More Paul Simon

I really like his record - and quite a lot of his others - but he's not a man who gives the impression of being entirely secure...

First there was the recent interview where he whinged about Bob Dylan getting more attention than him. Then he gets Elvis Costello to write an adulatory piece about him ('...these wonderful songs refuse to despair...' etc, etc) and prints it in the sleeve-notes for the new album. Then he even gets self-congratulatory in the same sleeve-notes' 'Special Thanks' to other people - name-dropping 'my friend, Philip Glass, who seems to know how to untangle the harmonic knots that I occasionally miscreate in my songs' ('But of course, Paul,' we fans rush to reassure him as we read, 'it is only very occasionally that your impressive chum's assistance is required...'); then name-checking BB King and casually mentioning that they were chatting 'backstage at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary Concert', when one presumes his advice would have been just as helpful if offered in a queue at a chip shop.

How much success and admiration would be sufficient for him? As I ponder what his problem might be, it is suggested to me that it is perhaps one that Randy Newman famously sang about...