Song · Paul Simon
“The Boy in The Bubble” by Paul Simon
From the album Graceland (1986)
“The Boy in The Bubble” by Paul Simon appears on 6 radio countdowns from 5 stations between 1987 and 2026. It was first released in 1986 on the album Graceland. Its best result is #13 on the Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 1987. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #141 alternative song of 1987.
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Paul Simon's "The Boy in the Bubble" came off Graceland, his 1986 album for Warner Bros., and reached the shops as a single in early 1987, the third one pulled from the record. Simon wrote it with Forere Motloheloa, an accordionist from Lesotho, and the song rides on Motloheloa's accordion, locked to Vusi Khumalo's drums and Bakithi Kumalo's springy bass, with Adrian Belew's guitar synthesizer flaring overhead.
The words set starvation and terrorism against a stubborn streak of humor and hope, and the rhythm section refuses to let the gloom slow it down. Simon produced it himself, with Roy Halee engineering. Overseas it went top 20 in the Netherlands and top 30 in Britain and Belgium.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | 13 | Studio Brussel Flanders, Belgium | Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 1987 | 29 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 1177 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2021 | 835 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s | 909 |
| 2022 | 397 | KEXP | KEXP Top Songs of the Last 50 Years (1972-2022) | 491 |
| 2024 | 100 | KEXP | The Best Opening Tracks of All Time | 738 |
| 2026 | 313 | WYEP | WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time | 1180 |
Also listed as: The Boy in the Bubble; The Boy In The Bubble.
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