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Paul Simon says he ‘doesn’t like being second to Bob Dylan’

Singer also claims that Dylan snubbed his offer of a duet

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Paul Simon has said that being compared to Bob Dylan throughout his career has really started to annoy him.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, he said that although Dylan had inspired his own work he didn’t like “coming second” to the singer.

“I usually come in second to to Dylan, and I don’t like coming in second,” he said. “In the beginning, when we were first signed to Columbia, I really admired Dylan‘s work. ‘The Sound of Silence’ wouldn’t have been written if it weren’t for Dylan. But I left that feeling around The Graduate and ‘Mrs Robinson’. They weren’t folky any more.”

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He added: “One of my deficiencies is my voice sounds sincere. I’ve tried to sound ironic. I don’t. I can’t. Dylan, everything he sings has two meanings. He’s telling you the truth and making fun of you at the same time. I sound sincere every time.”

In an interview with Uncut earlier this year Simon revealed that he’d asked Dylan to appear on his new album ‘So Beautiful Or So What’, but didn’t receive a response. “I thought Bob could sing, put a nice voice on the verse from ‘So Beautiful or So What’ that begins, ‘Ain’t it strange the way we’re ignorant/How we seek out bad advice’,” he said.

He continued: “I thought it would be nice if he sang that, since his voice has become so weathered I thought he would sound like a sage. I sent it to him, but I didn’t hear back. I don’t know why.”

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Latest music and film news on Uncut.co.uk.

Uncut have teamed up with Sonic Editions to curate a number of limited-edition framed iconic rock photographs, featuring the likes of Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan and The Clash. View the full collection here.

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