Episode Details

Ashley Kahn’s new book “Days of Miracle and Wonder” uncovers the explosive, controversial, and culturally seismic story behind Paul Simon’s Graceland—40 years after its release. Drawing on 80+ interviews with musicians, engineers, and insiders, Kahn weaves together the album’s birth from a bootleg tape, the clash of analog warmth and emerging digital tech, and the fraught politics of recording in apartheid-era South Africa. He sidesteps Simon himself, focusing instead on the collective memory of those who lived it. The book doesn’t shy from the controversy, but offers a nuanced, human portrait of an album that reshaped global music—and still inspires parodies, proving its enduring, hilarious, and profound impact.

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