Paul Simon gives away free single

Paul Simon has released a new Christmas single titled Getting Ready for Christmas Day. And in the true spirit of Christmas, the song is being given away free.

The single can be downloaded for free from www.paulsimon.com, Paul Simon’s official website.

Getting Ready for Christmas Day is a track from Mr Simon’s forthcoming album So Beautiful or So What, due for release next spring on Hear Music/Concord Music Group.

Mr Simon might seem an unlikely artiste to release a Christmas single, but this is not your usual Christmas song.

Getting Ready for Christmas Day is “pursuing its own seasonal high spirit, riding on a shimmering bluesy acoustic guitar and foot stomping, hand-clapping percussion” according to The Telegraph.

Instead of sleigh bells and choirs, this single has “the ragged charm” of the Simon and Garfunkel hit Cecelia. The single also samples Reverend J.M Gates’s 1941 pre-war speech.

“It’s like a Christmas campfire (or maybe log fire) sing-along, with flowing lyrics that conjure up a working man’s anticipation of holiday release, subtly underpinned with a contemporary political edge” says The Telegraph. With references to Iraq and money worries, the song is probably the most intelligent and topical Christmas song this year. To quote Mr Simon’s lyrics: “I got a nephew in Iraq / It’s his third time back / But its ending up the way it began / With the luck of a beginner / He’ll be eating turkey dinner / On some mountaintop in Pakistan”.

Mr Simon has a long, distinguished musical career that began in the 1960s as half of Simon and Garfunkel. The duo’s best known songs include The Sound of Silence, Mrs Robinson (featured in the film The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman) and Bridge over Troubled Water.

After the 1970 split with Art ­Garfunkel, Mr Simon became a successful solo singer/songwriter, releasing several widely acclaimed albums including There goes Rhymin Simon, Still Grazy After All These Years and Graceland. His hit singles include Mother and Child Reunion, Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard and Loves me Like a Rock.

Mr Simon has won numerous Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice.