Who played the bass on the 1986 Paul Simon song ‘You Can Call Me Al’?
Bakithi Kumalo played the fretless bass on Paul Simon’s 1986 song ‘You Can Call Me Al’. His intricate break became one of the track’s most distinctive features, and the recording helped bring Kumalo’s playing to a much wider audience.
Although much of *Graceland* was recorded in South Africa, the song was recorded at New York’s Hit Factory with several South African musicians. Kumalo, who turned 30 on the first day of the single’s sessions, asked Simon for room to play more during the break; engineer Roy Halee then reversed a bar of the bass line, creating its famously unusual sound. The album reached number three on the Billboard 200, though Simon’s South African recording project drew criticism for breaching the cultural boycott of apartheid-era South Africa.
In short
- Bakithi Kumalo played the song’s fretless bass.
- Roy Halee reversed a bar to shape the bass break.
- The track was recorded in New York, despite *Graceland*’s South African roots.
Explained simply
Paul Simon is an American singer-songwriter whose 1986 album Graceland combined his songs with musical styles and performances from South Africa. The album was made during apartheid, when South Africa’s white-minority government enforced racial segregation and many artists supported a cultural boycott of the country.
Bakithi Kumalo is a South African bassist who played fretless bass on “You Can Call Me Al”, recorded in New York with several South African musicians. The song helped introduce his playing to a much wider audience, while Graceland’s recording project became part of debate over whether working with South African musicians crossed the boycott.