I was working on an article for the NY Times. We picked Paul Simon up in a limousine and went out to LL Cool J's house in Queens, where he was living with his grandmother. We got there and walked past the vinyl covered furniture in the living room and were ushered down to the basement where LL’s bedroom was. At the time, Paul Simon was working on Graceland, his head deep into African music. LL Cool J, it turns out, was really into Doo-wop, which is the kind of music on which Paul Simon cut his teeth. So, LL Cool J is trying to explain his love of Doo-wop to Paul Simon who was trying to teach LL Cool J about African music, and the whole time his grandmother is yelling down the steps, “Turn it down, Turn it down!”