Earlier this year, Paul Simon, one of the great musical artists of our age, announced his retirement from performing with a final tour titled, “The Homeward Bound Farewell Tour.”

Since his rise to fame in the 1960s with boyhood friend Art Garfunkel, Simon has written and recorded some of the most thoughtful, literate and popular songs of the rock era.

His beloved work as one half of Simon and Garfunkel virtually invented the soft rock genre and his solo work is arguably the most adventurous and groundbreaking in the entire singer-songwriter medium.

There’s very little filler on a Paul Simon album, with the result that there’s a lot of classics in his canon. In tribute to an artist whose songs have sound tracked so many people’s lives, here is my choice of Paul Simon’s dozen greatest songs as a solo artist.

Wristband (Stranger to Stranger, 2016)

On “Wristband” Simon showed he had lost none of the vivid imagination and social consciousness that have hallmarked his storied career as he turned the wristband he needs to gain entry to his own show into a metaphor for inequality

Father and Daughter (The Wild Thornberrys Movie Soundtrack, 2002)

A favourite choice for father and daughter dances at weddings, the original recording won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar with an alternative version included on 2006’s Surprise and also released as a single.

Mother and Child Reunion (Paul Simon, 1972)

Paul Simon, his first solo album after the split, marked Simon’s first steps as a world music pioneer with a top five single (“Mother and Child Reunion”), recorded in Jamaica with a team of local session musicians and one of the first incursions into reggae by a major white artist.

Loves Me Like a Rock (There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, 1973)

For his next album, Simon drew on the music of his own country that he had listened to growing up. There was New Orleans jazz and great pop tunes like “Kodachrome”, which was this joyous, authentic slice of gospel with glorious backing from the Dixie Hummingbirds vocalists on which Simon celebrates a mother’s love as he reminisces about his 1950s childhood.

Darling Lorraine (You’re The One, 2000)

A humorous and poignant exploration of the ups and downs of a marriage covering a full range of powerful emotions, Simon typically injects little stabs of humour into the narrative, but when he reveals the death of “Darling Lorraine” at the song’s end, it’s like a dagger to the heart.

Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes (Graceland, 1986)

Simon travelled to South Africa and the result was the modern classic Graceland, an album that brought South African township music to Western ears and in doing so focused long overdue international attention on the repressive apartheid regime.

“Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” introduced the world to the spine-tingling choral singing of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, with the former being a wonderful hybrid of western pop and South African sounds and rhythms.

The Obvious Child (The Rhythm Of The Saints, 1990)

The Rhythm of the Saints, another successful cross-cultural exploration, this time marrying folk-rock and old time rock and roll with South American music and rhythms. On “The Obvious Child”, a cacophony of percussion recorded live on the streets of Salvador, Brazil heralds the next stage of Simon’s musical odyssey.

50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (Still Crazy After All These Years, 1975)

One of the best examples of Simon’s dry wit as a military drumbeat leads into the deft wordplay of a mistress explaining to her lover how to break up with his wife. Perhaps only Simon could create a No1 single from a rhyming game he was teaching his infant son, but that’s what he did with “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover.”

You Can Call Me Al (Graceland, 1986)

The title comes from a misunderstanding at a party when the composer Pierre Boulez referred to Simon as “Al”, and Simon then fashioned an incredibly catchy hit single with a great hook, a perfect marriage of those African influences and Simon’s melodic and lyrical gifts.

Still Crazy After All These Years (Still Crazy After All These Years, 1975)

A jury of his peers awarded Simon a Grammy for best pop performance of the year for the melancholy title track of one of his finest albums, the bulk of which documented the breakup of his first marriage.

Bittersweet lyrics are framed by shimmering strings, light-jazz piano and unpredictable time changes leading into a memorable saxophone solo.

American Tune (There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, 1973)

Simon’s stirring state-of-the-nation address to a Watergate-era populace who had witnessed the American dream turning into a nightmare also works as an emotional tribute to the millions of migrants who had entered America in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty.

Graceland (Graceland, 1986)

In yet another autobiographical song, Simon charts his pilgrimage to Graceland after the breakdown of his marriage to Carrie Fisher and his subsequent spiritual awakening. The result is the most successful synthesis of the diverse musical strands that permeate the Graceland album.

The Independent