Once in a very great while, a "greatest hits" package actually does represent a performer's artistic peaks as a performer, and that is the case [with Greatest Hits, Etc.]…. [In his maturity, Paul Simon] has honed his writing to come up with highly interesting although often unresolved vignettes and character portraits of losers, Candides, and ambivalent heroes….

Most of the [songs] in this collection—including his current single, Slip Slidin' Away, about the futility of effort—deal with people who try too hard, have stopped trying, or are rewarded without trying at all. These ways of the world apparently fascinate and vex him at the same time, producing the artistic tension that can result in works of superior craftsmanship. But the lyrics' specific meanings are not always clear, and the actions of the characters are not always fully explained. Perhaps this harks back to the intellectual poets of...