Paul Simon opened up about nearing the end of his life as he reflected on losing fellow musicians.

Paul Simon admitted his generation’s “time is up” as he issued an emotional update. The American singer-songwriter, 83, made the confession as he opened up ahead of the release of his 15th solo album, Seven Psalms, in 2023. While making the album, Simon suffered a near-total loss in his left ear. In an interview with The Times, he said: “Quite suddenly I lost most of the hearing in my left ear, and nobody has an explanation for it.

“So everything became more difficult. My reaction to that was frustration and annoyance; not quite anger yet, because I thought it would pass, it would repair itself.” His hearing was yet to return at the time of the interview, meaning the prospect of a live performance comeback was extremely unlikely.

But that didn’t faze the You Can Call Me Al singer as he admitted: “The songs of mine that I don’t want to sing live, I don’t sing them. Sometimes there are songs that I like and then at a certain point in a tour, I’ll say, ‘What the f*** are you doing, Paul?’”

In the final song on the album, Wait, Simon came to the realisation about what the lyrics truly meant for him while creating them.

Paul writes: “Heaven is beautiful. It’s almost like home. Children, get ready. It’s time to come home.” Ending with a harmonised “Amen” and tolling bells, listeners can almost sense the drawing of a final breath.

“It’s a spooky thing to be writing something and just be thinking, ‘Oh, this is what the song needs,’” an emotional Simon told the publication. “And then it’s, ‘By the way, this is about you. You’re actually the subject of this.’”

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In a heartbreaking confession, he added: “It’s just the age we’re at. Gordon Lightfoot just passed away; Jeff Beck too. My generation’s time is up.”

Last year, Simon issued a rare but positive update about his hearing. Speaking at the premiere for the two-part documentary, In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon, the musician revealed that his hearing had come back to “enough of a degree that I’m comfortably singing and playing guitar and playing a few other instruments”.

I can hear my voice the way I want it in the context of the music. If there’s a drum or an electric guitar, it’s too loud and I can’t hear my voice. But when I first lost the hearing, I couldn’t get it, it threw me off. Everything was coming from this side,” he said, People reported.