Paul Simon visited CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Thursday, June 19, on a day off from his current tour, dubbed “A Quiet Celebration.” The 83-year-old folk-rock legend took part in a wide-ranging interview with host Stephen Colbert, and also performed a song called “The Sacred Harp” from his latest album, Seven Psalms, with his wife, Edie Brickell.
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“A Quiet Celebration” marked Simon’s return to touring for the first time since his so-called farewell trek in 2018. Since 2018, the singer/songwriter experienced severe hearing loss in his left ear while recording Seven Psalms, and he initially didn’t feel he’d be able to perform live comfortably again because of it. He explained to Colbert that, happily, he and his sound man came up with a speaker setup that allowed him to hear himself adequately on stage, paving the way for him to tour again.
Simon was asked how it’s been going for him, performing again with the new setup and with his hearing issues.
“Well, the first night, I was actually nervous,” he admitted. “I never get nervous about performing, ’cause I’ve been doing it [professionally] since I’m 16 … but I was nervous that night, because I didn’t know what would happen in a theater. You know, I’d rehearsed in a little studio, but in a theater … it was an unusual feeling. … And the show was really pretty good for just the beginning, you know. It’s much improved as we keep playing.”
Simon on His Recent Songwriting
Simon’s “A Quiet Celebration” shows begin with a complete performance of Seven Psalms that’s followed by a selection of earlier solo tunes and Simon & Garfunkel songs. Seven Psalms, which was released in 2023, is actually one long piece broken into seven movements. The concept for the album came to him in a dream.
Meanwhile, Colbert asked Simon if he’d written anything new since releasing Seven Psalms.
“Yeah, I’ve written two songs. That’s all,” Paul revealed. He then noted that his hearing loss has made it more difficult for him to write new material.
“I used to write by playing guitar, and the overtones of the guitar would create some kind of space where it allowed my imagination to go wherever it was inclined to go,” he explained. “But now, the sound of the guitar is … not the same. I can perform with it, but it’s not the same.”
Simon’s most recent song is the blues-influenced track “Bad Dream,” a duet with Brickell that was released in October 2024.
Simon Reflected on What He Thinks Will Be His Most Enduring Song
While talking about the “A Quiet Celebration” concert, Colbert asked Simon what the oldest song in the set. Paul revealed that it’s his chart-topping 1965 Simon & Garfunkel hit “The Sound of Silence.”
Simon then noted, “I think if any of my songs have a chance of … lasting 100 years, I think it may be that one.”
To illustrate the wide-ranging popularity of the tune, Paul shared two stories.
Firstly, Simon said, “I was looking on YouTube to hear some Andean flutes, you know, pan pipe flutes, for something that I thought about in the [current] show … and while I was looking for it, there was a a Native American, he was just by himself and he was wearing a headdress, and he was playing ‘The Sound of Silence.’”
He then recalled an encounter he had during the early 1980s while on a trip down the Amazon River.
“[W]e stopped at a little village,” Simon remembered. “It didn’t have any roads. It had 12 or 14 huts, thatched huts. And … in one of the little houses, this girl was playing a nylon-string guitar and looking at a book.”
Looking to bond with the girl, Paul, through a translator, told her he knew a Peruvian song. He proceeded to play “El Condor Pasa,” which he and Art Garfunkel recorded for their 1970 album Bridge over Troubled Water.
“And she said, ‘Oh, I know that song,’” Simon continued. “She said, ‘I know an American song.’ I said, ‘Okay, play it.’ And she played ‘The Sound of Silence.’”
Simon’s Performance with Edie Brickell
At the ends of the episode, Simon returned to the stage with his touring band and Brickell for a performance of the gentle and meditative “The Sacred Harp.” You can check out the performance at The Late Show’s YouTube channel.
Simon’s Upcoming Tour Plans
Simon currently in the middle of a five-night engagement at the Beacon Theatre in New York. His next show takes place on June 20. The “A Quiet Celebration” tour runs through an August 3 concert in Seattle.
Visit PaulSimon.com for his full itinerary.
(Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/©2025 CBS Broadcasting Inc.)
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