Simon & Garfunkel

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John, and I will devote this podcast episode to reviewing the highlights of the most successful folk-rock duo of the 1960's: Simon and Garfunkel!

All podcasts on the Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast are produced by brothers-in-law Bill Price and "Jumpin' John" McDermott. The Podcast Theme Song, "You Essay", was written by John. It was initially recorded by Bill and John on April 1, 2004 with several revisions since then.
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Transcript

Thank you for that introduction, and welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John, and I will devote this podcast episode to reviewing the highlights of the most successful folk-rock duo of the 1960's: Simon and Garfunkel!

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were both born in 1941, and they grew up near each other in the Kew Gardens Hills neighborhood in Queens, New York.  They attended the same schools, becoming friends in 1953.  They formed a street corner doo-wop group with three other friends, calling themselves the Peptones.  Simon and Garfunkel also began performing as a duo at school dances.

In 1956, while attending Forest Hills High School, they wrote their first song called "The Girl for Me".  The two fifteen-year olds recorded the song for $25 at Sanders Recording Studio in Manhattan.  After speaking to their parents, promoter Sid Prosen signed them to his independent label Big Records.  At Big Records, Simon and Garfunkel assumed the name Tom & Jerry.  Garfunkel named himself Tom Graph, a reference to his interest in mathematics.  Simon called himself Jerry Landis, after the surname of a girl he had dated.  Their first single, "Hey, Schoolgirl", was released with the B-side "Dancin' Wild" in 1957.  Using the payola system, Prosen bribed DJ Alan Freed $200 to play the single on his radio show, where it became a nightly staple.  "Hey, Schoolgirl" did well enough on nationwide AM stations that it sold more than 100,000 copies and reached #49 on the Billboard pop chart.  Sid Prosen also got the duo a spot on Dick Clark's American Bandstand alongside Jerry Lee Lewis.  However, their next two singles on Big Records were unsuccessful.  The duo split up.  Garfunkel composed and recorded the song "Private World" for Octavia Records, and, under the name Artie Garr, "Beat Love" for Warwick Records.  Simon recorded with the Mystics and Tico and the Triumphs, and wrote and recorded under the names Jerry Landis and Paul Kane.

In 1963, Simon and Garfunkel resumed performing  again as a duo. This time they focused on their shared interest in folk music.  Billing themselves as Kane & Garr, they performed at the Gerde's Folk City club in New York's Greenwich Village.  A prominent A&R man and producer with Columbia Records, Tom Wilson, let them audition the song "The Sound of Silence", and Columbia signed them.

Now calling themselves Simon & Garfunkel, their debut studio album was released by Columbia on October 19th, 1964.  Entitled Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., the LP was produced by Tom Wilson and recorded over three sessions in March 1964.  It contains five songs by Simon, three traditional folk songs, and four originals.  However, competing with the tide of the British Invasion, the album was initially unsuccessful.  The duo again went their separate ways, with Paul Simon moving to England and Art Garfunkel continuing his studies at Columbia University in New York City.  While in England, Simon played the folk circuit and recorded a solo album.  

The Simon & Garfunkel story might have ended there, except for a brainstorm of their producer, Tom Wilson.  Wilson, who also produced several of Bob Dylan's early albums, recognized that folk-rock was surging in popularity in 1965.  Wilson had helped Dylan electrify his sound, and he took the strongest track from Simon & Garfunkel's debut album, and embellished it with electric guitars, bass, and drums.  This remixed version of "The Sound of Silence," was released as a single on September 12th, 1965.  

[Here is an excerpt from Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence"]

Simon & Garfunkel were not informed of the song's remix until after its release.  The remix hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending January 1st, 1966.  In 1999, BMI named "The Sound of Silence" as the 18th most-performed song of the 20th century.  In 2004, it was ranked #156 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.  Also in 2004, the song "The Sound of Silence" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

In light of their sudden popularity, Paul Simon returned to the United States.  The duo reunited, and they hastily recorded their second album, which Columbia released on January 17th, 1966.   That LP was entitled Sounds of Silence in an attempt to capitalize on the single's success.  Producer Bob Johnston used Los Angeles session musicians from the informal group known as the Wrecking Crew to accompany Simon's guitar work.  Glen Campbell was one of those accompanying guitarists.  In the US the album reached #21 on the Billboard albums chart.  A slightly different assortment of songs was on the UK version of the album, and it climbed to #13 on the UK albums chart.  The closing track on both the US and UK versions was "I Am a Rock".  The duo cashed in quickly on their new-found album success, and released "I Am a Rock" as a single in May 1966.  "I Am a Rock" reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

[Here is an excerpt from Simon & Garfunkel's "I Am a Rock"]

On March 22nd, 2013, it was announced that the Sounds of Silencealbum would be preserved by the Library of Congress in the National Recording Registry, calling it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."  On a personal note, I would end up purchasing each of the first four Simon & Garfunkel studio albums.  Later, while in college, I would relax the morning before major exams by putting down my textbooks and listening to the soothing sounds of Simon & Garfunkel.  I came to know those songs by heart and even learned how to play several of the songs on guitar.  One of those songs was "April Come She Will".

[Here is Simon & Garfunkel's "April Come She Will"]

The song "Homeward Bound" appears on the duo's third studio album, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.  However, "Homeward Bound" was actually recorded during the sessions for their second album, Sounds of Silence, and included on that album in the UK.  Released on January 19th, 1966, it was their second single, the follow-up to their breakthrough hit "The Sound of Silence".  So it was actually released before "I Am a Rock".  "Homeward Bound" peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining on the charts for 12 weeks. It reached #2 in Canada and #9 in the UK.

[Here is an excerpt from Simon & Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound"]

Simon & Garfunkel supported their recent recordings with a nationwide tour of the US.  Since they considered The Sounds of Silence LP to have been a rush job to capitalize on their sudden success, Simon & Garfunkel spent more time working on the follow-up album.  Paul Simon insisted on having total control in aspects of recording.  The result was their third album, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, which was issued on October 24th, 1966. The song "Homeward Bound" had already been a top five single in numerous countries.  "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" would later be released as a single in February 1968.  

[Excerpt from Simon & Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair/Canticle"]

Boosted by the movie soundtrack from The Graduate, "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 in Canada.  The Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme album peaked at #4 on the Billboard Pop Album Chart and was eventually certified triple platinum by the RIAA.  In 1999, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

[Excerpt from Simon & Garfunkel's "A Hazy Shade of Winter"]

During the sessions for Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, Simon and Garfunkel had recorded "A Hazy Shade of Winter".  It was released as a single, peaking at #13 on the national charts.

Another song, "At the Zoo", was recorded in early 1967 for a single release.  It charted at #16.  By this time Simon & Garfunkel had become much more focused on the rising FM format, which played album cuts and treated their music with respect.  To fill the gap before completion of their fourth album, Columbia issued the single "Fakin' It" on July 7th, 1967.  Over the course of five weeks "Fakin' It" rose to its peak of #23 on September 2nd, 1967.

The duo's rare television appearances at this time saw them performing on shows like The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, and The Andy Williams Show in 1966, and twice on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1967.  Around this time movie director Mike Nichols contacted Columbia Records chairman Clive Davis and Paul Simon, asking for their participation in the soundtrack of his critically acclaimed 1968 movie The Graduate.  The Graduate soundtrack would include five songs from Simon & Garfunkel, along with several instrumental pieces by Dave Grusin.  Although the soundtrack album features two versions of "Mrs. Robinson", neither is the full version as featured on Bookends, which was composed later.  The other major song of the album, the 1965 hit "The Sound of Silence", is used three times in the film.  On January 21st, 1968 the soundtrack for The Graduate was released on Columbia Masterworks.  At the 11th Grammy Awards on March 12th, 1969, Simon and Grusin won the 1968 Grammy Award for "Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special".  The song "Mrs. Robinson" received the Grammy for "Record of the Year", and Simon & Garfunkel collected the Grammy award for "Best Contemporary-pop Performance, Vocal Duo or Group".  

[Excerpt from Simon & Garfunkel's "America"]

For their next project, Simon and Garfunkel developed a concept album that would explore a life journey from childhood to old age.  Side one of the album would mark successive stages in life, the theme serving as bookends to the life cycle.  Side two would largely consist of previously released singles and of unused material for The Graduate soundtrack.  The album was recorded gradually over the period of a year, with production speeding up around the later months of 1967.  Produced by Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, and Roy Halee, the duo's fourth album, Bookends, was released by Columbia Records on April 3rd, 1968.  The album climbed to #1 on the Billboard albums chart and stayed at that position for seven non-consecutive weeks, remaining on the chart for a total of 66 weeks.  It also reached #1 in the UK and charted highly in both Australia and France, peaking in both countries at #3.

Bookends had received such heavy orders weeks in advance of its release that Columbia was able to apply for award certification before copies had left the warehouse.  The record became the duo's best-selling album to date.  It fed off the buzz created by the release of The Graduate soundtrack album ten weeks earlier, creating an initial combined sales figure of over five million units.  Two days after the album's release, on April 5th, 1968, "Mrs. Robinson" was released as a single.  By June 1st "Mrs. Robinson" had became the duo's second #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, a position it held for three weeks.  It peaked at #1 in Canada and #4 in the UK. 

[Here is an excerpt from Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson"]

In 1999 the 1968 recording of the song "Mrs. Robinson" on Columbia Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Simon and Garfunkel's partnership began to weaken in the late 1960's. They had known each other most of their lives, and been performing together for over a decade.  Simon began to feel constrained by the limits of working with the same collaborator.  Garfunkel, who's high tenor was crucial to their appeal, wrote virtually none of the material and was somewhat overshadowed by the songwriting talents of Simon.  They started to record some of their contributions separately in the studio, and barely played live at all in 1969, as Garfunkel began to pursue an acting career.

Simon and Garfunkel's final studio album, Bridge Over Troubled Water, was released in January 1970.  It was an enormous hit, topping the Billboard album chart for 10 weeks.  It also topped the charts in 9 other countries, including the UK, where it topped the charts for 35 weeks.  Bridge over Troubled Water was the best-selling album in 1970, 1971, and 1972 and was at that time the best-selling album of all time.  It has since sold more than 25 million copies worldwide.

"Bridge over Troubled Water", the lead single, reached #1 in the US and four other countries and became the duo's biggest seller.  

[Here is an excerpt from Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge over Troubled Water"]

The song "Bridge over Troubled Water" has been covered by more than 50 artists.  The follow-up singles from the album also did well in the charts.  In the US "Cecilia" reached #4, "El Condor Pasa" reached #18, and "The Boxer" reached #7.  A brief British tour followed the album release, and the duo's last concert as Simon & Garfunkel took place at Forest Hills Stadium.  In 1971, the Bridge over Troubled Water album won six awards at the 13th Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.

Bridge over Troubled Water would be their last album of new material.  Although they didn't necessarily intend to break up at the time, the break from recording eventually became permanent.  Paul Simon began a very successful solo career.  Art Garfunkel pursued simultaneous acting and recording careers.  They did reunite in 1975 for a Top Ten single, "My Little Town," and periodically performed together since, without ever coming close to generating albums of new material.  A 1981 concert in New York's Central Park attracted half a million fans, and was commemorated with a live album.  They also toured in the early 1980's, but a planned studio album was canceled due to artistic differences.

Simon & Garfunkel won seven Grammy Awards plus four Grammy Hall of Fame Awards.  In 1990 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Considered by many to have been the most successful folk-rock duo of the 1960's, Simon & Garfunkel are among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 100 million records.  They were ranked 40th on Rolling Stone's 2010 list of the Greatest Artists of All Time and third on its list of the greatest duos.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John McDermott, and I will close out this podcast with a song that showcases Art Garfunkel's versatile tenor voice:  "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her".  So, until next time, Rock On!