Paul Simon has a new album, So Beautiful Or So What, arriving next spring, his first since 2006’s Surprise. 

Produced by Phil Ramone, the legendary singer-songwriter calls the forthcoming LP, “the best work I’ve done in 20 years,” which is nearly as long as Simon’s been married to singer Edie Brickell (who also has some new projects coming in 2011). He’s jettisoned longtime label Warner Bros. for Concord Music (where Paul McCartney and Wings landed), which will issue So Beautiful Or So What. Simon also has moved his previous solo albums over to Sony/Columbia, home to the Simon & Garfunkel catalog, so it’s safe to assume we’ll be seeing remastered editions of Simon’s solo output in the near future.

But back to the present. One of the tunes set to appear on So Beautiful Or So What is “Getting Ready For Christmas Day,” which Simon has wisely decided to unwrap now as a gift to his fans. Told from the perspective of a man concerned about money woes as the holidays come around and thinking about his nephew who’s serving his third tour of duty in Iraq, “Getting Ready For Christmas Day” samples a 1941 sermon by the same name from Reverend. J.M. Gates: