Graceland

The basic track came from the Johannesburg sessions, with Ray Phiri on guitar and Bakithi Kumalo on fretless bass, and Demola Adepoju's pedal steel was added months later. Phiri said he had used a relative minor chord, and Simon heard American country in it. Simon spent three to four months on the song, a road trip to Elvis Presley's home after a marriage has ended, and Carrie Fisher said it was partly about theirs. The Everly Brothers sing with him.

Simon told Robert Hilburn that he never called ahead for a guided tour, that the word became a metaphor for the whole album, and that it was about finding a state of grace, the healing of a deep wound. He called the song and the album probably the best thing he ever did. As a single in November 1986 it reached only 81 in America, but it won Record of the Year at the 1988 Grammys.

Live

He first sang it on Saturday Night Live on 10 May 1986, before the album was out. It is his third most played song on setlist.fm, after The Boxer and Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard, and it opened the second set at A Quiet Celebration shows in 2025 and 2026. Willie Nelson's version reached the country chart in 1993.