lived. They passed from old age so at least it was natural. Their names are spelled as Hugh Masekela, Ray Phiri and Miriam Makeba. At least you are trying ❤🥰
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky. Why do I love this line ??
Because it sounds profound. But it really isn't. It's just pretty.
It's a statement about a "new age". A passage of time and the expansion of technology as the mid 1980s was upon us.
Paul is a genius with words and music. Perspective is key ❤️
Bakithi Kumalo should be included on anybody's list of great and/or influential bass players.
Highly agreed
Bakithi Kumalo made me buy my first bass guitar when I was 14. Now 35, still playing the bass among other instruments I've acquired since
It is impossible that a bass player can be cooler. Period.
😂 👍
Bakithi kumalo was a hero of mine when I first discovered the bass
Played the bass like a lead guitar
I watched a Documentary about Paul Simon a few weeks back, about his trip to Africa, to make recordings for the Graceland Album.
According to, (I believe), a sound engineer, that worked with Paul over in Africa, once Paul found out what the Session Musicians Pay Scale was, he tripled their pay because according to Paul, because they were just as good, or if not, better than the Session Musicians here in the states.
Plus he invited the same musicians to join him on his tour, when he started promoting Graceland. He also had those same musicians tour with him over the years after that..
For me, this was the first time I've ever heard of an artist making sure the Session people were being paid fairly. It goes to show you, just how kind Paul Simon is, and how much he cares for other people.
God Bless You Paul Simon, and Thank You For All The Great Music You've Been Giving Us...
Amazing, did not know this, thank you😊
This song, this music concert, the whole Graceland album brings back so many happy memories. My mom saw this special on cable and she went wild. She never heard African music in her life, and she went right out and bought this tape. She listened to it so much she wore it out. This album made her so happy. RIP mom
Misty Aoudia we love your mom.hope you are doing well.
me too
May her soul rest in eternal peace.🌹
Beautiful story. Blessings to your mom.
BBC v
I'm more of a post punk and indie guy most of the time, but this is one of my favorite songs (and lyrics!) ever ❤.
Great taste❤
The way it comes out of him so naturally hitting every note perfectly, effortlessly. He was born to put the sound in our world
Am always glad to receive positive comments from my lovely fans 🤍🖤 it's absolutely my pleasure bringing sweet melody to you. May God bless you awesomely 🙏
I hope you have fun listening to this music 🎧❣️. Have you been to any of my concert?
and so relaxed 🙂
aint that the case
Music should transcend race and culture. What Paul was accused of was a disgrace.
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
❤❤❤
What was he accused of?
Some angry blm type dude accused him of appropriating African music.
😂@@oreally8605
Paul Simon was criticized for what is today called cultural appropriation when this music came out. We need more cultural appropriation like this.
He was criticized because African people were treated horribly and he came to make an album not saying once how racially problems were affecting the black population.
Sound engineers on that concert were amazing, need DVD to hear what I mean
To imagine this was Zimbabwe in 80s.. Its painful.. What happened? Where did we go wrong... It was young vibrant nation, euphoria embraced the country everywhere..
So full of hope..
Robert Mugabe became a murdering monster. He basically destroyed Zimbabwe.
❤Still feeling this in 2023❤❤
Best concert i was ever dragged to. Didn't want to go, no interest but ended up going. I had great seats and had the bass player in front of me. By the end of the concert i was just staring into the great nothing with my tongue hanging out, drooping to the floor, and when it reached the floor it it bent at 90 degrees and kept going forward. Shortly after i became a Bass player and never looked back.
You were at Rufaro stadium in 1988? Wow
The days of miracle and wonder.
How could you not want to go? This was BOUND to be a great concert.
@@MrTchitapa Must have been 1987.
Baghiti Kumalo, I believe is his name. Hope did not kill the spelling. I also fell under his spell but 4000 miles away.
The bassist makes the seemingly slow and lumbering instrument sound agile and fluid. Such a bad ass.
Comment flagged as potentially bassist...
fretless!!!!!
Bakhiti Khumalo.
@@billbiggs3733yep, this tight "Jaco" tone is what made me demand a fretless when I was like 12 lmao it's so cool
We need that distant constellation
Bahkithi Kumalo is a BAD ASS on that bass guitar!!!!
+SexyGirl79 Hell yes. First and last time is saw anyone rock a fretless bassguitar like that.
@@cueballB Um... Jaco Pastorius ring a bell for you?
Yeah, he's really good on the skin flute.
Agree
@@dieselyeti It is my belief that Bill Wyman is the pioneer of this.
The entire Graceland album is stellar!!
Am always glad to receive positive comments from my lovely fans 🤍🖤 it's absolutely my pleasure bringing sweet melody to you. May God bless you awesomely 🙏
I hope you have fun listening to this music 🎧❣️. Have you been to any of my concert?
Thank you. I am still VERY encouraged.
God will always be there for the humanitarians.❤🎉
The man the myth the legend - one of the greatest albums of all time - a perfect synthesis of African traditional and rock ❤
This is a performance that will never get old
Yep not wrong!
I agree
These are the days of wonder
The man Paul Simon should have got a Nobel prize for his peace work and art. If he were British he'd now be Sir Paul.
5:03 Shoutout to the Maestro Percussionists!!
Issac Mtshalli (Drums)
Francis Fuster (green shirt, black conga drums)
Okyerema Asante (orange suit, white conga drums)
I was 5 years old and could hear the concert from our back porch! We were about 2 miles from the stadium... Memories
Quite simply, Graceland is the moment music leapt up and grabbed me and I've never been the same since.
..."YES-".. 💯😁😀💝🇺🇸. ROBERT K. BOBZGT.
Me too , kind greetings from France !
Yes me too!
thats exactly the same for me. someone made me listen to it and i my whole musical experience and life changed. 1 years ago tomorrow
@@LauraM.Swaager Wow, I don't know your age but I would love to hear your perspective. I was 6 when the album released an it was stuck in the tape deck of our car for years. I feel so fortunate to have had those amazing sounds, feels and rhythms entering my headspace at such a young age. Most anything I had heard prior was jazz, blues, r&b, funk or rock based. This was something completely alien sounding and I remember being haunted by it at first. The only two recognizable constants were Paul Simon's voice and the drums. Everything else was like hearing music for the first time.
HELL YEAH AFRICA ROCKS, THANK YOU PAUL AND BAND...😊💪✌️❤️💯
The base just rips
Now that is a bass guitar solo. absolutely music out of this world. I just love Gracelands album
The great Bakhiti Khumalo on bass.
@@gerhardvanderwesthuizen842 Yep and he's still with Paul Simon to this day.
Agree
Paul Simon. A black man in white skin. Respect to the reconciliation in Africa. No to racism and yes to togetherness.
this Graceland tune 👌 Is just slick 👌 tune to me I truly recommend it to all viewers and listening public on RUclips he's a dope 👌 guy and the group of other members in the group are extremely dope 👌 guys 👌✋💪💪❤❤👑✌️
My admiration and appreciation for the talented and versatile and handsome Paul Simon💐
Once Africa gets into your soul it never leaves. No other country on earth has the same effect.
Am always glad to receive positive comments from my lovely fans 🤍🖤 it's absolutely my pleasure bringing sweet melody to you. May God bless you awesomely 🙏
I hope you have fun listening to this music 🎧❣️. Have you been to any of my concert?
"Africa" is not a country
Africa is many countries!
What about holy land?Life changing like nowhere else
@@wisechi I hear ya & agree. For some reason a lot of folks still refer to Africa as a country, instead of a continent.
This is whats happening.
The folks that run all of the gigantic major corporations in the US., Europe, and the Chinese Government, would much rather keep what's happening in Africa toned down as much as possible.
The African Continent has so many Natural Resources, it would blow our minds, and the major corporations that want them, stay busy taking them all, while leaving the rest of us trying to look through the smokescreens of organizations, like the Gates Foundation, who go down there to drill some wells, teach people how to grow food, and/or go into certain countries and test vaccines.
It just breaks my heart that most of the people in Africa are starving, and living in poverty...
What a great band. The bass player is killer
Bakithi Kumalo. He's a living legend.
Tbf he brought African music an audience it never would have had and Ladysmith black mambaza are a household name thanks to him
Amazing days. Amazing music
Paul had a decorated career with Art, had a great solo catalogue and then, with some amazing African talent, he somehow gives us Graceland.
Bravo, Paul!
Oh my God! Paul Simon! Legendary! This man is God's gift to mankind! His songs just cut through my heart!
1987 i was 8years old and still listening and watching this❤❤❤
Just one of the greatest tunes of all time, perfomed live in Africa one sunny evening in 1987; some 37 years ago. Yet still so fresh and exciting and surprisng, performed by the icocnic and incomperable Paul Simon and his many band mates.
Bravo gentlemen, and rest easy to those bandmates no longer with us. They are, no doubt, currrently jamming up in heaven with George Gershwin, Jimmy Rodgers, Maybelle Carter, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Sinatra, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Jimmy Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Townes Van Zandt, Ray Charles, Guy Cark, Michael Jackson, Jimmy Buffet, Gordon Lightoot and my favorite, Steve Goodman, alternating at center stage as the rest of the Cosmic All-Stars effortlessly accompany them...
That bass sound....
just to mention - there was one more artist using that sound... a jazz artist... the man who made all late Miles Davis albums...
I thought it was a tuba until I saw this video
the mix is brilliant. trying to mix an acousitic with guitar, a fretoess bass with a broken amp horn, and a piano accordian in an african stadium in mid 80s would have been a nightmare. and you can hear everything.
the harmonies at the end too.... gorgeous
Such a beautiful combination of American and African music, lyrically and musically.
Ray Phiri and Bakithi Kumalo made this album what it was. Rest in peace, Ray.
Rip Ray Phiri...love your style, man...
And I'd argue, the harmonies of Ladysmith Black Mambazo
I certainly feel that wonderful bass and such a killer performance,.
I won't cry. Don't worry. And I do believe Miracles and Wonder Win in the end. 😊
My late mom used to play this when I was a kid about 4 years old. This song remained in my memory for more than 20years till I was able to google it with a little rhythm I can remember thanks to google. May her soul rest in peace 😢🙏🏻 Love all the way from Nigeria, 2023 ❤
A massive shout out to the incredible musicians who are supporting Paul.
Paul Simon is a perfect example of what the word 'musical genius' really means. This is nothing short of a real work of art. Timeless and perfect.
Best Album in last 50 years, FACT
I though "I will put on some music while I work"! But I find The African Concert so mesmerising that I can't not watch as well as listen.
I'm from South Africa and Graceland kept me grounded and connected to my homeland while I was in the States in '87. It has such a special place in my heart.
That base guitarist is awesome.
He is the one and only Bakhiti Kumalo
The songs on this album are all magic, from this world and out of this world -it reaches to the cosmos and delivers us into the universal truth of a greater humanity. It must exist or we'll create it on other planets and dance among the stars as humans .
Absolutely prophetic Paul Simon is a genius and can we talk about that bass player
I remember watching this in 1988 when I was 7. The first time I’d ever seen and heard a fretless bass
The African Concert, 1987 is as live as ever!!!
Graceland! Every song makes my heart sing!
and blimp ;-)
Me too!!
Am always glad to receive positive comments from my lovely fans 🤍🖤 it's absolutely my pleasure bringing sweet melody to you. May God bless you awesomely 🙏
I hope you have fun listening to this music 🎧❣️. Have you been to any of my concert?
I posted 50 of my favorite "apocalyptic / transformational" songs on Facebook a few months ago, and this was #1.
an
amazing
artist
How about Leonard Cohen's "The Future"? That's certainly apocalyptic, as is Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's a-gonna fall". "The Boy in the Bubble" is less apocalyptic, less "doom and gloom", but certainly dealing with transformation and being overtaken by technology which turns the world into a "global village". This was in 1986, before the Internet even.
Leonard Dixon
The song is utterly savage. It's not optimistic. it's ironic. it's about the willful blindness, hypocrisy, and the "echo chamber". about how high-minded optimism about the status quo is a luxury afforded to the secluded and the comfortable.
the 80's witnessed the end of the geopolitical era of Colonialism, but it also saw the rise Neo-liberalism, simultaneously. how do we look to the distant constellation? i doubt things really looked that much different or better from that far away. those who got fat and those starving looked awfully much the same as ever.
"the boy in the bubble" here is the character singing the chorus, and anyone else deluded/naive enough to believe him.
Leonard Dixon surely there's some Warren zevon on there;)
Thanks for the insight, Christian Hegele. You've certainly analyzed and understood the lyrics better than I have.
Paul simons musics just incredible love hearing the stories in the comments about him paying the ppl ther n taking them on a tour promoting graceland album
Big heart you can tell Paul's a TOPGUY BLESS
A Global Soundtrack for the Southern African liberation struggle's endgame, and an amazing conceet!.
....IMHO Graceland is his BEST solo album...I love 'em all but this one is special
"a loose affiliation of millionaires and billionaires"...so ahead of his Time
Miss Richard Tee
God bless Paul Simon
Am always glad to receive positive comments from my lovely fans 🤍🖤 it's absolutely my pleasure bringing sweet melody to you. May God bless you awesomely 🙏
I hope you have fun listening to this music 🎧❣️. Have you been to any of my concert?
For years I totally believed that there is trombone on this song. 2:32 Bakithi Khumalo is an absolute magician on bass.
I love this song so much ❤
Also
R.I.P Ray Phiri (guitarist with hat)
Was he using a coin to play?
Oh mine, the man was good.... May his soul RIP
a plektrum
Keep resting in peace the Legend😢
Woah my that bass is seriously so good.
best bass solo ever
wats th name of that bass player?
George Hlanga Bakithi Kumalo :)
I totally agree
I was born in Zimbabwe in 1987, about 3 months after this concert (I think this is actually the concert he played in Zimbabwe) and I don't know why, maybe my parents were watching a re-run or maybe they taped it, but I still remember being a baby and watching this on the TV. It's still so vivid, every time I hear those opening chords from The Boy In The Bubble, I just get chills and it takes me back. Graceland might have been the first Album I ever listened to and I still do, I've developed such a deep connection to the music. As a toddler my parents used to put the cassette in the player and put it under my pillow so I'd sleep. I loved the cassette so much I had to get multiple replacements because I'd take it with me everywhere and forget it (one got destroyed in the fridge). I think it's amazing that even after 33 years, these are the songs that move me the most and I still can't get enough of. Thank you Paul for creating the soundtrack to some of my most vivid and beautiful memories!
I agree with you, I also believe this is part of the Zimbabwe Concert. For me the confimation is at 0.19 and lasts just 5 seconds. There is a huge poster promoting Mugabwe as leader of that Country. If we only knew then what he would do in the following years to that amazing Country.
I think someone has done an edit of J'burg and Zim here.
I wonder if the kids shown at 0.16 to 0.19 are still around or if they ever saw themselves enjoying this great man and his music.
yeah, Zim 1987.
i love the guys he did this music with. some of the very best i have ever heard. best music paul ever got down and recorded.
Fantástico, foi um conserto fora de série, parabéns! Os africanos merecem!
Boy in a bubble. A perfect conclusion.
The album ‘Graceland’ was recorded 1985-86, and released August 1986. An absolute masterpiece.
Simon and Garfunkel followed by Paul Simon as a solo artist is my favorite music. I can listen all day. The bass is awesome on this album.
Two years after this concert, Mandela would be released and S Africa freed... yet Mugabe began a choke hold that saw some of Zimbabwe's worst ever suffering. Oh, the irony.
I graduated from high school in 1987.... there is a lyric in this song "...this is the long distance call."
Do kids today know what a "long-distance call" is? So much has changed.
These are the days of lasers in the jungle
Lasers in the jungle somewhere
Staccato signals of constant information
A loose affiliation of millionaires
And billionaires and baby
-should be considered a prophetic since the idea is from 1987 we could never have predicted this then.
Zo emotioneel, zo goed gemaakt. Nog altijd fantastisch..
Am always glad to receive positive comments from my lovely fans 🤍🖤 it's absolutely my pleasure bringing sweet melody to you. May God bless you awesomely 🙏
I hope you have fun listening to this music 🎧❣️. Have you been to any of my concert?
One of his most wonderful and evocative lyrics! The bouncy melody and that dark lyric makes this song so ironic! It is brilliant!
always thought this was the best song on the album - and what an album and band
I could listen to that accordion riff all day long…
i think it's actually a dulcimer
"These are the days" i got this jam on repeat.
Absolute masterpiece. A chillingly profound and prescient song. Hell, you can even dance to it too. What's not to like?
A brave album, a great performance, but first and foremost: this guy is simply unf***n believable! Pure Genius.
Paul at his height. He is our Gershwin.
It's good to see once again ray phiri and bk bakithi khumalo doing their thing
Graceland was the name I was looking for inside it I found this ❤
Happy birthday 🎉🎈🎉 🎂🎈 80 years old today October 12 , 2021 I pray 🙏 that you live to be 100 or greater if you want to.
The guy on guitar, Ray Phiri, is pretty hot too--he fronts a decent band called Stimela too. Pity I missed this concert although I was in Harare at the time.
He was an amazing artist, and a very humble human being. Sadly he passed away last year.
Love that fretless bass....I've seen this video so many times but I've only just noticed Paul Simon's selection of spare picks on the microphone stand....
Hi Paul, you created so many musical pearls and phantastic songs during the decades. Even I wasn't on any of your concert, I am glad that these concert, your amusing and inspiring talk at Letterman 1982 or your unique version of Scarborough fair with Andy Williams can be found here. God bless you and your passion for great music 🎶🤘🏼😀
2 bars in and the crowd acknowledges the song - timeless classic.
I think its time we accept that there are white Africans as Black Africans just look at the harmony in the stadium.
I just can't think of another harmonica-based intro that comes even close to this.
thats a fucking 120 bass accordion
Music is the food to the soul. To all the departed souls that was live in the concert, Rest in peace. Amen
Days of miracle and wonder song ❤
Graceland is one of the greatest albums and concert ever
2:17 - Lord have mercy those boys know how to make a sound
He had some great stuff before and he has the brilliance and ability to do so even now, However Graceland and THIS concert to me will be when Paul SImon was at the height of his powers as a songwriter and his ability to tap into African music which for many of us Western fans we had not heard until this Album.
Wow.what a great entertainer ..
We hope your song for Africa cones to fruition
For the past two weeks,I've been thinking of your name, I was thinking it was Don Simeon. I was just a child of 5 years old when My father played your GRACELAND NONSTOP.. seeing this music bring back so many memories of Late Father who died APRIL 24TH 2012 as a Soldier of the Nigeria🇳🇬 Army😭
continue to rest on DANIEL UBAH
I was playing football intasmania for Sheffield this song ment every thing to me it's was a miracle and wonder we won the premiership