I Am a Rock
Encyclopedia
"I Am a Rock" is a song written by Paul Simon
. It was first performed by Simon alone as the opening track on his album The Paul Simon Songbook which he originally recorded and released in August 1965, only in the United Kingdom
. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel
, as the American pop/folk duo Simon and Garfunkel
, re-recorded it on December 14, 1965, and included as the final track on their album Sounds of Silence
, which they released on January 17, 1966.
, which they released on October 19, 1964. The folk-rock nature of the music makes it unlikely that Simon would have written it much earlier than 1963, when he first began experimenting with the folk genre. Some sources say that it was performed by Simon on January 27, 1965, on a promo show for the BBC. In any case, Simon seems to have written the song before the end of January 1965, and certainly had it down before May, when he recorded it.
While Paul Simon was in Europe during the summer of 1965, Tom Wilson, the producer of Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., responded to requests for "The Sound of Silence
" from American radio stations and dubbed an electric guitar
and drum
s onto the original track. He then released the song as a single, whereupon it entered the United States pop charts. When Simon heard about the success of this song, he was still touring in Europe as a poor solo folk singer. He immediately returned to the United States, and in December 1965 he and Garfunkel began a series of hasty recording sessions to match the electric "mold" created by Wilson with many of the other songs that Simon had recorded on the Song Book, including "I Am a Rock," which was re-recorded during these sessions on 14 December 1965. The result was the album Sounds of Silence, which the duo released the following January. "I Am a Rock" was the fifth and closing track on Side 2 of the record. With "The Sound of Silence" (the opening track), it bookends the rest of the material. This album quickly capitalized on the success of the new album's title track as a #1 single, and itself rose to #21 on the Billboard charts.
The duo cashed in quickly on their new-found success. They released "I Am a Rock" as a single in the late spring of 1966, and the song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100
charts, the third single (chronologically) by Simon & Garfunkel to reach the top 5 (after "The Sound of Silence" and "Homeward Bound)
").
This single had two incarnations. First, as a promotion, it was released on red vinyl to radio stations, with a mono mix on one side and a stereo version on the other. These copies are somewhat difficult to locate for collectors. The standard version sold in stores, however, was the black vinyl 45 rpm record with the red Columbia Records
label. The B-side was a version of "Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall," which was later released on Simon & Garfunkel's even-more-successful (and critically acclaimed) album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
. The single mix of the song features a more prominent lead vocal track (and different phrasing in the opening lines) by Paul Simon, and less reverb, than the more common LP version.
Until 1981, the initial official recording of "I Am a Rock" on The Paul Simon Song Book remained unavailable in North America. This was partly because Simon himself disdained the album, saying on the album's liner notes,
As a result, the Song Book album was only made available in North America when it was released as part of the box set of albums Paul Simon: Collected Works. The album was not released on CD until March 23, 2004. When it was, Columbia Legacy included two bonus tracks, one of which was an alternate take of "I Am a Rock", during which one can plainly hear Simon stamping his foot for a beat.
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
. It was first performed by Simon alone as the opening track on his album The Paul Simon Songbook which he originally recorded and released in August 1965, only in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel
Art Garfunkel
Arthur Ira "Art" Garfunkel is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and actor, best known as being a member of the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel...
, as the American pop/folk duo Simon and Garfunkel
Simon and Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel are an American duo consisting of singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel. They formed the group Tom & Jerry in 1957 and had their first success with the minor hit "Hey, Schoolgirl". As Simon & Garfunkel, the duo rose to fame in 1965, largely on the strength of the...
, re-recorded it on December 14, 1965, and included as the final track on their album Sounds of Silence
Sounds of Silence (album)
Sounds of Silence is the second album by Simon and Garfunkel, released on January 17, 1966. The album's title is a slight modification of the title of the duo's first major hit, "The Sound of Silence", which originally was released as "The Sounds of Silence"...
, which they released on January 17, 1966.
Writing
The song was not included on Simon & Garfunkel's first album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.
Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. is the debut album by folk duo Simon & Garfunkel, released October 19, 1964. It was produced by Tom Wilson and engineered by Roy Halee. On its cover sleeve the album bears the subtitle: "Exciting new sounds in the folk tradition".The album was initially unsuccessful,...
, which they released on October 19, 1964. The folk-rock nature of the music makes it unlikely that Simon would have written it much earlier than 1963, when he first began experimenting with the folk genre. Some sources say that it was performed by Simon on January 27, 1965, on a promo show for the BBC. In any case, Simon seems to have written the song before the end of January 1965, and certainly had it down before May, when he recorded it.
Releases and commercial success
The original version of "I Am a Rock" was first released on The Paul Simon Songbook, and became, in the summer of 1965, the A-side to Simon's only single released from the album, backed with "Leaves That Are Green" on CBS 201797. Like the album, the single was not a commercial success. It is an extremely rare single to locate. Meanwhile, The Paul Simon Songbook, which for a long time Simon himself had disdained as an album, remained available only in the United Kingdom until 1981.While Paul Simon was in Europe during the summer of 1965, Tom Wilson, the producer of Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., responded to requests for "The Sound of Silence
The Sound of Silence
"The Sound of Silence" is the song that propelled the 1960s folk music duo Simon & Garfunkel to popularity. It was written in February 1964 by Paul Simon in the aftermath of the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy. An initial version preferred by the band was remixed and sweetened, and has become...
" from American radio stations and dubbed an electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
and drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s onto the original track. He then released the song as a single, whereupon it entered the United States pop charts. When Simon heard about the success of this song, he was still touring in Europe as a poor solo folk singer. He immediately returned to the United States, and in December 1965 he and Garfunkel began a series of hasty recording sessions to match the electric "mold" created by Wilson with many of the other songs that Simon had recorded on the Song Book, including "I Am a Rock," which was re-recorded during these sessions on 14 December 1965. The result was the album Sounds of Silence, which the duo released the following January. "I Am a Rock" was the fifth and closing track on Side 2 of the record. With "The Sound of Silence" (the opening track), it bookends the rest of the material. This album quickly capitalized on the success of the new album's title track as a #1 single, and itself rose to #21 on the Billboard charts.
The duo cashed in quickly on their new-found success. They released "I Am a Rock" as a single in the late spring of 1966, and the song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
charts, the third single (chronologically) by Simon & Garfunkel to reach the top 5 (after "The Sound of Silence" and "Homeward Bound)
Homeward Bound (song)
"Homeward Bound" is an American folk song written by Paul Simon, performed by Simon and Garfunkel, produced by Bob Johnston and recorded on December 14, 1965. The song describes his longing to return home, both to his then girlfriend, Kathy Chitty in Brentwood, Essex, England, and to return to the...
").
This single had two incarnations. First, as a promotion, it was released on red vinyl to radio stations, with a mono mix on one side and a stereo version on the other. These copies are somewhat difficult to locate for collectors. The standard version sold in stores, however, was the black vinyl 45 rpm record with the red Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
label. The B-side was a version of "Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall," which was later released on Simon & Garfunkel's even-more-successful (and critically acclaimed) album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme is the third album by Simon & Garfunkel, released in the United States on October 10, 1966. Its name comes from the second line of the album's first track, "Scarborough Fair/Canticle", an English folk song from the 16th century, paired with a counter-melody and...
. The single mix of the song features a more prominent lead vocal track (and different phrasing in the opening lines) by Paul Simon, and less reverb, than the more common LP version.
Until 1981, the initial official recording of "I Am a Rock" on The Paul Simon Song Book remained unavailable in North America. This was partly because Simon himself disdained the album, saying on the album's liner notes,
This L.P. contains twelve of the songs that I have written over the past two years. There are some here that I would not write today. I don't believe in them as I once did. I have included them because they played an important role in the transition. It is discomforting, almost painful, to look back over something someone else created and realize that someone else was you. I am not ashamed of where I've been and what I've thought. It's just not me anymore. It is perfectly clear to me that the songs I write today will not be mine tomorrow. I don't regret the loss.
As a result, the Song Book album was only made available in North America when it was released as part of the box set of albums Paul Simon: Collected Works. The album was not released on CD until March 23, 2004. When it was, Columbia Legacy included two bonus tracks, one of which was an alternate take of "I Am a Rock", during which one can plainly hear Simon stamping his foot for a beat.
Chart performance
| Chart (1966) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Kent Music Report | 20 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 10 |
| German Singles Chart | 35 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 10 |
| UK Singles Chart | 17 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 3 |
Other versions
- It was covered in 1966 by The HolliesThe HolliesThe Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...
on their fourth album Would You Believe?Would You Believe? (Hollies album)*Note: All songs written by the bandmembers Allan Clarke, Tony Hicks and Graham Nash were attributed to the pseudonym "Ransford"-US Track listing :...
. - It was covered in 1966 by The Grass RootsThe Grass RootsThe Grass Roots is an American rock band that charted between 1966 and 1975 as the brainchild of songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri.In their career, The Grass Roots achieved two gold albums, one gold single and charted singles a total of 21 times. Among their charting singles, they...
on their first album Where Were You When I Needed YouWhere Were You When I Needed YouWhere Were You When I Needed You was the first album released by The Grass Roots. Most of the album is performed by the duo of P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri, although some of the album features a San Francisco band, including lead singer Willie "Bill" Fulton...
. - It was covered in 1966 by John E. Sharp and the Squires on their album Maybelline
- It was covered in 1982 by The ChurchThe Church (band)The Church is an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1980. Initially associated with new wave and the neo-psychedelic sound of the mid 1980s, their music later became more reminiscent of progressive rock, featuring long instrumental jams and complex guitar interplay...
on their EP SingsongsSingsongsSing-songs is an EP by The Church.Spurred on by record company insistence, the short Sing-songs ep came on the heels of the Church's 1982 album The Blurred Crusade. Unlike the polished nature of its predecessors, the release's material was quickly written and recorded for U.S. label Capitol Records...
. - It was covered in 1990 by The HatedThe HatedThe Hated was an Annapolis, Maryland punk rock band from 1985 to 1990. The original members were Mike Bonner, Erik Fisher, Daniel Littleton, and Colin Meeder...
on the Wedge 7" compilation, and released again on The Machines: Simple Machines 7"s (1990-1993) in 1994. - It was covered in 1993 by Red House PaintersRed House PaintersRed House Painters were an alternative rock group formed in 1989 in San Francisco, California by singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek.-History:While in Atlanta, Georgia, Ohio-born Kozelek became friends with Anthony Koutsos, a drummer. He then moved to San Francisco, California, adding guitarist Gorden...
on their third album Red House PaintersRed House Painters (Bridge)-Release history:-"I Am a Rock"/"New Jersey" single:Although no commercial singles were ever released from the album, a promotional-only CD single was issued for "I Am a Rock" in October 1993...
. - It was covered in 1997 by Me First and the Gimme GimmesMe First and the Gimme GimmesMe First and the Gimme Gimmes is a punk rock supergroup and cover band that formed in 1995. The Gimmes work exclusively as a cover band. The band is named after a children's book of the same name by Gerald G. Jampolsky and Diane V. Cirincione...
on their album Have a Ball. - It was covered in 1997 by Arjen Lucassen on his solo album Strange Hobby.
- It was covered in 2000 by ShelterShelter (band)Shelter is a Hare Krishna hardcore punk band formed by Ray Cappo.-Brief recent history:In 2001, the band released the album The Purpose, The Passion...
on their album When 20 Summers Pass. - It was covered in 2001 by April WineApril WineApril Wine is a Canadian rock band formed in 1969. According to the band, they chose the name 'April Wine' simply because members thought the two words sounded good together...
on their album Back to the MansionBack to the MansionBack to the Mansion is the fifteenth studio album by the Canadian rock band April Wine, released in 2001 .- Track listing :All tracks written by Myles Goodwyn unless otherwise noted.# "Won't Go There" – 3:29# "Talk to Me" – 3:44...
. - It was covered in 2007 by Shaw BladesShaw BladesShaw–Blades is an American musical duo/group formed by Tommy Shaw of Styx and Jack Blades of Night Ranger, both of whom played in the supergroup Damn Yankees. It is an informal duo which has produced two albums between other projects, 1995s Hallucination & 2007s Influence, the latter of which...
on their album Influence.