50 Ways to Leave Your Lover

Annotations

Recorded at a pitch of 436 Hz.

The seventh chord of the verse is a tricky one. The main guitar voicing is F♯–G–B–A (which is the previous D♯dim7 shifted upwards by a minor third, but with the two middle notes replaced with open strings), and the vocal melody is mainly F♯, but jumps quickly from a G and to an E. Emadd11/F♯ seems most correct, unwieldy though it is.

m. 19 This is the only time the D is followed by a slide, leading me to believe that he played it with an open string the other times.

m. 87 There is a very faint G from the bass, although the note is stopped already two measures earlier. They must have cut to another take for the drum outro, where the band had held the last note longer, which you can still hear the remnants of.

Annotations

Recorded at a pitch of 436 Hz.

The seventh chord of the verse is a tricky one. The main guitar voicing is F♯–G–B–A (which is the previous D♯dim7 shifted upwards by a minor third, but with the two middle notes replaced with open strings), and the vocal melody is mainly F♯, but jumps quickly from a G and to an E. Emadd11/F♯ seems most correct, unwieldy though it is.

Additional resources

• Live on BBC TV special “Simply Simon” (1975)

  Featuring Hugh McCracken on lead guitar, Tony Levin on bass, and Steve Gadd on drums, who all played on the studio recording. Also Richard Tee on electric piano, and Toots Thielemans on rhythm guitar, who both appear on different tracks on the album.

• Live at the Tower Theater, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, USA (1980) @28:25

  From the One-Trick Pony tour, featuring Richard Tee, Tony Levin, and Steve Gadd, as well as Eric Gale on guitar, a horn section and Tony’s brother Peter Levin on synth.

• Live in Central Park, New York, USA (1981)

  Featuring Steve Gadd and Richard Tee again, but this time amongst others Anthony Jackson on bass, and an out-of-tune acoustic guitar.

• Interview on The Howard Stern Show (2023)

  Paul Simon playing the chords of the verse and talking about the songwriting.

• Interview with Rick Beato (2024)

  Tony Levin talking about the song and the recording session.