February 7, 2024 • 8 mins
On this day in 1976, “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" by Paul Simon claimed the top spot on the U.S. singles chart.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio,
Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that belts out the greatest hits of history every
day of the week. I'm Gay Blues Yeay, And in
(00:20):
this episode, we're looking at the story behind fifty Ways
to Leave Your Lover, Paul Simon's tongue in cheek meditation
on the not so fine art of ghosting. The day
was February seventh, nineteen seventy six. Paul simons Fifty Ways
(00:43):
to Leave Your Lover claimed the top spot on the
US Singles Chart. It remained there for the next three weeks,
propelled by its bouncy drumbeat, catchy chorus, and empowering approach
to breakups. The song was the second single off Paul
Simon's fourth solo album, Still Crazy. After all these years,
(01:04):
it was also the singer's first and only number one
hit after parting ways with his longtime collaborator Art Garfunkel
in nineteen seventy The duo had found commercial and critical
success with wistful folk rock tunes like I Am a Rock,
Missus Robinson and the Sound of Silence, but after their split,
(01:25):
Simon began experimenting with other more joyful styles of music,
such as reggae, gospel, and Peruvian dance. He would then
pair those cheery, uplifting sounds with the thoughtful, nostalgic kind
of lyrics he was known for. The result was a
songbook that still had a lot on its mind, but
that never seemed to take itself too seriously. That winning
(01:49):
combination kept Simon on the pop charts throughout the early
nineteen seventies with songs like Mother and Child Reunion, which
peaked at number four, as well as Codochrome and Love
Me Like a Rock, both of which made it to
number two. Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover kept things
just as playful when it reached number one, even though
(02:09):
it's centered on a traditionally painful subject breaking up. Paul
Simon later referred to fifty Ways as quote basically a
nonsense song, but it actually tells a pretty clear cut story.
It plays out as a dialogue between two people, almost
like a scene in a novel or a play. The
narrator feels trapped in a relationship he wants out of,
(02:32):
but he isn't sure how to break it off. After
explaining his situation to another woman. She encourages him not
to overthink things and begins listing all the different ways
to cut ties. It's never stated explicitly that the two
are having an affair, but the context makes it clear
that's what's going on. The list of breakup strategies is
(02:54):
where the song's nonsense quality takes center stage, because while
the lyrics to the verses are wordy and pensive in
true Simon fashion, the chorus is about as simple and
silly as you can get. Take a listen.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Furthermore, my meaning of the lost dome is construed, but
I'll repeat myself at the risk of being crude. There
must be fifty ways to leave your lover. Fifty ways
to leave your lover. You just slip out the bag, jack,
(03:29):
make new plans. Then you don't need to be car right,
just keep yourself free, hop on the bus, Gus. You
don't need to discuss my just stop off the keys,
leave and get yourself free. And who slip out that.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
The dichotomy between the verses and the chorus was also
reflected in the songwriting process, As Simon later explained, he
woke up one morning with an intriguing first line running
through his mind. The problem is all inside your head,
she said to me. With that as a starting point,
the musician sat down at a rhythm ace drum machine
(04:08):
and composed a mysterious, haunting melody, the perfect background for
a serious conversation about heartbreak and destiny. The song's chorus,
on the other hand, was essentially written as a children's game.
Earlier in nineteen seventy five, the thirty three year old
singer had split from his first wife, Peggy Harper, after
(04:28):
six years of marriage. The silver lining of the separation
was that Simon still got regular visitations with the couple's
three year old son, Harper, and it was during one
of those visits at his Central Park apartment that Simon
came up with the chorus for Fifty Ways while teaching
Harper how to make simple rhymes. You just slip out
the back jack, make a new plan, stand, and so on.
(04:53):
The artist was famously cagey about the song's true subject,
only insisting that it definitely wasn't about his wife. Of course,
since he wrote it just a few months after their divorce,
not everyone believes him. Regardless of what inspired it, though,
the song was somewhat groundbreaking for its optimistic view of breakups.
(05:14):
Instead of wallowing in self pity or regret like other
songs in the genre, fifty Ways celebrated the act of
taking charge, bowing out, and moving forward. That was an
especially timely message in the mid nineteen seventies, when the
American divorce rate was surging and many baby boomers Simon included,
were starting to contemplate life after marriage, though hopefully they
(05:39):
found more tactful ways to end things than merely hopping
on a bus. Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover rode
the rising divorce rate all the way to number one
on February seventh, nineteen seventy five, and it stayed there
for the rest of the month. And while Paul Simon
never topped the charts again, he still did pretty well
(05:59):
for himself. In fact, on the same day that fifty
Ways fell from the top spot, Simon, still crazy after
all these years, won the Grammy for Album of the Year.
He also found love again two times, in fact, first
in his marriage to Carrie Fisher and then in his
third marriage to Edie Brikel. As for the legacy of
(06:21):
Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover, it's been covered numerous
times by an eclectic group of artists, including Bob Dylan, Train, Weird,
Al Yankovic, and of course, the Muppets. The song has
also inspired its share of spin offs, parodies, and companion pieces.
My personal favorite is two thousand and nine's Carol Brown
(06:42):
by the Flight of the Concords. It's a comedic, yet
surprisingly poignant spin on the original that recasts the singer
as the lover who's been left. Here's a clip, may
may well see me Brettaney, Brettane, Hedmaid.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Sea and Stefani must be fifty Ways and lovers have
left made Carol Brown just took the bus out of
the time.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Carol Brown works well as a modern follow up to
fifty Ways, but it's worth noting that the door is
still wide open for a true sequel, because despite suggesting
there are fifty ways to leave your lover, the song
lists only five, and all of them basically amount to
just leaving. So for all you aspiring singles out there,
(07:33):
bust out your rhyming dictionaries and get to work. After all,
Valentine's Day is just around the corner. I'm Gabe Lucier,
and hopefully you now know a little more about history
today than you did yesterday. You can learn even more
about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
(07:55):
at TDI HC Show, and if you have any comment
or suggestions, you can always pass them along by writing
to This Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler
Mays for producing the show, and thank you for listening.
I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day
in History class.
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio,
Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that belts out the greatest hits of history every
day of the week. I'm Gay Blues Yeay, And in
(00:20):
this episode, we're looking at the story behind fifty Ways
to Leave Your Lover, Paul Simon's tongue in cheek meditation
on the not so fine art of ghosting. The day
was February seventh, nineteen seventy six. Paul simons Fifty Ways
(00:43):
to Leave Your Lover claimed the top spot on the
US Singles Chart. It remained there for the next three weeks,
propelled by its bouncy drumbeat, catchy chorus, and empowering approach
to breakups. The song was the second single off Paul
Simon's fourth solo album, Still Crazy. After all these years,
(01:04):
it was also the singer's first and only number one
hit after parting ways with his longtime collaborator Art Garfunkel
in nineteen seventy The duo had found commercial and critical
success with wistful folk rock tunes like I Am a Rock,
Missus Robinson and the Sound of Silence, but after their split,
(01:25):
Simon began experimenting with other more joyful styles of music,
such as reggae, gospel, and Peruvian dance. He would then
pair those cheery, uplifting sounds with the thoughtful, nostalgic kind
of lyrics he was known for. The result was a
songbook that still had a lot on its mind, but
that never seemed to take itself too seriously. That winning
(01:49):
combination kept Simon on the pop charts throughout the early
nineteen seventies with songs like Mother and Child Reunion, which
peaked at number four, as well as Codochrome and Love
Me Like a Rock, both of which made it to
number two. Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover kept things
just as playful when it reached number one, even though
(02:09):
it's centered on a traditionally painful subject breaking up. Paul
Simon later referred to fifty Ways as quote basically a
nonsense song, but it actually tells a pretty clear cut story.
It plays out as a dialogue between two people, almost
like a scene in a novel or a play. The
narrator feels trapped in a relationship he wants out of,
(02:32):
but he isn't sure how to break it off. After
explaining his situation to another woman. She encourages him not
to overthink things and begins listing all the different ways
to cut ties. It's never stated explicitly that the two
are having an affair, but the context makes it clear
that's what's going on. The list of breakup strategies is
(02:54):
where the song's nonsense quality takes center stage, because while
the lyrics to the verses are wordy and pensive in
true Simon fashion, the chorus is about as simple and
silly as you can get. Take a listen.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Furthermore, my meaning of the lost dome is construed, but
I'll repeat myself at the risk of being crude. There
must be fifty ways to leave your lover. Fifty ways
to leave your lover. You just slip out the bag, jack,
(03:29):
make new plans. Then you don't need to be car right,
just keep yourself free, hop on the bus, Gus. You
don't need to discuss my just stop off the keys,
leave and get yourself free. And who slip out that.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
The dichotomy between the verses and the chorus was also
reflected in the songwriting process, As Simon later explained, he
woke up one morning with an intriguing first line running
through his mind. The problem is all inside your head,
she said to me. With that as a starting point,
the musician sat down at a rhythm ace drum machine
(04:08):
and composed a mysterious, haunting melody, the perfect background for
a serious conversation about heartbreak and destiny. The song's chorus,
on the other hand, was essentially written as a children's game.
Earlier in nineteen seventy five, the thirty three year old
singer had split from his first wife, Peggy Harper, after
(04:28):
six years of marriage. The silver lining of the separation
was that Simon still got regular visitations with the couple's
three year old son, Harper, and it was during one
of those visits at his Central Park apartment that Simon
came up with the chorus for Fifty Ways while teaching
Harper how to make simple rhymes. You just slip out
the back jack, make a new plan, stand, and so on.
(04:53):
The artist was famously cagey about the song's true subject,
only insisting that it definitely wasn't about his wife. Of course,
since he wrote it just a few months after their divorce,
not everyone believes him. Regardless of what inspired it, though,
the song was somewhat groundbreaking for its optimistic view of breakups.
(05:14):
Instead of wallowing in self pity or regret like other
songs in the genre, fifty Ways celebrated the act of
taking charge, bowing out, and moving forward. That was an
especially timely message in the mid nineteen seventies, when the
American divorce rate was surging and many baby boomers Simon included,
were starting to contemplate life after marriage, though hopefully they
(05:39):
found more tactful ways to end things than merely hopping
on a bus. Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover rode
the rising divorce rate all the way to number one
on February seventh, nineteen seventy five, and it stayed there
for the rest of the month. And while Paul Simon
never topped the charts again, he still did pretty well
(05:59):
for himself. In fact, on the same day that fifty
Ways fell from the top spot, Simon, still crazy after
all these years, won the Grammy for Album of the Year.
He also found love again two times, in fact, first
in his marriage to Carrie Fisher and then in his
third marriage to Edie Brikel. As for the legacy of
(06:21):
Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover, it's been covered numerous
times by an eclectic group of artists, including Bob Dylan, Train, Weird,
Al Yankovic, and of course, the Muppets. The song has
also inspired its share of spin offs, parodies, and companion pieces.
My personal favorite is two thousand and nine's Carol Brown
(06:42):
by the Flight of the Concords. It's a comedic, yet
surprisingly poignant spin on the original that recasts the singer
as the lover who's been left. Here's a clip, may
may well see me Brettaney, Brettane, Hedmaid.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Sea and Stefani must be fifty Ways and lovers have
left made Carol Brown just took the bus out of
the time.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Carol Brown works well as a modern follow up to
fifty Ways, but it's worth noting that the door is
still wide open for a true sequel, because despite suggesting
there are fifty ways to leave your lover, the song
lists only five, and all of them basically amount to
just leaving. So for all you aspiring singles out there,
(07:33):
bust out your rhyming dictionaries and get to work. After all,
Valentine's Day is just around the corner. I'm Gabe Lucier,
and hopefully you now know a little more about history
today than you did yesterday. You can learn even more
about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
(07:55):
at TDI HC Show, and if you have any comment
or suggestions, you can always pass them along by writing
to This Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler
Mays for producing the show, and thank you for listening.
I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day
in History class.
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Gabe Luzier
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