Love To Carly Simon, The Person And Artist

by Kevin Burton

   We now know her body to be ailing, but the art of Carly Simon is vibrant, alive and well.

   So, this post represents a bit of a puzzle for me, an exercise in basic journalism and in basic humanity. It’s a reality check.

   Carly Simon just had a birthday (June 25) and is 83 years old. Carly Simon has a new album Comes In Waves, coming out Aug. 14. Carly Simon has announced she is battling Parkinson’s Disease and has been treated for skin cancer.

   So having been through journalism training and having been through the hard school of life, by witnessing the fragility of life through the recent deaths of close relatives, what’s my lead? What is most relevant to talk about here?

   Carly Simon’s name has been on the Page7 planner page for a while now because of the album. But what to say now?

   Well I say, hug your loved ones, call them up if you haven’t talked for a while. Create shared experiences with them.

   Wait until tomorrow to do these things, if you have tomorrow guaranteed,…you feel me? Otherwise, get on it now!

   And, think hard about making one of those shared experiences you create, listening to Howl, a single from Simon, released to tease the new album.

   Howl is good! I don’t mean good for someone in her 80s, I mean good. Great songwriting, vocal dexterity, she’s still got it.

   The song was released June 12. I was more than two weeks late in checking it out.

   It’s truly exciting to hear new material this good coming from someone who is a part of my old 1970s musical landscape. We’ve heard some new tunes from our older heroes recently that have been kind of shaky, have we not?

   This tune is so welcome, a priceless gift that means even more to me, now knowing that Simon has fought through adversity to create it.

   Simon has stepped away from public life in recent years, explaining in People Magazine that  “Parkinson’s is usually associated with movement, tremors, and balance, but it can affect much more than the body. It can bring anxiety, depression, exhaustion, and apathy.”
   “The apathy is particularly strange. You can find yourself lying there like a starfish drying in the sun, arms pointing in all directions, while nothing inside is telling you to get up, read, watch, write, sing, call someone, or do much of anything at all,” Simon said.”

   In the old days, I heard Anticipation, or You’re So Vain, and just enjoyed them, without any thought of what might be going on in her real life.

    As just a consumer of music, I’m honestly not sure how long I can live out on that caring/feeling ledge. Staying there too long could make the whole exercise exhausting. Still, I’m not the same person I used to be.

   That long road Simon has walked down, I have walked down too. And I’ve walked with my head up.

   So, not sure I passed the journalism or humanity test, but this is the view from my particular bridge.

   When you release a single in advance of an album, you obviously release the best cut, or at least something from a very short list of perceived best cuts. So we know the rest of the album might not be quite as good. I am guessing it will be well worth listening to. We’ll see in a couple of weeks. But it’s good just to have her still around.

   Stevie Wonder is nearing release of his first new album in 22 years, according to multiple reports. God bless Stevie and his art as well. Hoping for the best there.

   Simon’s new success also gives me hope that just as she can still achieve at her high level, I can perhaps still achieve at my much lower level.