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The Boy in the Bubble

{{about||the novel by Ian Strachan|The Boy in the Bubble (novel)}}

{{Infobox song

| name = The Boy in the Bubble

| cover = The Boy in the Bubble.jpg

| alt =

| border = yes

| type = single

| artist = Paul Simon

| album = Graceland

| released = {{Start date|1987|02|17}}

| recorded = October 1985

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = {{flatlist|

}}

| length = {{Duration|m=4|s=00}}

| label = Warner Bros.

| writer = {{flatlist|

  • Forere Motloheloa
  • Paul Simon

}}

| producer = Paul Simon

| chronology = Paul Simon

| prev_title = Graceland

| prev_year = 1986

| next_title = Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes

| next_year = 1987

}}

"The Boy in the Bubble" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was the third single from his seventh studio album, Graceland (1986), released on Warner Bros. Records. Written by Simon and Forere Motloheloa (an accordionist from Lesotho), its lyrics explore starvation and terrorism, juxtaposed with wit and optimism.

The single—released in February 1987—performed well on charts worldwide. In the United States, it was mainly successful on the Album Rock Tracks chart, where it peaked at No. 15. Outside the U.S., "The Boy in the Bubble" was a top 20 hit in the Netherlands, and top 30 in the United Kingdom and Belgium.

Background

The song retains the only lyric Simon managed to compose on his South African trip: "The way the camera follows us in slo-mo, the way we look to us all." The imagery in the video, directed by Jim Blashfield,{{cite web|url=http://www.blashfieldstudio.com/musicvideos.html|title=Music Videos Directed by Jim Blashfield|publisher=Blashfield Studio}} was inspired by film clips of the John F. Kennedy assassination, as well as Ronald Reagan's attempted assassination.{{cite journal|author=David Fricke|author-link=David Fricke|date=October 23, 1986|title=African Odyssey|journal=Rolling Stone|location=New York City|publisher=Wenner Media LLC|issue=485|pages=77–80|issn=0035-791X|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/paul-simon-african-odyssey-104029/}} Adrian Belew was asked to play guitar synthesizer on the song and recalled that Simon only had a few lyrics complete by the time he first met with Belew.{{Cite web |last=Prasad |first=Anil |title=Adrian Belew - The Love Bubble |url=https://www.innerviews.org/inner/adrian-belew |access-date=May 20, 2024 |website=Innerviews: Music Without Borders |language=en}}

The song's title was inspired by the medical cases of David Vetter and Ted DeVita.{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/bubble-david-vetters-legacy/|title=David Vetter's Legacy|author=American Experience|publisher=PBS}}{{cite book|url=https://epdf.pub/the-art-and-science-of-interface-and-interaction-design.html|title=The Art and Science of Interface and Interaction Design (Vol. 1)|author1=Christa Sommerer |author2=Lakhmi C. Jain |author3=Laurent Mignonneau|year=2008|page=vii|publisher=Springer}} Similar to "Graceland", "The Boy in the Bubble" took between three and four months to complete.

Critical reception

Cash Box said it was "another brilliant cross-cultural gem. African rhythms, zydeco spice and Simon's intelligent, penetrating lyrics are near perfection."{{cite magazine|title=Single Releases|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/80s/1987/CB-1987-02-14.pdf|magazine=Cash Box|date=February 14, 1987|accessdate=2022-08-08|page=9}} In its review of the 25h anniversary edition of Graceland, Pitchfork wrote that the song was "a thriller that ties together threads of technological progress, medicine, terrorism, surveillance, pop music, inequality, and superstition with little more than a series of sentence fragments, all tossed off in the same deadpan delivery."{{Cite web |last=Tangari |first=Joe |date=August 1, 2012 |title=Paul Simon: Graceland: 25th Anniversary Edition |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16843-graceland-25th-anniversary-edition/ |access-date=May 20, 2024 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}}

Personnel

Chart performance

"The Boy in the Bubble" performed on singles charts in several territories worldwide. In the U.S., the song reached a peak of No. 86 on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 21, 1987; it spent four weeks on the chart as a whole. It performed better on the magazine's Album Rock Tracks chart, where it placed at No. 15 on March 28, 1987, where it spent nine weeks total.

In the United Kingdom, the song premiered on the UK Singles Chart on November 30, 1986 at number 81,{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19861130/7501/|title= Archive Chart: 1986-11-30" |publisher=Official Charts Company|access-date=August 13, 2015}} and rose over the following weeks to a peak of No. 26 on January 11, 1987. On the Dutch Nationale Top 100, it reached a peak of No. 16. On Belgium's Ultratop 50, it hit No. 28, and in New Zealand, it peaked at No. 43.

Charts

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
Chart (1987)

! Peak
position

scope="row" | Australia (Kent Music Report){{Cite book|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, NSW|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6}}

|align="center"|46

{{single chart|Flanders|28|artist=Paul Simon|song=The Boy in the Bubble|accessdate=August 13, 2015|rowheader=true|refname="Belgium"}}
{{single chart|Dutch100|16|artist=Paul Simon|song=The Boy in the Bubble|accessdate=August 13, 2015|rowheader=true|refname="Dutch100"}}
{{single chart|New Zealand|33|artist=Paul Simon|song=The Boy in the Bubble|accessdate=August 13, 2015|rowheader=true|refname="New Zealand"}}
{{single chart|UK|26|artist=Paul Simon|song=The Boy in the Bubble|accessdate=August 13, 2015|rowheader=true|refname="UK"|date=1987-01-11}}
{{single chart|Billboardhot100|86|artist=Paul Simon|song=The Boy in the Bubble|accessdate=August 13, 2015|rowheader=true|refname="Billboardhot100"}}
scope="row" |US Album Rock Tracks (Billboard){{cite magazine|url={{BillboardURLbyName|artist=Paul Simon|chart=Mainstream Rock Tracks}}|title=Paul Simon - Chart history|access-date=August 13, 2015|magazine=Billboard|publisher=Prometheus Global Media}}

|align="center"|15

Notes

{{Reflist|group=note}}

=References=

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

=Sources=

{{refbegin}}

  • {{cite book|last=Bennighof|first=James|title=The Words and Music of Paul Simon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ShBhKL-9SLIC|year=2007|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-99163-0}}
  • {{cite book |first=Marc |last=Eliot | title= Paul Simon: A Life | publisher= John Wiley and Sons | year= 2010 | isbn= 978-0-470-43363-8 | url= https://archive.org/details/paulsimonlife0000elio |url-access=registration }}
  • {{cite book|last=Kingston|first=Victoria|title=Simon & Garfunkel: The Biography|year=2000|publisher=Fromm International|isbn=978-0-88064-246-0}}

{{refend}}

External links

  • {{YouTube|Uy5T6s25XK4|Official music video}}

{{Paul Simon songs}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boy in the Bubble, The}}

Category:1987 singles

Category:1986 songs

Category:Paul Simon songs

Category:Songs written by Paul Simon

Category:Song recordings produced by Paul Simon

Category:Music videos directed by Jim Blashfield

Category:Warner Records singles

Category:Worldbeat songs