The Tallest Man on Earth – Graceland

I usually don’t write about pop music, but I heard a performance (from about a year ago) earlier this week that was particularly exciting for me, so I can’t help but make it the focus of my little entry here….

Paul Simon’s Graceland was the soundtrack to huge chunks of my childhood. It’s a record I’ve always held close to my heart. There can never be a replacement for the driving percussion, bouncing bass, and smooth vocals of the original recording of the song “Graceland,” but The Tallest Man Alive, Swedish singer/multi-instrumentalist Kristian Matsson, performed a really great cover version live at Paste Studios. There’s something about the song simply sung and strummed on acoustic guitar that makes the lyrics about lost love more believable. After hearing Mr. Matsson’s rough, pained, mournful (yet hopeful) voice, which is often aptly compared to a young Bob Dylan, singing “Graceland,” Mr. Simon almost sounds too nonchalant when he sings this song.

As far as the guitar-playing goes, Mr. Matsson retained the song’s original, straight-forward harmony. However, the tuning he employed (something along the lines of CFCFcf with a capo high up on the neck) allows for really interesting voicings of extended chords, particularly the 9th that he sometimes added to the vi toward the end of the verse (i.e. going into the line “as if I never noticed…” at 0:49), and the open sounding V with the 1st string open (the root of the I chord) going into the chorus.

Enjoy this fresh, stripped-down take on a classic song: