Why Hearts and Bones now?

When reflecting on Paul Simon’s work in the 1980s, Graceland often steals the spotlight. Its monumental impact tends to eclipse the subtler, more introspective brilliance of Hearts and Bones, released in 1983. Considered by many to be one of Simon’s most underrated albums, Hearts and Bones delivers an honest, mature rumination on love—particularly through the lens of Simon’s relationship with actress Carrie Fisher. As Jim Beviglia writes in American Songwriter, Simon’s “arc of a love affair” in the title track explores how idealized love often collides with life’s inevitable imperfections.

The title track begins with a gentle, breezy rhythm, characteristic of Simon’s deceptively simple style. It starts with an idyllic scene—“One and one-half wandering Jews” on a romantic journey through New Mexico. The light, playful musicality, driven by hand percussion and rhythmic acoustic guitar, lulls the listener into a sense of ease. But beneath this surface lies a deeper emotional truth, as the relationship between Simon and Fisher, though magical at times, was marked by the inevitable strains of differing expectations.

Simon, in his own words, was trying to create a seamless blend between conversational and poetic language. “What I was trying to learn to do was to be able to write vernacular speech and then intersperse it with enriched language,” he explained to SongTalk in 1991. In Hearts and Bones, the contrast is stark: a carefree vacation suddenly gives way to raw, intimate dialogue in the bridge, where the couple’s tension comes to light. She asks, “Why won’t you love me for who I am, where I am?” His reply, tinged with sad realism: “‘Cause that’s not the way the world is, baby.”

This emotionally charged exchange strips away the flowery romanticism, exposing the complexity and the pain of two people unable to fully connect. As Simon sings of their return to their “natural coasts,” he illustrates how love—once full of promise—can become a place of hurt, with each person speculating on “who has been damaged the most.” The final lines are bittersweet: “You take two bodies and you twirl them into one / Their hearts and their bones / And they won’t come undone.” Even after separation, the emotional imprint of the relationship remains.

It’s particularly striking that Simon wrote Hearts and Bones before he and Fisher were married and divorced, almost as if he could foresee the inevitable end but was powerless to alter the course. The song stands as a testament to Simon’s unflinching honesty, confronting the often harsh realities of love while acknowledging the beauty and intimacy shared by two people.

The album as a whole was originally intended to be called Think Too Much, a reflection of Simon’s internal conflict between heart and mind, thinking and feeling. The tension between these forces permeates the record, which Simon originally began as a Simon & Garfunkel project. Following their successful 1981 Concert in Central Park and subsequent world tour, Simon and Art Garfunkel entered the studio, with Garfunkel adding vocals to some of the album’s early recordings. However, as Simon delved further into the material, particularly the deeply personal title track, he decided that it was too intimate to release as a Simon & Garfunkel album. Garfunkel left the project, and Simon erased his vocals, turning Hearts and Bones into a solo effort.

Despite its emotional depth and artistic ambition, Hearts and Bones failed commercially, peaking at No. 35 on the Billboard 200. As Beviglia notes, the “mature and honest ruminations” of the album were somewhat overlooked during the flashy MTV era. Yet, in retrospect, the album has gained critical appreciation. Don Shewey of Rolling Stone remarked that it “is all about heart versus mind, thinking versus feeling,” while William Ruhlmann of AllMusic praised it as one of Simon’s most personal and ambitious collections.

Though it may not have reached the commercial heights of Graceland, Hearts and Bones is, in many ways, Simon’s most vulnerable and introspective work. It captures the beauty and heartache of love in its truest form—flawed, yet unforgettable. The “arc of a love affair” may not always reach a happy ending, but Simon’s exploration of those bends and breaks remains timeless.