Paul Simon Reveals Hearing Loss Forced Retiring of Fan Favorite Song

Paul Simon is opening up about retiring one of his greatest hits, saying that the decision to remove it from his setlist was out of necessity.

The Simon and Garfunkel singer-songwriter has not been performing "You Can Call Me Al," a 1986 track released from his album "Graceland," at recent live shows, and in a new interview with CBS Mornings, Simon revealed that his battle with hearing loss left him unable to perform the song like he used to.

"There's only about 6% [hearing] in my left ear," he said, revealing that he has been using multiple monitors at recent shows in order to hear properly. "When the balance is right, I can hear well."

The condition, Simon added, has forced him to be more selective in what songs appear on his setlists these days.

"I'm going through my repertoire and reducing a lot of the choices I make to acoustic versions," he explained. "It's all much quieter. It's not 'You Can Call Me Al.' That's gone. I can't do that one."

Elsewhere in the interview, Simon admitted that, initially, he struggled to come to terms with his hearing impairment, which he found "incredibly frustrating."

"I was very angry at first that this had happened … I guess what I'm most apprehensive about would be if I can't hear well enough to really enjoy the act of making music," he said.

However, the hearing loss has not affected his creativity.

"You know Matisse, when he was suffering at the end of his life, when he was in bed, he envisioned all these cutouts and had a great creative period," Simon noted. "So I don't think creativity stops with disability. So far, I haven't experienced that. And I hope not to."

Simon revealed his hearing loss earlier this year to the U.K.'s The Times, saying that it happened "quite suddenly," noting that "nobody has an explanation for it."

"My reaction to that was frustration and annoyance; not quite anger yet, because I thought it would pass, it would repair itself," he said at the time.

Speaking with CBS News in June, Simon said his hearing loss was "upsetting."

"I can still hear well enough to play guitar and write," he said. "But I can't hear well enough to play with five or six musicians. Maybe that's fine. Maybe there's something to be learned from that?"