There Goes Rhymin' Simon

Critics praised the album. The Denver Post's Jared Johnson called it "a brilliantly executed masterpiece, and surely the finest album in three years", citing such 1970 releases as Bridge Over Troubled Water and After the Gold Rush.^[12] Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times said, "Combining a variety of musical textures (from a touch of gospel to an infectious trace of Jamaican rhythm to a hint of the old Simon and Garfunkel grandeur), Simon's new album firmly establishes him as one of our most valuable and accessible artists."^[13] Stephen Holden of Rolling Stone praised the album as "a rich and moving song cycle, one in which each cut reflects on every other to create an ever-widening series of refractions."^[14]

However, Stereo Review's Noel Coppage, while giving the album an "excellent" rating, nonetheless felt that it was "deficient in spontaneity, excitement, strain", calling its arrangements "clean and sensible" but "oddly predictable".^[15]

In 2003, the album was ranked number 267 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.^[16]

In 2000 it was voted number 421 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.^[17]

All tracks written by Paul Simon.

• Paul Simon – vocals, acoustic guitar (1, 3, 4, 6–10)
• Barry Beckett – keyboards (1, 3, 9), acoustic piano (5), vibraphone (9)
• Paul Griffin – acoustic piano (2)
• Bob James – keyboards (4, 6)
• Bobby Scott – acoustic piano (4)
• Carson Whitsett – Hammond organ (8)
• Pete Carr – acoustic guitar (1), electric guitar (3, 5, 9)
• Jimmy Johnson – electric guitar (1, 3)
• Cornell Dupree – electric guitar (2)
• Al Gafa – guitar (4)
• David Spinozza – guitar (4)
• Jerry Puckett – electric guitar (8)
• David Hood – bass guitar (1, 3, 5, 9, 10)
• Gordon Edwards – bass guitar (2)
• Bob Cranshaw – bass guitar (4, 6, 7)
• Richard Davis – double bass (4)
• Verne Robbins – bass guitar (8)
• Roger Hawkins – drums (1, 3, 5, 10), percussion (9)
• Rick Marotta – drums (2)
• Grady Tate – drums (4, 6)
• James Stroud – drums (8)
• Don Elliott – vibraphone (4)
• Airto Moreira – percussion (7)
• Uncredited – horns (1, 8), Hammond organ (2), strings (3), flute (4), shaker (4), choir (5)
• Onward Brass Band – horns (3)
• Allen Toussaint – horn arrangements (2)
• Quincy Jones – string arrangements (4)
• Del Newman – string arrangements (6)
• The Dixie Hummingbirds – group vocals (2, 10)
• Claude Jeter – falsetto vocals (3)
• Maggie and Terre Roche – backing vocals (7)

• Paul Simon – producer, arrangements
• The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section – co-producers (1, 3, 5, 9, 10)
• Roy Halee – co-producer (2, 7), engineer (2, 7)
• Paul Samwell-Smith – co-producer (6)
• Jerry Masters – supervising engineer, engineer (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10)
• Phil Ramone – supervising engineer, engineer (2, 4–7, 10), co-producer (4, 7, 8, 10)
• Roger Quested – engineer (6)
• Gerald Stephenson – engineer (8)
• Richard Blakin – assistant engineer
• Milton Glaser – cover design