Is THIS the Most Famous Bass Break In Popular Music?

#bass #basshistory #transcription #analysis #popmusic #paulthompson
Digging into the 1987 Album of the Year, Paul Simon's GRACELAND, the amazing bassist from Soweto, Bakithi Kumalo, and the hit song that introduced the rest of the world to "Mbaqanga" - "You Can Call Me Al".

I'll break down the iconic bass line (in its many forms), show you the other bass parts you might have missed in the song (including one played by Paul Simon!), and recreate what actually happened to construct one of the most famous bass breaks in popular music.

00:00 Intro
01:00 The Bass Line
01:30 'Mbaqanga'
02:38 More Bass Parts
03:47 The Bass Solo
04:45 Outro
05:16 OUTTAKES

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[michaelabbott]

Whilst not wishing to engage in "one upmanship"..I was Roy Hallee's assistant for the first 2 months work on Graceland. We cut the live band tracks in studio A1 at Hit Factory, where I was then an assistant engineer..The album was partially written and built in the studio. Paul simply asked the band to jam and or play round ideas he had. They did that and I recorded everything on the 2 track. Paul sat in the Control Room and wrote notes. After about 20 mins he would go into the studio and using sections they had played that he had notated they constructed the songs...From what seemed a very fluid, open jam session, he had structured sections of the songs...This song was put together like that...I remember the bass break and Paul saying we had to keep that in...
Ironically I was also assisting Roy on Artie's album "The Animals Xmas" at the same time..Paul would only work Mon-Thurs office hours, and we were working with Artie and Jimmy Webb at the weekend..This put me in a few awkward situations as Paul and Artie were not getting along at the time and both wanted to know what the other was doing...Seems like a lifetime ago now, although somewhere I still have a Platinum album for Graceland..

[terrywho]

When this song came out, Bakithi Kumalo became an overnight sensation among bass players and musicians alike. Anyone interested in his music should consider checking out his solo albums, starting with San' Bonan.

[BlackRootsAcademyOfSoul]

Glad to call him my Brotha and Friend. The great Bakhiti 👌🏿Gotta share this with him.

Greetings from Uganda 🇺🇬👊🏿🖤

[spyderj]

Iconic bassline and break. Not to mention that TONE!!! OMG!!!🔥

[everythingiseverything]

One of my favorite moments as a sound engineer was taking the masters of Graceland up Broadway from Paul's office up to the Hit factory in Mid town to listen to the tracks. I carried them on my shoulders because they were so heavy. Paul enjoyed working with my crew and I and he hired us to work on his next project!

[hansm.]

Huge creds for your effort to pronounce the South African click sounds!

[TheStobb]

This is one of those songs I’m a reasonably accomplished bass player, but when I listen to this, I honestly feel like giving up it’s so brilliant

[insidejazzguitar]

So glad you finally did this one. Really enjoyed your recreation of that solo break.

[rwjoyner]

A true gem of an album...so many great songs there. My personal favorite is "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes"...the choral intro alone is worth buying this album. Not sure if the bassist on this song is Bakithi, but listen to the way the bass line glides around here and there in between the bouncing octaves...it actually takes on a vocal-like part at times...wunderbar!

[ianaspland]

I saw Paul Simon in Melbourne about 8 years ago. The biggest ovation all night was when the bass solo was played in You Can Call Me Al. Amazing performance.

[wythetrumpet]

Being a trumpet player, I must agree, this is absolutely incredible bass playing! I honestly believe it was the bass that made this album sell incredibly well! Great video! Thank you! 🎺👍

[markkempton]

That break is the bass equivalent of "In the Air Tonight": everyone knows it's coming. And everyone air drums it.

[Armakk]

Legit obsessed with this song! According to interviews w Simon and Hallee, the 2nd half of bass solo isn't reversed, they duped the first bar off the 2" and made the engineer chop every note individually and splice it together in reverse order. I.e. each note has the proper attack instead of the washy backwards feel. Took a week and whole lot of math. Mind boggling. AND THEN THE BASSIST HAD TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY IT FOR THE TOUR!! What a goddamn legend, just incredible.

[forresthale]

One of my favorite bass lines ever. This was the first bass song I fell in love with.

[PLFMM]

You're the best PD! Love the fact you did a the pronunciation research!!

[hans-christianwehmeyer]

I was in my twenties when this album came out. Having traveled in botswana before, I loved the influences of african music, but those bass lines just couldn't be beat! Great and relaxed analysis - thank you very much.

[ia]

Bakithi is one of the most creative, fluid and original bassist of our time. He lives near me and I had the immense luck and honor of not only open jamming with him, but playing this track and singing. He was so gracious of his talent and time, didn't bat an eye when I humbly asked if he could play it (in my mind knowing everyone probably asks him the same thing and it would get old fast) and played this exact solo right in front of my face. The real trick is that he had to re-learn his own solo once they cut the end off and reversed it in the studio. He's been playing it like the studio ever since - Bakithi, you are a legend and a true gentleman, thank you for giving me the thrill of playing music with one my music heroes.

[thedevilinthecircuit]

Full-time guitarist and 'pretend' bassist here: I gotta say, the more I learn about bass, the more I want to play the thing! Thank you PD!

[iansmith]

The bass all over the album is so amazing & inspiring. The note choices & phrasing is just lush! What a performance!

[bwolff]

I've just started getting into bass playing seriously and your channel has helped me to learn about the history of this craft and the people who innovated it. Its made a positive difference in my playing so I wanted to say thank you for that. Looking forward to what you post next!