Iconic Singer Cheekily Accepts $20 to Play a Song

After having surgery to alleviate his intense back pain, Paul Simon has gotten back to doing what his fans love: playing music. After a short break, he played at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach on July 8, followed by a string of shows at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

It was at one of the Disney Hall performances that Simon surprised everyone in the audience when a fan yelled out a song. After some back-and-forth, he agreed to play it, but only for a price.

Simon Insisted That He Doesn’t ‘Do Requests, Unless…’

On July 17, a fan at one of Simon’s Disney Hall concerts recorded a snippet of the conversation the musician had with an audience member. The rest, he explained.

“Some dude yelled “Play Kodachrome!” (He hasn’t played it since 2019),” a TikToker posted. “And Paul Simon says I don’t do requests…. Unless you got $20 bucks (obviously being a silly goose) and then the dude whipped out a 20 and Paul went ahead, took the 20 and kept his [Promise]. Can’t believe I saw this.”

While the video misses the first part of the exchange, we hear Simon say $20. After the audience member holds up a $20, Simon puts down his guitar and walks over to grab it from him. Then, he launched into “Kodachrome,” to the delight of the crowd, who immediately began clapping along. While he didn’t play the whole song, the first minute was enough for his fans.

While he was being cheeky about taking the $20, many in the comments suggested thought it was a great use of $20. “[I] would have run down from the nosebleeds with $100 to get him to play kathy’s song if i’d known,” joked one person.

Simon’s Hearing Loss Has Made Playing Certain Songs Difficult

There are certain songs that Simon won’t, or can no longer, play live. “Kodachrome” and “You Can Call Me Al” — two favorites — are on that list. It’s not that he doesn’t like them; it’s because his hearing loss has made it too difficult to play them.

“There’s only about 6% [hearing] in my left ear,” Simon told CBS News. To help him, he has four speakers that surround him while playing. “When the balance is right, I can hear well.”

“I’m going through my repertoire and reducing a lot of the choices I make to acoustic versions,” he explained. “It’s all much quieter. It’s not ‘You Can Call Me Al.’ That’s gone. I can’t do that one.”

He admitted that making the necessary changes has been very frustrating, but then he started working with the Stanford Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss. The organization’s experiments with zebra fish, mice, and organ donors have all given Simon “significant improvement on the horizon.” Maybe one day, he’ll surprise an audience with the full version of “Kodachrome.”