Song Of The Day 11/11/2013: Jens Lekman - "You Can Call Me Al"

Quarterly Covers Report: I first saw Jens Lekman handle Paul Simon's '86 hit at Emo's in Austin during South By Southwest in 2008. Lekman said he loved the verses to "You Can Call Me Al," but thought the chorus was unbearably stupid. I never really honed in on the chorus before, primarily because finding anything close to a followable narrative strain on Simon's Graceland album is a circular exercise at best. The whole album's an existential landslide, creeping in clods of mud towards a Malibu coastline that's utterly unthreatened by it. Which to my mind equals at least a very good album, so good on you Paul. Lekman however is not missing anything by omitting the chorus. It's like the guy who redid those Garfield comic strips and removed the cat out of the panels completely. It's always worth leaving you enough rope to hang Al.