A seasoned songwriter asks religious questions

Seven Psalms

Paul Simon
Owl Records and Legacy
Recordings, 2023.

In the age of music streaming services, listening to an entire album is becoming less common. Albums are structured around singles that will garner as much attention and radio play as possible or risk being forgotten. Paul Simon’s most recent album is the antithesis of such an approach. As noted on his official website, “Seven Psalms is intended to be listened to as one continuous piece. The 33-minute, seven-movement composition transcends the concept of the ‘album.’”

The ideas and emotions of each track on Seven Psalms are meant to influence the interpretation of all the others. The album tracklist artwork depicts each psalm as a golden dot with ripples emanating outward and intersecting with the ripples from the adjacent dots.

In interviews, Simon has claimed that he is not religious, but the album is thick with religious language and allusions to biblical imagery. This would suggest that while Simon himself does not claim religious affiliation, as a seasoned songwriter he knows that much of his audience at the very least has a cultural connection to Judeo-Christian culture and has chosen to communicate with and unsettle them in language that they assume to be religious and familiar. Whether all the references are as biblical as they seem at first could be up for debate.

The album’s first psalm, “The Lord,” is an immediate reference to the name or label used for God throughout the Bible. Much of this song is a listing of metaphors for God or a higher power, but whether these metaphors clarify the nature of God or are being used to shape an idea of what a generic higher power might be is uncertain. Most of the metaphors used here have positive connotations suggesting a guiding presence that involved and somewhat in control of the singer’s experience and existence. But there is a distinct shift into the ominous in the final stanza where Simon sings, “The Covid virus is the Lord/ The Lord is the ocean rising/ The Lord is a terrible swift sword/ A simple truth surviving.” And yet it seems the higher power Simon is describing is anything but simple.

Sonically this first track sets a mystical tone for the album with the presence of various gongs and shimmering cymbals surrounding Simon’s vocals and guitars in the mix in a way that makes the sound feel spare and reflective. The other tracks on Seven Psalms vary in feel but both the unity and mystical sonic quality of the album are maintained by repeating portions of “The Lord” after the third and sixth psalms.

‘Mending what is torn’

The second psalm, “Love is Like a Braid,” alludes to Ecclesiastes 4:12, in which the teacher states that “a cord of three strands is not easily broken.” This passage has been classically interpreted to refer to a committed loving relationship where God is integrally involved. Simon uses this idea to reflect on both the painful and the joyous aspects of love, as well as the confusion that can result from wondering if and how we are loved and how God is incorporated into our understanding of these things. What Simon seems to conclude is that, in the end, love is about seeking healing in our relationships and ourselves. “The garden keeps a rose and a thorn/ And once the choice is made/ All that’s left is/ Mending what is torn/ Love is like a braid.”

The album’s third psalm, “My Professional Opinion,” is easily its most political. In it, Simon reflects on the outrage culture present in the increasingly divided political and social culture of the United States and beyond. Simon personifies the dominant feeling in this divide as “Mr. Indignation” who he tells to “Go back to bed and turn off your light.” This psalm argues that we need to give up our grievances and slights and focus on what really matters because we are all equally to blame for the mess. In the final stanza, he says what he believes should unite us across the divide. “All that really matters/ Is the one who became us/ Anointed and gamed us/ With his opinions.” This stanza is immediately followed by a repeated portion of “The Lord” and I cannot help but wonder if Simon is actually referring to Jesus.

Amends

The first reprise of “The Lord” is followed by “Your Forgiveness.” The ambiguity of the title allows one to ask whether the listener is being encouraged to seek to be forgiven or whether the act of forgiving is more important. This is held in tension with a very real search for forgiveness and a wondering what forgiveness means while suggesting that “God’s Imagination” may be required to truly forgive as he forgave us.

The shortest of the psalms is the fifth track, “Trail of Volcanos,” which wonders about the possibility of forgiveness for both those seeking to receive it and those wishing to give it. The volcanos of the title seem to represent the destruction that exists in the damage humans have done to each other in places where people had come to meet and journey together. “The pity is/ The damage that’s done/ Leaves little time/ For amends.”

For the last two psalms – “The Sacred Harp” and “Wait” – Simon is joined on vocals by his wife, Edie Brickell, whose voice adds gentle contrasting stanzas and harmonies to the sonic texture. “The Sacred Harp” recounts an encounter with hitchhikers forced to leave the intolerance of their hometown and shares themes with the other psalms about migratory and refugee experiences.

“Wait” is a recognition of impending mortality. Simon sings “I’m not ready/ I’m just packing my gear” and other stanzas of reluctance and Brickell responds with a refrain that emphasizes the fleeting nature of life (“Life is a meteor”) and the irresistible pull of heaven and death (“Heaven is beautiful/ It’s almost like home/ Children! Get ready/ It’s time to come home.”) And with that and a simple “Amen,” the migration of the Seven Psalms ends.

For people of faith navigating today’s fractious culture, Simon raises thoughtful questions about how love and forgiveness relate to seeking good lives amid the difficulties of our journeys.