The Boy in the Bubble

"The Boy in the Bubble" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was the third single from his seventh studio album, Graceland (1986), released on Warner Bros. Records. Written by Simon and Forere Motloheloa (an accordionist from Lesotho), its lyrics explore starvation and terrorism, juxtaposed with wit and optimism. The single—released in February 1987—performed well on charts worldwide. In the United States, it was mainly successful on the Album Rock Tracks chart, where it peaked at No. 15. Outside the U.S., "The Boy in the Bubble" was a top 20 hit in the Netherlands, and top 30 in the United Kingdom and Belgium. Background The song retains the only lyric Simon managed to compose on his South African trip: "The way the camera follows us in slo-mo, the way we look to us all." The imagery in the video, directed by Jim Blashfield, was inspired by film clips of the John F. Kennedy assassination, as well as Ronald Reagan's attempted assassination. The song's title was presumably inspired by the medical cases of David Vetter and Ted DeVita. The chorus also references "the baby with the baboon heart," presumably referring to Baby Fae. He said, "Hope and dread... that's the way I see the world—a balance between the two, but coming down on the side of hope."