Paul Simon and Rhiannon Giddens “American Tune” Live at Newport Folk Festival, July 23, 2022
Вставка
- Опубліковано 23 лип 2022
- Paul Simon and Rhiannon Giddens “American Tune” Live at Newport Folk Festival, July 23, 2022.
If you love music and you love community, please consider attending the Newport Folk Festival in person. For further questions about the Newport Folk Festival and the Newport Folk Festival Foundation and how you might help support their mission, please contact them at info@newportfestivals.org.
#newportfolkfestival
OMG. She sang that like it was a prayer. That song now has even more weight. Stunning. She is a treasure. He is a genius and has meant so much to so many of us down through the decades.
💚
Plus, for her I think the one verse was modified.
"We didn't come here on the Mayflower
We came on a ship in a blood red moon.
We come in the age's most uncertain hours
And sing an American tune."
@@bilbobaggins5704 You are correct! She just tweeted out that Paul modified the lyric. "It's also very important to say that Paul changed the lyrics, not me - and this song has become one that is so dear to my heart for its ability to say what I have been feeling for a long time."
@@adams565 Well, we've all been there, some far more than others. It also seems that we've been led to focus on the wrong and we often miss the good. As for the issue about the altered Mayflower verse. Some people came here early on to create their own dream, many people were already here, many people's ancestors came here to escape persecution and poverty about 100 years ago but some people's ancestors were brought here well before that to be persecuted and we should respect each and every person's contributions to our American tapestry. The mix of cultures is what makes us rather unique.
The tune seems similar to a Bach melody from some religious piece.
Music like this Will heal America,such a beautiful country should not be divided on so many issues
American's deserve to be happy healthy and free, many have forgotten that
From your lips to God's ear.
Mr. Simon recorded this song in 1972, 50 years ago (it was released in 1973). He could have written it last week. Ms. Giddens performs it perfectly, but she always does.
Oh my goodness, that was very deep. Powerful lyric change; "we didn't come here on the Mayflower, we came on a ship in a blood red moon"
She posted that it was Paul's change, not hers.
@@PatWashburn wow!
Yahtzee. All takes to understand how brilliant this song is is to be a human being. However, my guess is that only folks who are both musicians & "of a certain age" will pick up on that lyric change. Great stuff...
@@ForcesInMotion people looking to hate on her will pick up on it.
@@PatWashburn because Paul listens, he learns, he grows, he knows, and he cares.
That song is one of Paul Simon's most exquisite. A wonderful collaboration.
Agreed
And JS Bach
@@taddyd1 And Hans Leo Hassler, from whom Bach picked it up!!!
@@BernardGreenberg Who said "good artists borrow, great artists steal"?
@@hank1519 Bach didn't "steal" "Hassler's tune". Composers setting hymn-tunes previously written was, and continues to be, standard practice (except now for copyright-protected hymn tunes now). It was not considered "stealing", "borrowing", or "lack of originality", but what everyone expected, because everyone knew the hymn tunes.
Paul Simon is the master of gravitas. And she is the embodiment of the wisdom and grace and strength of the Statue of Liberty. Feel like I"m back in the sixties when music was meant to deeply inspire and move people, as this song did. Let it rise again!
Was 15 years old when Paul Simon wrote this song. 65 now and listening to Paul Simon and Rhiannon Giddens with tears in my eyes. "American Tune" was always a great song for me, but this collaboration brought new life to it. The lyric changes have been noted here before. But it is Rhiannon Giddens who shows to the huge crowd that she is an extraordinary artist.
I was lucky enough to have seen her here in Europe 2 years ago and follow all of her musical adventures. So if you don't know her yet: There's a lot of material here and elsewhere!
- Thank you so much for filming and uploading this beautiful performance!
I am far away from Newport, but thankful to the tech that allows me to get stuff like this. I stumbled on Rhiannon Giddens by chance and had her paired with Paul Simon in a fantasy gig. And now it is a fantasy no more! So lovely! *Thanks to Amy for the upload!!!
I'm with you. ( same age and history with this song....) I've never been able to hear this song without weeping. It's just so beautiful.
Lucky enough to be from NC and to have followed her career. She's magic, and with Paul Simon? Just beyond. Beyond.
@@JenniField She's had an interesting musical journey. I vaguely know the Chapel Hill & 'boro area. Seemed a concentration of creative and other interesting people. Anyway, let's all share the joy of this wonderfully poignant song, and the adapted lyrics!
Carolina Chocolate Drops! 👍
RG is a national treasure mastering any American genre she chooses. Two amazing musicians right there.
You know she lives in Ireland, right ?
She's not that great, lol.
I think when Paul Simon is introducing you, you have reached another level.
Rhiannon Giddeon
Wan of our own..
Greetings from Dublin Ireland 🇮🇪
Loved the change of lyrics dug the Mayflower reference 👌she is sublime slick clever too...
Dropped the old truth bomb via American Tune
That young fellow in blue 💙 is pretty good too respect 82 and gracious 👌 🙌 too....
Wan Love ❤
Thanks Amy...We come in the age's most uncertain hours
And sing an American tune...
Paul changed the lyric. RG explained later it was his change not hers.
"We didn't come here on the Mayflower
We came on a ship in a blood red moon"
My grandparents came in steerage class in the 20th century--and saw the statue of liberty which represented freedom from the oppression they were fleeing.
@@roxannenelson9329 Yep, it's a completely different perspective, depending on which ship you came on.
Thanks very much for the lyrics in print.
Paul changed the lyric not RG
@@roxannenelson9329 - the same for my grand parents!
Thank you, Amy. I'm a 73 year old man brought to tears.
This is great. we have Bach, Paul Simon and Rhiannon all at the same time. Beat that.
Sometimes it's so sweet to be old! I am grateful to be 62 and to have such wonderful talents to grow up with and learn from.
You are not old!
To be in the presence of genius is a rare and beautiful thing. Blessed be.
Indeed!
Two geniuses.
So good! Rhiannon glows when she sings. What an angel
YES X 1,000%
@@melgloberman3292 I see her as showing us what we all should aspire to be.
I was just thinking about her special glow, she needs no makeup or pretentious (is that a word) she's honestly a gift from above singer/ musician
She did a wonderful job, I was transfixed.
Overwhelmed with emotion and tears; two stunning talents, from different eras; her passion and ability/willingness to share vulnerability, and Simon, approaching 82 and missing very few, if any, licks either on the guitar or in his performance.
Agree. She was so nervous early on understandably lol. This is Paul Simon here. Haha. And in her defense, I bet they didn't rehearse much was part of why she was a little off in the beginning getting started. What a treat this was for him to be there. Wow! :)
So well-written 🙏❤️
@@Music4mee1 the tech guys didn’t put a mic in front of her during the change over…so at the end of the intro she looks up and realises she has no mic to sing in…😬
This is very moving… An epic song, two wonderful performers, a critical time in American history. I’m wondering why the sound is so poor?Was the sound bad at the Festival? The recordings/videos we have from 50 years ago sound better than this. Is it because this was recorded on the phone?
It seemed like some performers were having a hard time hearing themselves. I don’t know about her, though. At any rate, I just … I can’t get over this. Just unbelievably great. She just owns it.
the song itself. the singer. all of the ways this is so meaningful. but also, doesn't she look just insanely beautiful?
Always.
She is so beautiful.
A natural beauty!
Guitar guy is pretty good too.
Ya he ain't bad. :)
Yeah, he was pretty okay. 🤣
😁
It' ll do.
Simply gorgeous. Wish I could have been there. Two of America's best... ever.
Rhiannon Giddens shining like a National guitar. 🥰
Well said!
I wish I thought this song would be healing. Rather, it seems like a cry of despair. Why do elements of the crowd whoop at the saddest parts of the song? Those people aren’t looking for healing, they’re out for blood. No matter, great performance.
@@jimgordon6629 I think they're cheering when she hits particularly great notes.
Oh yeah... nicely put.
EXACTLY
Ms. Giddens with Paul Simon, This is a spiritual song, beautifully performed!
The lyric change....chills.
It was a change by Paul… per RG
I've listened to this half a dozen times already and it still gives me chills. I truly think this is the definitive performance of this song for me. Paul's words take on so much new power in Rhiannon's voice.
Yep
And now we see the reason she earned that American genius grant
This is such an appropriate song for today. I cried through the whole thing. Rhiannon's beautiful voice and personal touch just sent me over the edge.
I was crying too….
Same, and i was standing there watching and listening. It was perfect and gave me hope.
Im glad IM NOT THE ONLY one crying...what a gift this was.
She is perfection! Interestingly, Paul Simon's "American Tune" is adapted from a German love song composed by Hans Leo Hassler in 1601. It was incorporated later into Bach's Saint Matthew Passion chorale and is often heard in Lenten church services as "O Sacred Head Now Wounded" -- the same beautiful tune. GOOD MUSIC HOLDS UP, and good musicians (like Simon & Rhiannon) help keep it alive 400 years later.
I really like the melody of hymn, "O Sacred Head". Although I am a guitar player, I learned to play the hymn's melody on diatonic harmonica. Playing solo harmonica without any guitar or piano accompaniment, the melody takes a different sounding modal quality in first half of verse. The second half sounds more major, but then doesn't end as you would expect. It's a wonderful melody.
Hello Linda, I never knew that, but I always felt American Tune had something "motet like" or "cantate like", almost something spiritual. Thanks for the info! I'm from Belgium, I have a German song in my repertoire, "Die Gedanken Sind Frei"
@@tishierkrisis It is, technically, a Lied. It then became a chorale tune when sung in the church. It can have a major key final cadence (ending), a Phrygian cadence, etc.
YES! I knew I recognized the melody all these years I'm 62 and wow Thanks!
This is his best....lyrics but I think she did change the Mayflower line.
@@tishierkrisis Read the translation; interesting that the desire for freedom runs through the lyrics of both. And then there's this from Hassler: ua-cam.com/video/bO_ZiRJUStE/v-deo.html
Rhiannon Giddens is simply spectacular and she got PaulSimon’s permission to rewrite the words “We didn’t come here on the Mayflower, We came on ships in a blood red moon.”
❤
Lovely adjustment
I'm glad she's getting this exposure. She deserves it. An amazing traditionalist/multi instrumentalist/vocalist....
What a beautiful soul and stunning rendition of this song. She was one of the true Stars at Newport. She also sang at the Kennedy Center Honors for Joan Baez and was the best, most heartfelt of them all....Rhiannon is a huge star and will shine brighter.
Two incredible artists. Paul Simon is my songwriter “home. She is exquisite, musically, visually and vocally.
This song with that voice just hits different these days. Amazing and thank you so much for posting this.
amazing, I had an emotional response (which is rare these days)
America's best....Paul
Great to see Paul just digging the tune and his guitar playing here is off the chart, he's the whole band. Not to forget the sublime vocals.
Forever blessed
I saw her sing this last night. She explained, Paul Simon had asked her to change the lyrics. Just exquisite. I was wiping away tears.
WONDERFUL!
I’ve always loved this song- her lyric change made it a new thing again.
It was Paul’s lyric change. She explained it was his not hers.
@@twittertwice good to know, Thank You
A magnificent piece .... way back in 1975, a very young Paul Simon solo'd this on the new and feisty SNL. Today, as many fear for our country's very future, this song evokes such powerful emotion. And tears.
This is one of my favorite songs ever. It's so poignant, especially now, with so many of us losing our rights. What a sad but important image of the Statue of Liberty, sailing away to sea.......
Such a beautiful song. I don’t know anybody, punks, goths, grunge, who don’t like Paul Simon’s music. It will last forever. I feel so lucky being there when I heard them for the first time.
Rhiannon Giddens is a national treasure.
Absolutely 1,000%
I grew up listening to Paul and playing/singing his songs. so many, like this one, still resonate in the heart and soul and world, today 🎶
What a honor to have been accompanied by the composer and guitarist of this beautiful American Classic. Did her feet touch the ground leaving the stage?
This song has always moved me but in these times of division and uncertainty, it brings me to tears.
Wonderful performance.
Moved by the passing of the song forward to all time paul Simon moment his gift to the world
Why Paul Simon is a national treasure for giving us humans songs like this to cry and laugh about.
AND she happens to have the most beautiful, loving smile. 😍
Wow. Beautiful adaption. Mayflower or not. We wonder what's gone wrong.
Paul’s change not RG’s
@@twittertwice Very good.
2 American treasures on 1 stage. What an honor.
Rhiannon performed here in Australia a few years ago (pre-covid) and was absolutely sensational. She still is and remains one of my favourite singers. Nice to see her perform with the other legend, Paul Simon. A great treat.
Yeah - we saw her last show in Melbourne before they flew home to Ireland and the world shut down.
Wow ... the change in the lyric at 5:00 ... tears to my eyes. Thank you for this beautiful rendition of this truly inspired piece. Thank you.
Paul changed the lyric, not RG. She noted later, she would not change his lyrics
The change is at 4:40.
Forever relevant 🙏❤️
This was a wonderful Newport moment. Rhiannon is a huge talent and was clearly emotional about the opportunity to sing with Paul Simon. What a great gift for those in attendance. I gotta admit that I shed tears hearing this live at The Fort! Bravo!!!
I love how she was just giddy to be appearing with Paul Simon. She is truly a magnificent world treasure.
she is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen !!!
A very nice Song with a wonderful R.Giddens.
Brought a tear to my old eyes . Love 'em both
....Oh MFG! I am in tears, I know this song and have cried for it over and over, but this version just kicked it over the edge, such emotion I haven't felt in years for something so right on, right on, right on, right on. Love them Chocolate Drops, X 100....
Thats what Rhiannon Giddens does!!!
I came thru the sixties a teen, The Beatles, Stones et al but as an Englishman it was folk music that was my true love The Watersons, High Level Ranters , Vin Garbutt etc. were my playlist and of course the great American and Canadian performers, great to see it can still move people, we need it desperately in todays world, but not the woke cancel culture flooding the media, free speech and discussion please.
Thank you very much for sharing!
I have always felt the song prescient of 9/11 and it always takes me back to that day.
Me too
The change of the mayflower lyric is stunning. And in a post-Dobbs America, hearing that song sung by a woman feels very appropriate. "It's alright, it's alright.... I'm just weary to my bones." Indeed.
Lol what? Grow up, buddy.
@@mbp2059 What are you even doing here?
I agree. While others boast about their mayflower descendants, so refreshing to listen to her
Phenomenal! Everything she touches turns to gold.
Yes, absolutely!
Fifty years ago, as a teenager with a not very well formed musical palate, I sat on a hillside in Newport Rhode Island on the second night of the Newport Jazz Festival and watched, mesmerized, as a woman named Nina Simone sat a piano and played and sang for the next hour. I didn't know Nina Simone and I had never heard music like that before, I described it in a later blog as a deep, resonant soulfulness. Until today I have never heard anyone come close to that same sound. Rhiannon Giddens is a treasure, and her voice, combined with Simon's transcendent music and lyrics, may be the greatest thing I have ever seen on you tube.
Both of these incredible singers are North Carolina born and bred.
I was there too at 16 years old and Nina Simone left a deep impression on me too.
I have carried this sing around for days and days reading about Paul Simon and his life. He is a hero with a heart and mind that we easily give him the appreciation and respect that his school chum battled his own demons of worth of place over… harmony in action over all conquering over all feelings not good enough those demons die and who listens and follows .. flies
@@anniejenkins6406 I will google Nina Simone - I’ve listened to all I could find of Rhiannon Giddens. “Deep in the heart “
@@janelevy8906 I will google Nina Simone and listen thank you for sharing her
J’ai écouté Rhiannon Giddens deux fois en concert, et Paul Simon, plus de 10 fois…la réunion des deux est un pur bonheur.
What a stunning performance ! Thank you Amy for uploading a great video !
Spine-tingling, isn’t it Brenda?🎼❤️
@@AmyKaribian Absolutely Amy! A truly inspiring pereformance.
@@AmyKaribian Rhiannon and Paul performed "American Tune " at the Grammy Tribute to Paul in April. It is going to be televised later this year . So looking forward to hearing it .
@@brenda19ish I did not know that! It will be great to see them do this again. Thanks, Brenda!
Our new American anthem.
Back in action everybody, let only music rule the world fans
That was the best I've heard that song sung since when Paul did when he was younger.
Whoa. I’ve been listing to attend the Folk Festival for years. I’m 68. What am I waiting for? This is perfection
Not just one of my favorite Simon and Garfunkel tunes, but one of my favorites of all time. I got chills as soon as she started singing...
So apros pro for these dark times. This amazing music will always keep us fighting for Justice! #noplaceforhate #whoareweamerica
A tacit homage to JS Bach's "O Sacred Head Now Wounded."
I remember singing that in church choir ….
Tune by Hans Leo Hassler. Bach harmonized it.
Thank you for that reminder. Yes!!! Simon and Bach, now that would have been something else! ;)
Who wore it better? :)
YOUR AWESOME. ANGEL PRINCESS YOU ARE!!! 😍🌈😎
Wow she is awesome Paul was good too
Thanks so much for recording and uploading, so those of us who were not there can hear and see this. I'm enjoying it from California
I keep playing this over and over...it hit me deep into my soul! Masters at their craft..both American masters!
what a beautiful person she is.
A brilliant, heartfelt re-interpretation, by two great artists of a familiar, moving and brilliant old favourite. A great American tune indeed!! Bravo to you both !!!
I'm a puddle of goo right now! Just beautiful!!!
She's a goddess.
Newport was amazing this year
Powerful words and a powerful presentation.
Thanks that's wonderful.. 💕
Rhiannon Giddens. I hate that I Missed this. Live. 🌎 ✌💙💜💚👌
Forever song.
OMG! History two Greatest ever.
I totally love her…. So special.
This performance sent chills up my spine. A great collaboration and vocals by Rhiannon Giddons. A song written by a songwriting genius. I doubt many non-Americans would really comprehend what this song is about. So the name of the song is perfect. Amazing that Paul Simon is still performing occasionally.
Not many addled Americans either for that matter.
Heard Rhiannon singing this live last Summer. I am convinced that the two people on stage here are the ones that know that the song truly means.
The songwriter and singer have their own personal emotional investment, which must be true of all great renditions of a great song.
This my first time hearing her - MS. RHIANNON GIDDENS. SHE SINGS OF THE SPIRIT IN HER. SHE GLOWS OF BEAUTY AND GRACE! SING IN YOUR BEAUTY AND CONTINUE TO LIVE YOUR SPIRIT.
MAY GOD BLESS YOU, AS YOU ALLOW HIM TO USE YOUR HEART ❤! WE ARE FAR FROM HOME, MY SISTER-QUEEN!
So many layers of musicality in this performance. Her singing is so sensitive. The banjo she's playing is unique: a fretless five string with nylon strings, played clawhammer or frailing. And Paul Simon's supportive background playing. Wow
I went to every Newport Fold Festival 1964-69. This is one of the greatest songs every sung there. Counting the Dylan and Baez duets
I hope they'll live forever, especially Paul.
I must confess I had never heard of Rhiannon Giddens until 4 months ago. I'm European and not that familiar with the American folk scene. Now I'm impressed by the artist's talent and skill. I didn't even mention the banjo. Now I see it differently. I'm interested in this kind of music now. I've never heard American Tune more beautiful. Rhiannon Giddens is a musician at heart.
I accidentally stumbled into a tent at the Australian Bluesfest when Rhiannon was singing. So grateful as I’m sure I’d probably would never have crossed paths with her beautiful voice and her powerful song writing. Big fan here!
and the tears come... it's alright.
Two of the best ones we have
I have loved this song forever, and I have loved singing it, and singing harmony whenever I heard Paul Simon sing it. But Rhiannon Giddens in my mind now owns that song. And I can't stop crying. So pure. So righteous. What an amazing performance. 🙇🏻♀
Touches me deeply still. I remember singing along with this as a college student in the late '60's. Tears. "We can´t be forever blessed." so true so true.
A beautiful song, beautiful voice…. No need to say anymore.
RG , Greensboro's gift to the world. But we do miss her so much!
Beautiful