Paul Simon: Paradise is ours, if we want it

Legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon joins Shad to discuss his more than five-decade music career, which has seen him go from the harmonious melodies of Simon & Garfunkel to his landmark Graceland album and beyond.

The artist continues his organic exploration of sound with his latest album, Stranger to Stranger, which features everything from the electronic beats of Italian EDM artist Clap!Clap! to gospel to Peruvian drums.

But there are also larger issues weighing on his mind these days — like the fate of humankind. 

Wristband, my man, you've got to have a wristband

Simon's lyrics allude to larger themes, like inequality, prejudice and what he sees as an "anger epidemic" across the U.S. He describes a landscape where people are confused, upset, and addicted to the "surge of adrenaline" that comes with getting angry, no matter how self-defeating.  

"The solution to these very difficult problems are not solved from a state of rage," says Simon. "They're solved from a state of a calm."

Against this backdrop, he sees people being pushed onto the margins. People who, like the musician refused entry to his own show in the song Wristband, are flatly denied access no matter what they do. 

Still, the musician has a lot of hope for the future. Quoting the biologist E.O. Wilson, Simon muses about humankind turning it all around and bringing the planet to a better place — for our own sake as a species. 

"If we were all gone, would some otter say, 'oh what a bummer, I don't even want to build a dam because those humans are not here'? No, everything would be balanced out," says Simon. 

"It's our job as the most conscious of the species to made Ed Wilson's dream come true, and make this planet paradise."