50 Ways to Leave Your Lover

"50 Ways to Leave Your Lover"
Single by Paul Simon
from the album Still Crazy After All These Years
Released	December 1975
Genre	Soft rock, folk rock
Length	3:35
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Paul Simon
Producer(s)	Paul Simon, Phil Ramone
Paul Simon singles chronology
"Gone at Last" / "Tenderness" (1975) "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" / "Some Folks' Lives Roll Easy" (1975) "Still Crazy After All These Years" / "I Do It For Your Love" (1976)

"50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" is a 1975 hit song by Paul Simon, from his album Still Crazy After All These Years. Backing vocals on the single were performed by Patti Austin, Valerie Simpson, and Phoebe Snow.^[1] The song features a recognizable repeated drum riff performed by drummer Steve Gadd.

Creation

Written after Simon's divorce from first wife Peggy Harper, the song is a mistress's humorous advice to a husband on ways to end a relationship. The song was recorded in a small New York City studio on Broadway.

Chart positions

"50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" was Paul Simon's biggest solo hit and broke in the U.S. in late 1975. It hit number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on February 7, 1976 (his only number one on that chart as a solo act), and remained there for three weeks; it topped the adult contemporary chart for two weeks.^[2] Overseas, on the UK Singles Chart, the song reached number 23 in January 1976. It was certified gold on March 11, 1976, and remained a best seller for nearly five months. Billboard ranked it as the No. 8 song of 1976.^[3]

See also

• Hot 100 number-one hits of 1976 (United States)

References

1. ↑ Marc Eliot (2010), Paul Simon: A Life, John Wiley and Sons, p. 142, ISBN 978-0-470-43363-8 
2. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 222. 
3. ↑ Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1976

External links

• Paul Simon biography
• Full lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics