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August 25, 2026 
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The origins of Paul Simon’s ‘Graceland’
10 songs, 30 min 5 sec
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| Paul Simon performing on the Graceland tour in 1987. Rob Verhorst/Redferns, via Getty Images |
Dear listeners,
We are gathered here to celebrate a pop musical holiday. Today is the 40th anniversary of the release of “Graceland,” the 1986 cross-cultural tour de force by Paul Simon that is still generating new fans, and heated discussion, after all these years.
“Graceland” is also the subject of a new book that I tore through over the weekend, Ashley Kahn’s “Days of Miracle and Wonder: Paul Simon and the Trials and Triumphs of Graceland,” which chronicles the creation, resonance and paradoxes of Simon’s most successful LP as a solo artist. “‘Graceland’ was music built on the priority of collaboration, and what it locked into was the spirit of community,” Kahn writes of the album, which found Simon working with, drawing inspiration from and bringing Western attention to South African artists like Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the Boyoyo Boys and General M.D. Shirinda and the Gaza Sisters, among others.
A singular kind of culture clash occurred when Simon added his own cosmopolitan American poetry atop the jubilant grooves of Soweto jive, sprinkling in some zydeco and Chicano rock for good measure. Whether the album is a work of common cultural appropriation or a rare example of cross-continental cooperation done right has long been a topic of debate, and in “Days of Miracle and Wonder” Kahn allows for both sides of that discussion to have their say. Ultimately, though, he highlights the tender warmth that courses through the music of “Graceland,” which allows even its most disparate elements to settle into an enveloping aural harmony.
In honor of its 40th anniversary, and in acknowledgment of the album’s deep roots, I put together a playlist of songs that inspired Simon to create “Graceland.” It features South African artists like the accordionist Johnson Mkhalali and the Afro-fusion group Stimela, along with tracks from Los Lobos, Clifton Chenier and a few outtakes from the “Graceland” sessions. Whether you’re new to “Graceland” or have listened thousands of times, I hope the playlist inspires you to hear this 40-year-old album with fresh ears.
I was having this discussion in a taxi heading downtown,
Lindsay
1. Johnson Mkhalali: “Sunshine Boots”
In the summer of 1984, Paul Simon often drove between New York City and Montauk, where he was building a beach house. His preferred soundtrack for many of these long solo drives was a bootleg tape of South African music that had been lent to him by the singer-songwriter Heidi Berg. The early inspiration for what would become “Graceland” was kindled during those trips, as Simon became entranced by the bright sound and buoyant grooves of mbaqanga, a style that originated in segregated South Africa’s Black townships. Though the precise track list of the bootleg, titled “Gumboots Accordion Jive Volume II,” is difficult to pin down, Kahn suggests that it included this instrumental tune by Johnson Mkhalali, which was also featured on the second volume of the influential Afropop compilation “The Indestructible Beat of Soweto.”
▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
2. Paul Simon: “Gumboots (with the Boyoyo Boys)”
In February 1985, Simon traveled to Johannesburg to jam with some of the South African musicians he had been listening to, in hopes that the sessions would generate material for his next album. One of the groups he played with there was the Boyoyo Boys — including their accordionist Johnson Mkhalali. Together they worked on the instrumental of what would become the fourth track on “Graceland,” named for Simon’s cherished bootleg tape, which itself had been named after the thick rubber boots that local gold miners wore when they were working.
▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
3. The Boyoyo Boys: “Puleng”
The Boyoyo Boys were past their prime when they got the call to play with Simon, but they reunited for the occasion. Here’s a 1975 single that captures them closer to the peak of their popularity, and which highlights the connection that Simon heard between them and the doo-wop vocal groups that he loved in his youth.
▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
4. Stimela: “Mama Wami”
While in Johannesburg, Simon started playing with the accomplished guitarist Ray Phiri, who was then a member of the popular South African group Stimela but would become a core member of Simon’s regular “Graceland” band. Phiri was more directly influenced by American music than were the other musicians Simon met there (Phiri had previously been in a pioneering local soul outfit called the Cannibals), but as you can hear on this title track from Stimela’s 1982 album “Mama Wami,” his playing also had the bright, weightless quality that had drawn Simon to the South African sound.
▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
5. Paul Simon: “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes (Alternate Unreleased Version)”
This sparse alternate version of “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes,” first released on the 25th anniversary deluxe edition of “Graceland,” places the spotlight squarely on the “Graceland” band’s bassist, Bakithi Kumalo, whose nimble, gummy work on a fretless bass is crucial to the album’s distinct sound. Fun fact: Kumalo recorded the iconic slap bass solo from “You Can Call Me Al” on his birthday.
▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
6. Ladysmith Black Mambazo: “Nxa Ebizwa Amagama”
Simon first started listening to tapes of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the 10-piece South African choir led by Joseph Shabalala, while on a 1983 Simon & Garfunkel tour of Australia. Their richly resonant sound would be featured, quite memorably, on two “Graceland” tracks, the stirring a cappella number “Homeless” and the upbeat “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes.”
▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
7. Clifton Chenier: “Accordion Boogie”
Though “Graceland” is most often associated with its South African collaborations, the album also draws from Simon’s fascination with zydeco, the bluesy, accordion-heavy sound developed in southwest Louisiana. Kahn suggests that Simon’s interest in zydeco was first sparked by Arhoolie Records’ late-60s compilations of music by the zydeco pioneer Clifton Chenier. “Simon came to know and love the music,” he writes, “and even used the name of Chenier’s drummer — Robert St. Judy — to help title a song on his 1973 album, “There Goes Rhymin’ Simon.” He called it “St. Judy’s Comet.”
▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
8. Los Lobos: “Our Last Night”
The East Los Angeles Chicano rock group Los Lobos was riding high on the critical and commercial success of its 1984 major label debut “How Will the Wolf Survive?” when Simon — especially intrigued by the band’s forays into zydeco — invited them to jam on a session for “Graceland.” Though they were given a featured credit on the album’s closing track, “All Around the World or the Myth of Fingerprints,” the fact that they were not credited as songwriters has long rankled some members of the band, who have publicly questioned whether Simon’s approach to collaboration was as egalitarian as he made it seem.
▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
9. General M.D. Shirinda & the Gaza Sisters: “Ganga Engelina”
A collaborator who did receive songwriting credit on a “Graceland” track was General M.D. Shirinda, whose distinct take on traditional Shangaan music — along with the unmistakable vocals of his backing group, the Gaza Sisters — can be heard on “I Know What I Know,” an interpolation of his 1984 recording “Nkata Mina.”
▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
10. Paul Simon: “You Can Call Me Al (Demo)”
Before it had those vivid verse lyrics, that goofy chorus or an MTV staple of a music video starring Simon and Chevy Chase, “You Can Call Me Al” began as a prismatic instrumental groove captured at Johannesburg’s Ovation Studios in early 1985, centered around a riff that Ray Phiri came up with on the spot. This demo version, released on the 25th anniversary edition, captures a pop classic in its most embryonic form, providing another fascinating chapter in the “Graceland” origin story.
▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
The Amplifier Playlist
“The Origins of Paul Simon’s ‘Graceland’” track list
Track 1: Johnson Mkhalali, “Sunshine Boots”
Track 2: Paul Simon, “Gumboots (with the Boyoyo Boys)”
Track 3: The Boyoyo Boys, “Puleng”
Track 4: Stimela, “Mama Wami”
Track 5: Paul Simon, “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes (Unreleased Alternate Version)”
Track 6: Ladysmith Black Mambazo, “Nxa Ebizwa Amagama”
Track 7: Clifton Chenier, “Accordion Boogie”
Track 8: Los Lobos, “Our Last Night”
Track 9: General M.D. Shirinda & the Gaza Sisters, “Ganga Engelina”
Track 10: Paul Simon, “You Can Call Me Al (Demo)”
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