The 81-year-old singer also reveals the one song he doesn't want to perform live anymore.
Paul Simon's health has taken a drastic turn in the last few years -- but he's still pushing through. During an interview with The Times, the 81-year-old musician revealed that he recently suffered from unexpected hearing loss that has changed how he approaches his music career.
While recording his latest album, Seven Psalms, Simon noticed the hearing in his left ear was deteriorating.
"Quite suddenly I lost most of the hearing in my left ear, and nobody has an explanation for it," he says in The Times. "So everything became more difficult. My reaction to that was frustration and annoyance; not quite anger yet, because I thought it would pass, it would repair itself."
Simon's hearing has yet to repair itself, and after decades of making music and touring, the music legend says that it could be a good thing, as it allows him to finally step away from performing the songs he doesn't want to anymore.
"The songs of mine that I don’t want to sing live, I don’t sing them," he tells the publication. "Sometimes there are songs that I like and then at a certain point in a tour, I’ll say, 'What the f**k are you doing, Paul?' Quite often that would come during 'You Can Call Me Al.' I’d think, 'What are you doing? You’re like a Paul Simon cover band. You should get off the road, go home.'"
Simon's last tour was 2018's Homeward Bound -- The Farewell Tour. The veteran musician toured North America, the United Kingdom and Europe.
Although he has not toured since, he is still making music though maybe not for long. On Seven Psalms, Simon has a track called "Wait," which unintentionally became a song about the end. Open to interpretation, the song explores the concept of death -- which Simon admits was an accident that caused him to look at his own mortality.
"It’s a spooky thing to be writing something and just be thinking, 'Oh, this is what the song needs,'" Simon says as he begins to cry. "And then it’s, 'By the way, this is about you. You’re actually the subject of this.' It’s just the age we’re at. Gordon Lightfoot just passed away; Jeff Beck too. My generation’s time is up."
However, Simon is not ready to say goodbye just yet. Despite his hearing loss and a rough bout of COVID-19, he's still here.
"Boy, have I been beaten up in these last couple of years,” he says. "But I look good, right?"
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