Simon & Garfunkel part 1

Today we'll be featuring the best duo of all-time... Better than the Everly Brothers, better than the Carpenters... Even better than Milli Vanilli... Just joking... Milli Vanilli wasn't a duo, it was a ghost story from the 80s... Grammies...

Simon & Garfunkel were friends like forever. Well, actually since fourth grade. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel grew up in the 1940s and 1950s in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Forest Hills in Queens, New York, just three blocks away from one another, and attended the same schools, Public School 164 in Flushing, Parsons Junior High School, and Forest Hills High School. Individually, when still young, they developed a fascination with music; both listened to the radio and were taken with Rock and Roll as it emerged, particularly the Everly Brothers. When Simon first noticed Garfunkel, he was singing in a fourth grade talent show, and Simon thought that was a good way to attract girls; he hoped for a friendship which eventually started in 1953 when they were in the sixth grade and appeared on stage together in a school play adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. That first stage appearance was followed by the duo forming a street-corner Doo-wop group, the Peptones, with three other friends, and learning to harmonize together. They began performing for the first time as a duo at school dances.

While trying to remember the lyrics to the Everly's song Hey Doll Baby, they created their own song, Hey Schoolgirl, which they recorded themselves for $25 at Sanders Recording Studio in Manhattan. While recording they were overheard by a promoter, Sid Prosen, who – after speaking to their parents – signed them to his independent label Big Records.

While still aged 15, Simon & Garfunkel now had a recording contract with Sid Prosen's independent label Big Records. Using the name Tom & Jerry (Garfunkel naming himself Tom Graph, a reference to his interest in mathematics, and Simon naming himself Jerry Landis after the surname of Sue Landis, a girl he had dated), the single Hey Schoolgirl was released, with the B-side Dancin' Wild, in 1957. Prosen, using the payola system, bribed Alan Freed $200 to get the single played on his radio show, where it became a nightly staple. Hey Schoolgirl attracted regular rotation on nationwide AM pop stations, leading it to sell over 100,000 copies and to land on Billboard's charts at number 49. Prosen promoted the group heavily, getting them a spot on Dick Clark's American Bandstand (headlining alongside Jerry Lee Lewis). The duo shared approximately $4,000 from the song – earning two percent each from royalties, the rest staying with Prosen. They released three more singles on Big Records: Our Song, That's My Story, and Don't Say Goodbye, none of them successful. Here's that first hit of theirs:

After graduating from Forest Hills High School in 1958, they both went to college. While still with Big Records as a duo, Simon released a solo single, True or False, under the name "True Taylor". This recording upset Garfunkel, who regarded it as a betrayal; the emotional tension from that incident occasionally surfacing throughout their relationship.

When their cover of Baby Talk failed to sell, Tom & Jerry was dissolved. Both, however, continued recording, albeit as solo artists. No hits came.

After graduating from City University of New York in 1963, Simon joined Garfunkel, who was still at Columbia, to perform together again as a duo, this time with a shared interest in Folk music. While singing at a Greenwich club that hosted Monday night open mic performances, they introduced three new songs, Sparrow, He Was My Brother, and The Sound of Silence, which got the attention of Columbia producer Tom Wilson, who worked with Bob Dylan. As a "star producer" for the label, he wanted to record He Was My Brother with a new British act named the Pilgrims. Simon convinced Wilson to let him and his partner have a studio audition, and they performed The Sound of Silence. House engineer Roy Halee recorded the audition, and at Wilson's urging, Columbia signed the duo.

Their debut studio album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., was recorded over three daytime sessions in March 1964 and released in October. The album contains five original Simon compositions, with the remainder consisting of three traditional Folk songs and four Folk-influenced singer-songwriter numbers. Simon was adamant that they would no longer use stage names, and they adopted the name Simon & Garfunkel. Columbia set up a promotional showcase at Folk City on March 31, 1964, the duo's first public concert as Simon & Garfunkel. The showcase, as well as other scheduled performances, did not go well.

I'll be presenting all of Simon's original compositions, and I'll start with a song that is of particular interest to us. Bleecker Street is an early indication of Paul's poetic lyrics, an oblique snapshot of a street in New York. The second verse went like this:

"Voices leaking from a sad café

Smiling faces trying to understand

I saw a shadow touch a shadow's hand

On Bleecker Street"

This was interpreted by many, and especially by many gay people at the time, as referring to a gay meeting place. It was never officially confirmed or denied, but the song was "adopted" by the gay community.

For a long time, there was the impression that Simon & Garfunkel were gay, or at least bisexual. This was especially prevalent within the gay community in the 70s and early 80s. Perhaps it was the acrimonious nature of their breakup, which implied a bond that went way beyond professional concerns. I remember an American friend visiting in 1979; he introduced me to the Spartacus Gay Guide. He was also wearing a T-shirt that listed all the famous gay people throughout the ages. Among Alexander the Great, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Constantine Cavafy, there were also Simon & Garfunkel. I was pleasantly surprised, because they were already one of my favorite acts. When I asked for verification, he replied with an unwavering "of course they are". Those were the pre-Internet days.

He Was My Brother was written (by Simon under the pseudonym of Paul Kane) for Andrew Goodman, one of three young American activists of the Civil Rights Movement murdered near Philadelphia, Mississippi, during Freedom Summer in 1964 by members of the Ku Klux Klan. He was a friend and classmate of Paul Simon.

Sparrow works as a metaphor; by making us empathize with the weakest of creatures and feeling angry for those who do nothing to help, it's a call to activism. The lyrics are really touching:

Who will love a little Sparrow
Who's traveled far and cries for rest?
“Not I,” said the Oak Tree
“I won't share my branches with no sparrow's nest
And my blanket of leaves won't warm her cold breast”

Who will love a little Sparrow
And who will speak a kindly word?
“Not I,” said the Swan
“The entire idea is utterly absurd
I'd be laughed at and scorned if the other Swans heard”

And who will take pity in his heart
And who will feed a starving Sparrow?
“Not I,” said the Golden Wheat
“I would if I could, but I cannot, I know
I need all my grain to prosper and grow”

Who will love a little Sparrow?
Will no one write her eulogy?
“I will,” said the Earth
“For all I've created returns unto me
From dust were ye made and dust ye shall be”

The album's title track is a story of young love, crime and remorse:

Then there was this song; we'll speak more of it in a minute.

The album was initially unsuccessful, selling only 3,000 copies upon its October release, so Paul Simon moved to England and Art Garfunkel continued his studies at Columbia University in New York City. When it was re-released in January 1966, it peaked at #30 in the US chart. It would eventually go on to sell more than 1 million copies, earning a platinum record.

While in England, Simon toured the small Folk clubs, appearing on the same bill and befriending British folk artists such as Bert Jansch, Martin Carthy, Al Stewart, and Sandy Denny. He met Kathy Chitty, who became the object of his affection and is the Kathy in Kathy's Song and America.

Meanwhile, in the United States, a late-night disc jockey at WBZ-FM in Boston played The Sound of Silence, where it found a college demographic. It was picked up the next day along the East Coast of the United States, down to Cocoa Beach, Florida. Wilson, inspired by the folk rock sound of the Byrds' cover of Turn! Turn! Turn! and Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone, created a Rock remix of the song using studio musicians. Wilson had not informed the duo of his intention to remix the track; as such, Simon was "horrified" when he first heard it.

By January 1966, The Sound of Silence topped the US Hot 100, selling over one million copies. With this song, Simon & Garfunkel made an artistic statement as impactful as that of Dylan. Here are the lyrics:

"Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence"

With lyrics such as these, Paul Simon had already taken his place among the greats. As early as 1972, they were already being taught in colleges as part of the contemporary American poetry course.

Simon reunited with Garfunkel that winter in New York, leaving Chitty and his friends in England behind. CBS demanded a new album from the duo, to be called Sounds of Silence to ride the wave of the hit. Recorded in three weeks, and mainly consisting of re-recorded songs from The Paul Simon Songbook, an album Paul recorded in England, plus four new tracks, Sounds of Silence was rush-released onto the market in mid-January 1966, peaking at #21 on Billboard Top LPs chart. A week later, Homeward Bound was released as a single, entering the US Top 10, followed by I Am a Rock peaking at #3.

Homeward Bound was originally written on a scrap of paper, when Paul had left Kathy Chitty to perform in London, which resulted in him missing her company.

I Am a Rock is the Simon & Garfunkel song that often describes exactly how I feel. Thankfully not all the time.

Kathy's Song is about his feelings for Kathy Chitty.

Richard Cory is based on Edwin Arlington Robinson's 1897 poem of the same title. The song tells the tale of a Richard Cory from the perspective of one of the men who works in his factory. The factory worker is envious of the advantages and enjoyments available to Cory, believing him (Cory) to be a satisfied man. The last verse of the song ends similarly to the Robinson poem: Richard Cory went home last night and put a bullet through his head. The chorus repeats again after this verse. This signifies that, despite Cory's unhappiness - explained by his suicide - the worker still "curses his [the worker's] poverty", and would still rather be Richard Cory.

Them (Van Morrison's group), did a very good cover:

April Come She Will was written in 1964 while Paul Simon was in England. Its lyrics use the changing nature of the seasons as a metaphor for a girl's changing moods. The inspiration for the song was a girl that Simon met and the nursery rhyme she used to recite.

Other outstanding songs from the album include the pastoral Leaves That Are Green:

... Somewhere They Can't Find Me, a sequel of sorts to Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.:

A Most Peculiar Man was a variation on the theme of Richard Cory:

Finally, We've Got a Groovy Thing Goin' was the poppiest of the album's tunes:

Despite the commercial and popular success, the duo received critical derision, as many considered them a manufactured imitation of Folk. It was the time that Dylan was constantly booed during his concerts for using electric guitar. These were different times... The record-buying public however didn't buy this nonsense: the album eventually went 3x Platinum in the US, as well as Gold in the UK and Canada.

I'm sure you weren't expecting me to fast forward such an important act in a single day, were you? Quite right. Our next broadcast will conclude the Simon & Garfunkel story, and the one after that will deal with Simon's solo career. See you!