50 Ways to Leave Your Lover

Last updated
"50 Ways to Leave Your Lover"
PS 50 Ways.jpg
Single by Paul Simon
from the album Still Crazy After All These Years
B-side "Some Folks' Lives Roll Easy"
ReleasedDecember 1975
Genre
Length3:35
Label Columbia
Songwriter(s) Paul Simon
Producer(s)
Paul Simon singles chronology
"Gone at Last"
(1975)
"50 Ways to Leave Your Lover"
(1975)
"Still Crazy After All These Years"
(1976)

"50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was the second single from his fourth studio album, Still Crazy After All These Years (1975), released on Columbia Records. Backing vocals on the single were performed by Patti Austin, Valerie Simpson, and Phoebe Snow. [1] The song features a recognizable repeated drum riff performed by drummer Steve Gadd.

Contents

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 position 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.

Creation

Following Simon's divorce from first wife Peggy Harper, Simon opted to take a more humorous approach to document the event. He recorded the song in a small New York City studio on Broadway and built the song around the drums in order to "avoid clutter". [2]

As with "American Tune" three years earlier, Simon found inspiration in classical music. The melody of the tune is based on "Tit er jeg glad" (Danish: Often I am happy), a 1917 love song by the Danish composer Carl Nielsen. [ citation needed ]

Reception

Billboard called it an "excellent song" that has "very clever lyrics" and an "easy to listen to melody." [3] 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." [4] Record World said that the song "finds Simon aided by a crack team of session men and the unmistakable vocals of Phoebe Snow." [5]

Charts and certifications

"50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" was Paul Simon's biggest solo hit and broke in the US in late 1975. It hit number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 on February 7, 1976 (his only number one on that chart as a solo act), soaring from number ten the previous week, and remained there for three weeks; it topped the adult contemporary chart for two weeks. [6] 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. [7]

Personnel

Legacy

See also

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References

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