The Boy in the Bubble

1987 single by Paul Simon

"The Boy in the Bubble"

Single by Paul Simon

from the album Graceland

Released

February 17, 1987 (1987-02-17)

Recorded

October 1985

Genre

Pop rock
worldbeat

Length

4:00

Label

Warner Bros.

Songwriter(s)

Forere Motloheloa
Paul Simon

Producer(s)

Paul Simon

Paul Simon singles chronology

"Graceland"
(1986)

"The Boy in the Bubble"
(1987)

"Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes"
(1987)

"The Boy in the Bubble" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was the third single from his seventh studio album, Graceland (1986), released on Warner Bros. Records. Written by Simon and Forere Motloheloa (an accordionist from Lesotho), its lyrics explore starvation and terrorism, juxtaposed with wit and optimism.

The single—released in February 1987—performed well on charts worldwide. In the United States, it was mainly successful on the Album Rock Tracks chart, where it peaked at No. 15. Outside the U.S., "The Boy in the Bubble" was a top 20 hit in the Netherlands, and top 30 in the United Kingdom and Belgium.

Background

The song retains the only lyric Simon managed to compose on his South African trip: "The way the camera follows us in slo-mo, the way we look to us all." The imagery in the video, directed by Jim Blashfield,^[1] was inspired by film clips of the John F. Kennedy assassination, as well as Ronald Reagan's attempted assassination.^[2] The song's title was presumably inspired by the medical cases of David Vetter and Ted DeVita.^[3]^[4] The chorus also references "the baby with the baboon heart," presumably referring to Baby Fae.

He said, "Hope and dread... that's the way I see the world—a balance between the two, but coming down on the side of hope."^[2]

"The Boy in the Bubble," like "Graceland," took three to four months to create.^[2]

Cash Box said it was “another brilliant cross-cultural gem. African rhythms, zydeco spice and Simon’s intelligent, penetrating lyrics are near perfection."^[5]

Personnel

Paul Simon – lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Ladysmith Black Mambazo – background vocals
Rob Mounsey – synthesizer
Adrian Belew – guitar synthesizer
Forere Motloheloa – accordion
Bakithi Kumalo – bass
Vusi Khumalo – drums
Jacob Childress – percussion

Chart performance

"The Boy in the Bubble" performed on singles charts in several territories worldwide. In the U.S., the song reached a peak of No. 86 on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 21, 1987; it spent four weeks on the chart as a whole.^[6] It performed better on the magazine's Album Rock Tracks chart, where it placed at No. 15 on March 28, 1987, where it spent nine weeks total.^[7]

In the United Kingdom, the song premiered on the UK Singles Chart on November 30, 1986 at number 81,^[8] and rose over the following weeks to a peak of No. 26 on January 11, 1987.^[9] On the Dutch Nationale Top 100, it reached a peak of No. 16.^[10] On Belgium's Ultratop 50, it hit No. 28,^[11] and in New Zealand, it peaked at No. 43.^[12]

Charts

Chart (1987)	Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report)^[13]	46
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)^[11]	28
Netherlands (Single Top 100)^[10]	16
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)^[12]	33
UK Singles (OCC)^[9]	26
US Billboard Hot 100^[6]	86
US Album Rock Tracks (Billboard)^[7]	15

Notes

References

^ "Music Videos Directed by Jim Blashfield". Blashfield Studio.
^ ^a ^b ^c David Fricke (October 23, 1986). "African Odyssey". Rolling Stone (485). New York City: Wenner Media LLC: 77–80. ISSN 0035-791X.
^ American Experience. "David Vetter's Legacy". PBS.
^ Christa Sommerer, Lakhmi C. Jain, and Laurent Mignonneau (2008). The Art and Science of Interface and Interaction Design (Vol. 1). Springer. p. vii.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ "Single Releases" (PDF). Cash Box. February 14, 1987. p. 9. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
^ ^a ^b "Paul Simon Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Paul Simon - Chart history". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
^ "Archive Chart: 1986-11-30"". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Paul Simon – The Boy in the Bubble" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Paul Simon – The Boy in the Bubble" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Paul Simon – The Boy in the Bubble". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.

Sources

Bennighof, James (2007). The Words and Music of Paul Simon. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-275-99163-0.
Eliot, Marc (2010). Paul Simon: A Life. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-43363-8.
Kingston, Victoria (2000). Simon & Garfunkel: The Biography. Fromm International. ISBN 978-0-88064-246-0.