Track 14: "Gumboots" by Paul Simon

Believing I had supernatural powers I slammed into a brick wall...

Thank God for Paul Simon and the album "Graceland."

This is definitely one of my favorite albums of all time, and one that can potentially make any crappy day much less so. Picking "Gumboots" as one of all time favorite songs is pretty arbitrary here as just about any song on "Graceland" could deservedly make my list.

"Graceland" has sold over 14 million copies, it's 5x Platinum, won a Grammy for Album of the Year in 1986, and appears of just about every sane publication's list of best albums of all time.

There really isn't a bad song on this record--just one of those extremely rare albums that you can listen to front to back. I love Simon's lyrics, the South African influence on the album, all of the backing vocals Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and of course the horns!

Seriously, "You Ca Call Me Al," "Diamonds on the Soles of Her shoes," "That was Your Mother," "Under African Skies," "Graceland," "I Know what I Know".....there are so many great songs on this album. And listening to any of these without cracking a smile is virtually impossible. All that's missing is "Me and Julio Down by the School Yard," which is another of Simon's gems.

Paul Simon's "Concert in the Park" is another all time favorite album of mine. It's a double-live album of him in Central Park with his full African band doing most of the "Graceland" and "Rhythm of the Saints" albums with tons of other Simon and Garfunkel songs.

"Graceland" and "Concert in the Park" are 'go to' albums for me. And to be only Wednesday, I'm having a pretty rotten week. On Monday I drove away from a gas pump with the nozzle still in my tank and did some slight damage to my car. Today I dropped my lap top (thank god for Best Buy's Black Tie protection. Seems to be working fine, though, aside from the cd drive making noises every time I open it. But it's fully covered.)

So needless to say my knack for doing stupid shit with expensive stuff of mine had me feeling a little down. But "Gumboots" happened to pop on my shuffle while driving to get some lunch. And sure enough, when the horns kicked, I felt myself smile.

Break downs come and break downs go,
what are you gonna do it about
that's what I'd like to know