He’s one of the world’s best selling music artists, a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, and a sixteen-time Grammy winner.
Paul Simon will add a new honor to that list when he joins a select group of luminaries who’ve received the solo guest treatment on CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Simon is set to both sit down with Colbert for an interview and perform when he visits the show next Thursday, March 14.
Other music headliners who’ve served as solo guests with Colbert in the past include Bono, Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga (twice), and Bruce Springsteen (twice).
Simon himself has appeared on Colbert four times before, but never as a solo guest. His last visit was in 2019.
The 82 year-old singer/songwriter retired from touring in 2015, but continues to record new music and recently allowed Oscar-winning documentary director Alex Gibney to film the making of his latest album, “Seven Psalms.” The result is a two-part docuseries titled Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon, which premieres March 17 on MGM+.
I’ll bet money Colbert won’t ask Simon about how he took full songwriting credit for the the Los Lobos contribution to the “Graceland” LP – ripping them off for a sizeable “mailbox money” payday for the still-touring band. (The amount would have been small change for the publishing royalties millionaire Simon.) This event, well documented in Variety scribe Chris Morris’ Los Lobos biography “Dream In Blue,” has completely changed my once-positive opinion of Simon and “Graceland.” He had his lawyers send a “you should just go away” letter. Look it up.