All Around the World or The Myth of Fingerprints

The song *All Around the World or the Myth of Fingerprints* is a piece that invites immersion into the particular sonority that Paul Simon explored for his album Graceland. With a duration of 3 minutes and 16 seconds, this composition draws on a mix of styles ranging from pop and rock to South African rhythms like isicathamiya and mbaqanga, as well as a cappella and zydeco. The recording featured the participation of musicians from South Africa, thus uniting different musical influences in a single project.

This track was conceived during a period of transition for Paul Simon. In the early 1980s, his relationship with Art Garfunkel had become complicated, his marriage to actress Carrie Fisher had ended, and his previous album, Hearts and Bones (1983), had not achieved the expected success. After a period of discouragement, in 1984, Simon was captivated by a tape of mbaqanga, South African street music. He and engineer Roy Halee traveled to Johannesburg and spent two weeks recording with local musicians. The album's production was handled by Simon himself, with sound engineering by Roy Halee, Mark Cobrin, and Steven Strassman, and it was released on August 25, 1986, by Warner Bros. Records.