Simon and Garfunkel

Floyd

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If The EVERLY BROTHERS had diverted their harmonised rock’n’roll allegiances into folk music, they just might’ve sounded like SIMON & GARFUNKEL, probably the greatest duo of the genre, at least in the 60s.

Formed New York City in 1957 as Tom & Jerry (Tom was Art Garfunkel, Jerry was Paul Simon), the pair scored their first hit that year with the lightweight rock-pop of `Hey Schoolgirl’, it would several years later before S&G met with any real success. In the meantime, Paul released a series of obscure singles under various pseudonyms including True Taylor (!) and Jerry Landis, wisely opting for a plain and simple Paul Simon as his songs began to take on a more folky hue. Garfunkel, meanwhile, had gone back to college, although by 1964 the duo had reunited, subsequently signing with Columbia Records and recording a tentative debut album, WEDNESDAY MORNING, 3 AM (1964) {*6}. A mixture of Simon originals (including the inaugural take of `The Sound Of Silence’, `He Was My Brother’ and the title track), there were also fresh arrangements of `Peggy-O’, `Go Tell It On The Mountain’ and the Gregorian chant-like `Benedictus’, while covers included ED McCURDY’s `Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream’, IAN CAMPBELL’s `The Sun Is Burning’, GIBSON & CAMP’s `You Can Tell The World’ and DYLAN’s `The Times They Are A-Changin’’. The record’s dismal sales figures prompted SIMON to return to Europe, where he’d been living the previous year. He duly recorded and released “The Paul Simon Songbook” (1965) album in London, a set featuring many of Paul’s homesick compositions which he’d later re-record with Garfunkel and which would become main staples of the S&G repertoire, including `I Am A Rock’, `The Sound Of Silence’, `April Come She Will’, `A Simple Desultory Philippic’, etc.
Back in New York, producer Tom Wilson had taken it upon himself to revamp the acoustic `The Sound Of Silence’ (from “Wednesday…”) in an electric folk-rock style, de rigueur in 1965. The result was stunning, as powerful and revelatory as the BYRDS’ reworking of `Mr. Tambourine Man’, the track storming to the top of the US charts (The Bachelors subsequently took the track to No.3 in Britain). Simon returned from Old Blighty post-haste, hooking up with Garfunkel once again for what would become the most commercially successful period of his career.

SOUNDS OF SILENCE (1966) {*6} was hurriedly released to consolidate the duo’s newfound fame, a set largely comprising folk-rock re-workings of Simon’s back catalogue and spawning a further US Top 5 hit in the shape of the aforementioned bedsit classic, `I Am A Rock’ (plus a worldwide smash he wrote at Widnes railway station, `Homeward Bound’); check out also `Richard Cory’, `A Most Peculiar Man’, the BYRDS-cloned `Blessed’ and a rendition of DAVY GRAHAM’s `Anji’ (Paul’s Brit-rock pal).

PARSLEY, SAGE, ROSEMARY & THYME (1966) {*8} polished up the clean-cut harmonies and witnessed SIMON’s songwriting develop apace; `Scarborough Fair / Canticle’ (the former adapted from Paul’s solo, `The Side Of The Hill’) was an inventive attempt to splice two traditional songs, while `7 O’Clock News / Silent Night’ fairly effectively overlaid the traditional Christmas carol with bad tidings in the form of a grim newscast. `For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her’, meanwhile, arguably ranks as one of Simon’s most emotive and personal performances.

The following summer saw the songwriter play a major hand in organising the Monterey Pop Festival, SIMON & GARFUNKEL subsequently headlining the first day of the event. The summer of ‘68, meanwhile, finally saw S&G break big-time in Britain, both with the evergreen pop fizz of `Mrs. Robinson’ (written as part of the soundtrack – alongside composer Dave Grusin – which Simon penned for THE GRADUATE {*6}, a cult flick-turned-blockbuster starring Dustin Hoffman) and their biggest album to date, BOOKENDS (1968) {*9}.

A transatlantic No.1, the record is still regarded by many as representing the peak of S&G’s career, an even more ambitious set than its predecessor, encompassing everything from the autumnal melancholy of `A Hazy Shade Of Winter’ to The BEATLES-esque `Old Friends’. Although only 30 minutes in duration (and repeating `Mrs. Robinson’), tracks such as `America’, `Fakin’ It’, `Punky’s Dilemma’ and `At The Zoo’ were both visionary and literate.

Even greater success was to come, though, the duo making rock/pop history in 1970 when BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER {*9}, simultaneously reached the UK and US top spot in both its single and album format, the latter staying in the UK chart for an incredible 300 weeks. Its title track was the album’s main selling point, an epic, exquisitely-arranged ballad sung by Garfunkel, the song becoming the group’s signature tune, even more so than, say, `Mrs. Robinson’. Other highlights included the celebratory `Cecilia’, `The Boxer’ and the adapted Peruvian folk tune, `El Condor Pasa’.

Art was dissatisfied, however, both with the direction in which Paul was steering the group and the fact that the latter dominated the songwriting front. At the peak of their fame, then, S&G disbanded, creating a legend in their wake. While Garfunkel concentrated on acting, Simon continued with the solo career he’d begun in 1965, scoring almost immediately with the buoyant pop-reggae of `Mother And Child Reunion’, a transatlantic Top 5 hit single in early 1972.

Reuniting briefly on September 19, 1981, the pair gave a hugely popular free concert (released as a Top 10 double album), THE CONCERT IN CENTRAL PARK (1982) {*7}, although a mooted studio project was abandoned. Sparked by a performance of `The Sound Of Silence’ at the Grammys (and recorded between December 3rd and 8th, 2003) a surprise second reunification proper, OLD FRIENDS: LIVE ON STAGE (2004) {*6}, was more of the same, a double-CD but aimed this time at the DVD market.

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