Legendary singer Paul Simon has said he is “optimistic†about being able to return to performing live after losing most of his hearing in his left ear.
In an , published Friday, the singer-songwriter said that, while his hearing loss hinders his ability to perform with a full band, he is “hoping to eventually be able to do a full-length concert.â€
“I’m optimistic,†Simon said. “Six months ago I was pessimistic.â€
Simon first discussed his hearing loss in an interview with Britain’s newspaper back in May 2023, saying that “quite suddenly I lost most of the hearing in my left ear, and nobody has an explanation for it. So everything became more difficult.â€
Even before he announced the loss of his hearing, Simon toured for the last time in 2018, after which he said he was ending his touring career.
“I never said I was going to retire,†Simon said in his latest interview. “I said I was going to stop, which I did. I thought that with that band and the repertoire we were doing, we’d developed it as far as we could. It was enjoyable, but I wanted to find out what happens when you stop.â€
When he stopped, he went traveling with his wife. Then, he said, he had a dream, and “everything changed back to a new version of reality.â€
According to The Guardian, that dream instructed Simon to work on a piece called “.†The lyrics came to him in dreams over weeks and months, he said. The result was a 33-minute acoustic album, released in 2023. And as the album came together, Simon was joined in the studio by veteran film-maker Alex Gibney, who documented its creation in a 3.5-hour feature, “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon.â€
“Seven Psalms is an example of the whole piece coming to me in a unique way,†Simon told The Guardian. “I think there’s a connection between who I was as a kid, and my subconscious, and who I am now. It was very interesting and really quite pleasurable for a long time – until my hearing loss threw me off.â€
Simon recently played alongside two guitarists at a fundraiser for the Stanford Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss, his longest performance in five years.
“In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon,†which premiered in March in the United States, is set for release in UK cinemas on October 13, Simon’s 83rd birthday.
