I Am A Rock

This song is about a recluse locking himself away from the world. When he says, "I am a rock, I am an island," he means away from everything and everyone. It's far from autobiographical, as Paul Simon was doing his best to write a hit song with this effort, and didn't write it for himself. The use of the word "Rock" is interesting in that Simon considered himself a Folk singer, and didn't associate himself with Rock music. In the vast majority of songs with the word "rock" in the lyrics, it is used to imply music or lifestyle, but for Simon, it was just a piece of stone. He did the same thing in 1973 for his song "Loves Me Like A Rock."

This song has one of more perplexing histories of recordings and releases. Written by Paul Simon before he hit it big as a musician, the song was offered to the duo Chad and Jeremy, who turned it down. Simon then recorded it himself for his UK solo album (released in America 1981) The Paul Simon Songbook, which was released in the UK in August, 1965. The single was issued in September but didn't chart despite a performance by Simon on the show Ready, Steady. Go!

Simon was going solo at this time because the Simon & Garfunkel 1964 debut album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. had stiffed, and the duo split up. Late in 1965, the producer Tom Wilson overdubbed and remixed a track from that album, "The Sound Of Silence," and it became a huge hit. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were summoned back to the studio, where they recorded the singles "I Am A Rock" and "Homeward Bound," which were included on their Sound of Silence album. These songs were recorded with producer Bob Johnston at one of the Columbia Records studios in New York City, and now released with a more contemporary sound, "I Am A Rock" became a hit for the duo.

In the UK, this was released three times in a one year span: first as the original Paul Simon single in 1965, then in the summer of 1966 it was released as an EP and again as a single. The song was very popular there in 1966, but the chart position suffered because the sales of the single were diluted by multiple releases.

The guitarist on the Simon & Garfunkel hit version of this song was Ralph Casale, who was a top session player in the '60s. He remembers organist Al Kooper and drummer Bobby Gregg - both associated with Bob Dylan - also performing on the song. Describing the sessions, Ralph told us: "The band was booked from 7:00 p.m. into the wee hours of the morning. I was given a lead sheet for 'I Am A Rock' with just chords and asked to play the electric twelve string guitar. The producer wanted a sound similar to the Byrds. It was important that session players became familiar with the current hits because many times producers describe the style they want by referring to well known groups. Paul Simon sang the figure he wanted me to play between verses and asked me to play it in thirds. The rest was left to me. 'Homeward Bound' was on that same date."