One of his most popular singles, "50 Ways" was released in December 1975 and began to see chart success in the new year. It became Simon's sole number-one hit as a solo artist on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States and was his highest charting song in France, where it peaked at number two. Elsewhere, the song was a top 20 hit in Canada and New Zealand. The single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting sales of more than one million copies.
An edit of the song that cuts out a few seconds of the intro is included on The Paul Simon Collection: On My Way, Don't Know Where I'm Goin'[2]
Background
Following Simon's divorce from his first wife Peggy Harper, Simon opted to take a more humorous approach to document the event.[3] He recorded the song at A&R Recording on 48th Street in New York City,[4] a small studio "in the heart of Broadway's theater district, and built the song around percussion—"martial drums" in particular—in order to "avoid clutter".[5] Simon described the song as "just a fluke hit that I slipped into by accident."[1]
In 2023, Simon appeared on The Howard Stern Show and stated that the he wrote the chorus lyrics while teaching his son Harper how to rhyme.[6]
Steve Gadd recalled that the drumbeat for "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" was originally uniform across the verses and choruses, although both Simon and Phil Ramone asked Gadd to rework the verses with a different groove at A&R Recording. In-between takes, Gadd was quietly practicing drum patterns by placing particular emphasis on the hi-hat cymbal. Ramone overheard Gadd practicing and asked him to incorporate these ideas into the verses, which was ultimately retained in the final mix.[4]
Although the song is called "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover", the song only references five unique methods.[7]
Critical reception
Contemporary reviews of "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" were positive, with Billboard called it an "excellent song" that has "very clever lyrics" and an "easy to listen to melody."[8]Cash Box said that it is "a clever, commercial song about the elasticity of love, how easy it is to pull away and equally easy to snap back with it."[9]Record World said that the song "finds Simon aided by a crack team of session men and the unmistakable vocals of Phoebe Snow."[10][11]
Entertainment Weekly thought that Simon "reached a conversational, graceful peak on '50 Ways to Leave Your Lover'".[12]Spin was more critical of the song and listed it as one of the "50 Worst Songs By Otherwise Great Artists".[13]
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Still Crazy After All These Years.[14]
"50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" was Paul Simon's biggest solo hit and broke in the US in late 1975. It entered the US Billboard Hot 100 on December 20, 1975 at number 74 and peaked at number one on February 7, 1976. The song remained at the summit for three weeks and became his only number one on that chart as a solo act.[1] It also topped the adult contemporary chart for two weeks.[15] Overseas, on the UK Singles Chart, the song reached number 23 in January 1976. It was certified gold on March 11, 1976, and remained a best seller for nearly five months. Billboard ranked it as the No. 8 song of 1976.[16]
