"Thank You, Al, and Please Give My Best to Betty"

"Simon, the son of a jazz bass player turned linguist, knew that pop could outgrow its limitations in rhythms, in chords, and, most famously, on the global sphere. He wanted to be as great a melodist as George Gershwin and a better lyricist than Ira. He wanted to battle apartheid while tangling with anti-apartheid activists. One doesn't write 'The Boxer' and then agonize over every detail of its recording without being a pugilist. He broke up his duo at the peak of their success and then had to prove himself all over again, and did that, too."

David Yaffe at Slate reviews Robert Hilburn's Paul Simon: The Life.