One-Trick Pony

by Paul Simon

Piano, guitar, and vocal parts.

95 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Paul Frederic Simon is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter and musician. Simon is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, both as half of the folk-singing duo Simon and Garfunkel and as a solo artist. In 2006, Time magazine called him one of the 100 "people who shape our world." As of 2007, he resides in New Canaan, Connecticut.

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Konrad Crnkovic]

The script for the film that Paul Simon both wrote and starred in. One Trick Pony reveals Simon to be a really fine writer of drama as well as songs. Sadly the film tanked both critically and with audiences. I think they were expecting a full tilt musical with big production numbers when instead it's a nicely written study of a musician, Jonah, with extensive talents who has been hemmed in by the industry into being the titular one trick pony which is brought home sharply in a scene where he appears on a package show singing his one hit Soft Parachutes when he'd obviously rather be showcasing his new, more refined material. The published script nicely includes sheet music for the songs (though neither music nor lyrics appear for Soft Parachutes. I don't know if this is an oversight or for copyright reasons. It's a shame because if a reader has never seen the film there is not the sense that the song is not nearly of the same calibre as the songs that Jonah has come to write.) In interviews Paul Simon has indicated that he looks on this project as being an artistic failure but for me it's one of his strongest pieces of writing. The dialogue is sharp and witty and there's a real earnestness and wistfullness about Jonah coming to grips with the fact that he may be great at what he does but that both his age and the industry he works in are preventing him from ever really being able to really show how great his work is. It's one of the few pieces of writing about music and the music industry that rings true and cuts to the bone. It was a good film and the script is a fantastic read.