Still Creative, After All These Years

Some music stars are one-hit wonders. Others last for a few years before fading from the scene. So, imagine how extraordinary it is to last 50 years at the top of your game.

That describes Paul Simon, who treated The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith to a glimpse at his creative process.

Simon, Smith says, is "a quiet man with a subtle musical power, the perfect disguise for a superstar."

After six years, Simon is heading back on tour and has a new CD, "Surprise."

Though returning can be daunting when competing with your own legendary past, Simon told Smith, he's still very much into it.

"Every time I begin work on a new record," Simon says, "I say, 'Are you sure you want to do this? Are you still interested in this?' And, I am!"

In a New York rehearsal studio, Smith got to watch Simon quietly coaxing what Smith called "that signature sound," as Simon fine-tuned new songs with old friends, guys who are among the best touring musicians in the business.

When Smith said he thinks Simon's "creative juices are flowing and as present, it seems to me, as ever," Simon said, "Well, I think that's true, and I'm very grateful for that."

For five decades, Simon has told stories that resonate with a generation that's been through all of it with him.

It began with the 1960s collaboration with Art Garfunkel when they were just a couple of kids."I really decided this as a career move when I was 14," Simon told Smith. "Here I am, you know, 50 years later, still functioning on a 14-year-old's decision."

Simon has lived many lives in a business that traditionally eats its young, Smith points out.

But the man Smith says may be one of the great poets of our time begins his creative process not with words, but with sound.

"There was a big break in the way I wrote that started with 'Graceland,' " Simon said. "I start with rhythm, and then I go to sound, and from sound I go to structure, and that includes harmony. And, as I begin to improvise melody, words come at the same time. … But the non-verbal part, that lasts longer, it touches something deeper."

Simon said that discovery started in what may have been his greatest songwriting adventure: Graceland rose from the rhythm of South Africa's streets, "a collaboration with a continent," Smith said, and featured groups such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Brazilian drums would later infuse "Rhythm of the Saints."

"I like the process," Simon explained. "It's like a puzzle that I enjoy doing. Oh, I bitch and moan about it, you now, when I can't solve the puzzle. But when I start to solve it, then I 'm really having a good time.

"If I write a song, and I really like that song, it's so great. It's like — ecstasy. I'm sure something's going on in my brain, that some chemical is flooding my brain. And my brain says, 'Well, when are we gonna do this again? Let's do this again.' "

Now, on the 20th anniversary of Graceland and 50 years after he started, Simon is back on the road, and readily admits to being 64, just like Paul McCartney.

In fact, Simon laughed, "On my 64th birthday, Paul McCartney called me up and sang, 'When I'm 64'!"

Simon says he writes all his music, 25 albums, and dozens of majors hit tunes, with a yellow legal pad and pen.

Smith concluded: "Genius, it seems, doesn't need to be fancy."