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Paul Simon: “Some Simon & Garfunkel songs feel old and dated”

The songwriter catches up with CBS News to show off some of the guitars in his collection.

Paul Simon

Credit: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images

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Paul Simon has revealed his thoughts about Simon & Garfunkel‘s catalogue, noting that while some tracks are still good to play, some do feel “dated”.

In an interview with Anthony Mason for CBS News, the 81-year-old guitarist and singer displays some of his most iconic guitars, from his first ever Stadium Acoustic costing just $60 to the guitar he wrote all of the Simon and Garfunkel classics from Cecilia to Bridge Over Troubled Water on, his Guild F-30 Special.

But despite the iconic nature of some of the duo’s tracks, he admits some of them “feel old and dated”

“Some of them feel old and new, and some of them feel old and dated,” he says. “I don’t sing I Am A Rock, although I just saw it in the crossword puzzle the other day.”

“How did that feel by the way?” asks Mason.

“Good,” he replies. “It’s nice to know that you made it into the culture enough to be in a cross word puzzle!”

“Some of the songs that are old, they’re still good,” he continues, before launching into a rendition of The Boxer.

In more Paul Simon news, the guitarist revealed that he began losing hearing in his left ear, after the making of his latest record Seven Psalms.

Simon, who recently released his 15th studio album, told The Times that the mysterious hearing loss has left him questioning if he’d ever tour again.

“Quite suddenly, I lost most of the hearing in my left ear, and nobody has an explanation for it,” he said. “So everything became more difficult.”

The musician explained that the loss had left him more frustrated and annoyed than angry at first “because I thought it would pass, it would repair itself.” Simon’s condition, however, has not improved, which could mean that he’d have to give up performing live as time goes by.

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