How Paul Simons classic album Graceland almost didnt get made

In 1985, when South Africa was still under apartheid, a car drove into the black township of Soweto with an unusual passenger — one of the world’s most famous singer/songwriters — concealed in the back seat.Paul Simon had been invited to Soweto by Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse, a black South African pop star at the time, but told he would have to take precautions.“[They] said, ‘You’ll have to hide under a blanket in the back seat’ — which I did,” Paul Simon says in the new book, “Days of Miracle and Wonder: Paul Simon and the Trials and Triumphs of Graceland” by Ashley Kahn (Atria, Aug.11).Kahn describes the dangers and controversies Simon had to navigate to record “Graceland” with the South African musicians who lent it a uniquely joyous sound, brilliantly contrasting with the character of Simon’s introspective lyrics.The classic album, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this month, won a Grammy for Album of the Year and spent 10 months on the Billboard Top 20, making it the best-selling album of Simon’s career.But to work with South African acts like Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the Boyoyo Boys and General M.D.

Shirinda, Simon had to put his reputation on the line — and potentially put the other musicians in danger.Inspired by a bootleg cassette of radiantly upbeat South African music known as mbaqanga, Simon asked a record company contact to make introductions to various artists there, who were living under horrific restrictions at the time.They were also rightfully weary of being ripped off, and Simon would later learn that the musicians held a meeting with their local union to vote on whether to work with him.(According to Simon, Sex Pistols impresario Malcolm McLaren had recorded with some local musicians there, and used that material on his 1983 debut album, “Duck Rock,” without paying or crediting the musicians.)To assuage their fears, Simon agreed to pay them triple scale for US rates, plus ensure they received...