Paul Simon: So Beautiful or So What

"MR: [O]ne of my favorite tracks is 'Getting Ready For Christmas Day' on which you feature the Reverend J.M. Gates with all of his fire and brimstone. What motivated you to merge his sermon with your song? And the song's title was inspired by one of his sermons, right? PS: The title, absolutely, comes from his sermon, which is called 'Getting Ready For Christmas Day.' I heard his sermon on this box set that was issued called Goodbye Babylon from a label called Dust To Digital. It must have come out four years ago or something like that. ... One of the disks was just sermons, and I really liked this particular sermon, the way he delivered it. I didn't think I was going to do anything with it, but at a certain point towards the middle of the album, I went to the studio to cut a rhythm track, and we cut 'Getting Ready For Christmas Day.' I said, 'You know ... put that sermon on top of that track, and let's see what that sounds like.' It sounded really great and really arresting" (Mike Ragogna, "A Conversation with Paul Simon," Huffington Post, 3/22/11)
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