Paul Simon might be responsible for writing some of music’s most revered songs, but as he’s revealed previously, he’s progressively becoming unable to hear them.
Last year, Simon explained to British paper The Times that he began to experience hearing loss in his left ear while recording his 2023 song cycle, Seven Psalms. “Quite suddenly, I lost most of the hearing in my left ear, and nobody has an explanation for it,” he explained. “So everything became more difficult.”
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Now in a new interview with CBS Mornings, Simon spoke to reporter Anthony Mason about his journey with hearing loss and his search for ways to manage it.
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“It was incredibly frustrating. I was very angry at first that this had happened,” Simon admitted, noting his greatest fear is the possibility or no longer writing or composing. “I guess what I’m most apprehensive about would be if I can’t hear well enough to really enjoy the act of making music,” he added.
Though Simon wrapped up his final tour in 2018, he’s still making sporadic appearances here and there. Most recently, he performed a surprise set at New York City’s Irish Arts Centre, and weeks prior, he performed for The SoHo Sessions as part of a fundraiser for the Stanford Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss
“I’m going through my repertoire and reducing a lot of the choices that I make to acoustic versions. It’s all much quieter,” he explained. “It’s not ‘You Can Call Me Al.’ That’s gone. I can’t do that one.”
As part of his CBS Mornings interview, Simon visited with the Stanford Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss at their Palo Alto, California facilities, discussing how the likes of zebrafish, mice, and other animals are a point of focus for research. While zebrafish have had hearing benefits thanks to a drug which been approved by the FDA, mice are being used as part of gene therapy in an effort to regenerate damaged hair cells.
Per Simon’s own admission though, he tells CBS that his desire to create hasn’t been affected despite his ability to perfectly hear the fruits of his labor.
“You know Matisse, when he was suffering at the end of his life, when he was in bed, he envisioned all these cut-outs and had a great creative period,” he noted. “So I don’t think creativity stops with disability. So far, I haven’t experienced that. And I hope not to.”