"Like many New Yorkers, I remember the Capeman story from my youth. It was the summer between high school and college, and the story was all over the papers and on T.V. I remember thinking here was a kid my age--a kid who had the look. Salvador Agron looked like a rock and roll hoodlum; he looked like the 1950's." - Paul Simon

"The Story of The Capeman" emerged from a news story in New York back in 1959. 30 August that year a teenage gang called "the Vampires" were searching for another gang. They stumbled upon some innocent teenagers who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the fight following this meeting, a 16-year old Puerto Rican kid, Salvador Agron, stabbed to death two innocent boys and ran away. He earned the name "The Capeman" from the way he was described. Witnesses described him as a tall Puerto Rican wearing a black cape with red lining.

Salvador was for many New Yorkers, the true symbol of evil and for a society falling apart. He was sentenced to die in the elctric chair, as the youngest ever in New York state. The sentence was later changed to 20 years in prison, and Salvador Agron was released in 1979. He died, 43 years old, 22 April 1986 in the Bronx, NY.

"I began thinking about the Capeman story as the basis for a musical in 1989, while I was working on The Rhythm Of The Saints. It felt like a very New York story with a great musical environment; it raised the possibility of examining changing musical styles as the story unfolded and moved back and forth between Puerto Rico and New York." - Paul Simon

"Writing songs in a 50s style was very appealing to me, and so was writing songs in a Latin style, which was a significant and sort of exotic New York subculture to me when I was growing up. Since I was working at the time with Brazilian drums and West African guitars, it wasn't too much of a leap to begin thinking about music from Puerto Rico." - Paul Simon

"The Story Of The Capeman"-musical did not become the success that many had predicted in advance. However, Songs From The Capeman remains as one of Paul Simon's best solo work. Many people have claimed that Paul's intentions with the musical, was not to attract as many spectators as possible, but simply to tell the story of "the Capeman". And he did, he truly did...

If you would like a more comprehensive story and information of "the Capeman", I would recommend you to visit "The Story of the Capeman"-website.