Still Crazy After All These Years

In a 1990 interview with SongTalk magazine, Simon said: "In 'Still Crazy After All These Years,' that title phrase came to me first. And it didn't come with melody, either. It just came as a line. And then I had to create a story." Regarding the unusual chord changes, he added: "I was studying with a bass player and composer named Chuck Israels at the time so I was doing more interesting changes. I was studying harmony with him. Instead of using a minor chord I use a major chord and go up a step. It is hard to get an interesting key change. I also like to write a bridge and just jump a whole-tone up. 'Still Crazy' has that."

On the second episode of Saturday Night Live (airdate: October 18, 1975), Simon hosted the show, which he opened by singing "Still Crazy" alone on stage. This was the song's debut, as the album was released a week later. When Simon returned to the show on November 20, 1976, he once again opened with a performance of this song, this time in a turkey costume (it was the weekend before Thanksgiving)! During this performance, he stops in mid song, and then is followed backstage griping to producer Lorne Michaels about making him wear the costume. In fact, it was Paul's idea to do this, including the walk-off; he wanted to show he had a sense of humor and didn't take himself as seriously as most people thought.

In 1974, Simon was on The Dick Cavett Show, where he demonstrated how he wrote a song by using a working version of this song as an example. At the time, he had the first two verses, but not the middle part or third verse. He even asked Cavett if he had any ideas on how to finish the song.