Paul Simon may have retired from touring, but the rock legend is still performing. Following the wrap of his farewell tour last year, Simon will headline Outside Lands in San Francisco this summer and perform one-off shows and late-night sets whenever the mood strikes.
Simon visited Late Night With Stephen Colbert Monday night, treating viewers to a special performance of his song “That Was Your Mother.” The track, off his classic 1986 record Graceland, is a joyful pastiche of folk rock and zydeco, the New Orleans hybrid musical genre. Lucky for Simon, Colbert’s bandleader Jon Batiste is a Louisiana native and jazz prodigy.
Batiste and his band Stay Human backed up Simon for the performance of “That Was Your Mother.” They’re all world class musicians and incredibly fun live performers, and watching all these legends laughing, dancing, and having the time of their lives just makes you want to get up and join. Colbert even joined the musical performance himself, playing the frottoir, a washboard that you wear like it’s a vest. You can tell Colbert is geeking out a little bit to be onstage performing with Paul Simon, and it’s very understandable — I think many of us would be in the same boat if we were playing a wearable washboard next to Paul Simon.
Watch Simon’s performance of “That Was Your Mother” above.
