Song · Paul Simon
“Under African Skies” by Paul Simon
From the album Graceland (1986)
“Under African Skies” by Paul Simon appears on 2 radio countdowns from 1 station between 2009 and 2020. It was first released in 1986 on the album Graceland. Its best result is #843 on the WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #6,198 indie & aaa song of all time.
"Under African Skies" came late to Graceland, the seventh album Paul Simon released on Warner Bros. in 1986, and it ended up as the last of the record's five singles. The first sessions had happened in Johannesburg; three months on, Simon flew a group of South African players to New York to finish the job, paying them triple union rates because many of them had no idea who he was. Those same New York dates also gave him "You Can Call Me Al".
Simon wrote and produced the song and plays guitar alongside Ray Phiri, who also pitched in on the arrangement, and Adrian Belew, over Bakithi Kumalo's bass, Isaac Mtshali's drums and Ralph MacDonald's percussion, with Roy Halee engineering. Linda Ronstadt sings with him, and Cash Box heard her harmonies as angelic.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 843 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) | 885 |
| 2020 | 1329 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
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