A trial set to doo-wop
In 1959 a 16-year-old in New York stood trial for murder. Salvador Agron, a poor Puerto Rican immigrant, became the youngest person to be sentenced to death in New York State. Paul Simon opens his musical about Agron with that moment. “Adios Hermanos” is the first track on Songs from The Capeman, and in it Simon tells the story of the trial and sentencing.
Agron murdered two other New York City teenagers and was sentenced to death himself, then had the sentence commuted. In prison he educated himself and turned into a poet and activist.
How it was written
Paul Simon began working on The Capeman in 1988. His friend Carlos Ortiz helped him find and translate source material. The two met with people who had known Agron in prison, and visited Esmeralda Agron in Puerto Rico.
Simon wrote the music and worked with the poet Derek Walcott on the words and the book. Simon worked on the musical for seven years, writing a set of songs that evoked doo wop, ’50s rock & roll, and Puerto Rican music. Simon and Walcott share the writing credit for “Adios Hermanos,” which runs 4:42.
The sound and the story
Douglas Wolk, reviewing the album for Salon in November 1997, called the track “a slow, dark, almost a cappella doo-wop number” with harmonies modeled on Ladysmith Black Mambazo. He wrote that Simon’s tenor moves through several characters over a salsa-inflected melody.
Warner Bros. released Songs from The Capeman on November 18, 1997. It was Simon’s ninth solo studio album, and he produced it himself. Simon, who was not performing in the musical, released the album a few months before the Broadway premiere as a preview of the show. Simon recorded the album at The Hit Factory in New York City and at his home.
On stage and after
On Broadway, Marc Anthony played the young Salvador Agron and Rubén Blades played the adult Agron. Renoly Santiago played Tony Hernandez and Ednita Nazario played Esmeralda Agron.
FAQ
– Who wrote Adios Hermanos?
Paul Simon wrote the music, and he wrote the words together with Derek Walcott, the poet who also co-wrote the book of The Capeman.
– When did Adios Hermanos come out?
It came out on November 18, 1997, as the opening track of Simon’s Warner Bros. album Songs from The Capeman. The album was released ahead of the musical’s Broadway premiere.