Simon & Garfunkel, The #22 Artist of the Rock Era, Part One

"These boys were geniuses. “the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls"

"The best duo ever. Their voices blended perfectly."

Sensational!"

"One of the best groups of all-time. Absolute legends."

"Their music is timeless."

"One of the all-time greats!"

Unbelievable chemistry"

"Simply brilliant."

"They are fantastic!"

"Gold, pure gold."

"They were born to sing together ❤. Their voices are amazing."

"I think these are the best harmonies ever made."

"The more time passes, the more one realizes how great they were and how great they sounded."

"They sang the anthems of a complete generation (or 2). We should cherish this music that was sang with such beautifull harmony and social relevance."

"This is what magic sounds like."

"The best duo in history."

"The masters of harmony. Amazing, legendary act."

"These guys will never be matched. True legends."

"They are so incredible and will never be forgotten."

This legendary duo of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel grew up three blocks apart from each other and met while in grade school in Queens, New York, in 1953, and they attended the same junior high and high schools as well.  Both were captivated by rock and roll, especially the music of the Everly Brothers.  

The two initially started a doo-wop group with three other friends known as the Peptones and learned to harmonize.  Paul and Art performed as a duo at school dances.  They wrote their first song together in 1956--"The Girl For Me".  While both were 15, they wrote "Hey Schoolgirl" and recorded it at Sanders Recording Studio in Manhattan.  Promoter Sid Prosen heard the song and signed the duo to Big Records.

They began their recording career as Tom & Jerry, and "Hey Schoolgirl" sold over 100,000 copies and charted on Billboard.  They earned a spot on American Bandstand, but two further releases were not successful.  Unsure of how their career was going to go, they made the wise move of attending college, with Simon going to Queens College and Art going to Columbia University.

Both recorded songs as solo performers, and Simon wrote songs alongside Carole King and Gerry Goffin.  Paul graduated college and joined Art at Columbia to once again perform together under the name Kane & Garr at Gerde's Folk City in Greenwich.

It was these performances that were heard by Tom Wilson, an A& R man and producer at Columbia Records.  Simon and Garfunkel auditioned in the studio singing "Sound Of Silence", and Wilson persuaded his boss to sign the duo to a recording contract.

 

In 1964, they released their debut album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., under the name of Simon & Garfunkel.  "Bleeker Street", a famous street in Greenwich Village where Folk music was red-hot, is one of the earliest songs the pair wrote together.

 

The title song tells of a man who has committed a crime and lies awake knowing that he will have to leave his lover forever in the morning.  As she sleeps next to him not knowing of the night's events, he clings to that precious moment, wishing time would stand still so he doesn't have to flee.  We never know what happened to him.  Here is "Wednesday Morning 3 A.M."

Another standout is "He Was My Brother", dedicated to Andrew Goodman, who was their friend and a classmate of Simon at Queens College.  Goodman volunteered in Freedom Summer in 1964 and was abducted and killed in the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in the evil county of Neshoba in Mississippi.  Goodman was simply there registering voters.  

Although there are a few prime cuts on the album, when it sold poorly, the duo disbanded again.  

Simon moved to England and began a solo career, playing small folk clubs with other artists including Al Stewart and Sandy Denny.  While in England, Paul met Cathy Chitty and the two became romantically involved.  By this time, Simon graduated from Brooklyn Law School and Garfunkel, having graduated from Columbia, pursued a master's degree in mathematics. 

Legend has it that unbeknownst to Simon and Garfunkel, Wilson overdubbed a song on their album ("The Sound Of Silence"), adding in electric guitar and drums, and released it as a single.  Incredibly, the song by a duo that was no longer together went to #1 nationally and sold over one million copies.  

When the shocked Simon and Garfunkel heard their song on the radio, they decided to get together and record another album, Sounds of Silence, which they released in 1966.  That surprise #1 song that essentially saved the careers of this legendary duo is now The #10 Song of the Rock Era*!

 

The duo chose "Homeward Bound" as a follow-up, which later appeared on their third album.  Simon wrote it while living in Brentwood, Essex, England.  He was traveling back from a show in Wigan and wrote the song while in Liverpool waiting for a connecting train.

 

The duo toured the country, and "I Am A Rock" rose to #3.  Simon isn't being autobiographical here, but the character in the song just wants to be alone, away from everyone and everything.

"Kathy's Song" is another popular track on the album.  Simon refers to "Kathy" in both "America" and "Homeward Bound".  Kathy is Kathy Chitty, the woman he met while he lived in England and the two had a serious love affair.  He wrote "Kathy's Song" while thinking of her and missing her in New York City.

"Richard Cory" is a song based on the poem of the same name by Edwin Arlington Robinson.  In Robison's poem, everyone was envious of Cory, believing he had it all--money, power, intelligence.  In reality, Cory had no friends, was extremely lonely, and ended up committing suicide.  In other words, money isn't all it's cracked up to be.

 

The duo's last four albums could serve as "Greatest Hits" packages for most artists, as they are loaded with high quality songs. Here is another amazing track--"April Come She Will".  The song, later included on "The Graduate" Soundtrack,  isunder two minutes, but Simon uses the months of the year to tell of a relationship that seemed promising at the beginning but faded with each passing month.

Paul's acoustic guitar playing gives us the instrumental, "Angi".

 

With "Somewhere They Can't Find Me", we find a unique experience in which the artist has reworked a previous song into something completely different.  This is in effect a remake of "Wednesday Morning 3 A.M.", the title song from the duo's first album.  The update takes a somber song and gives it a much rougher edge, built on the foundation of the instrumental you just heard, "Anji", but at a faster tempo laced with percussion and horns.  

Although the lyrics are basically the same, by rearranging the music and portraying a much different atmosphere, the listener is left with something completely different.  In this version, the protagonist doesn't seem to show any remorse, and his lover seems to catch him as he is leaving.  This interesting twist makes it much more difficult to feel empathy for the character than we did in the first version.  

Nevertheless, it shows the great artistic songwriting skill of someone who can, with just a slight change of the storytelling and different musical composition, offer the listener a completely different experience.

Much more from this sensational duo!