Paul Simon - An Appreciation

Well, he didn't write for Garfunkel's voice, but I'd put the early 70s solo material up there with the best S&G songs. My favorite S&G songs -- like "The Boxer", "America" and "Homeward Bound" sound better with two voices than one, but I'm not sure that Garfunkel's voice couldn't have been easily replaced.

 

I heard him try to sing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" in concert - he can't come close. That's a song he never writes without Garfunkel. There are certainly others. I'm not saying he couldn't have been replaced, but for some reason Simon didn't replace him, and that affected his songwriting.

 

"Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio,
Our nation turns it's lonely eyes to you"

are two of the greatest lines in American songwriting.

I used to get a little misty every time I heard "Old Friends" (Can you imagine us years from today, sharing a parkbench quietly
How terribly strange to be seventy) because I could imagine it when I was twenty-one.

 

Love the Lemonheads' version of "Mrs. Robinson".

 

Yeah -- that's the classic Garfunkel song. Simon took the lead in that song in the last tour that they did, which made no sense.

 

I saw S&G in Vancouver when their first reunion tour came through in the early '80s. They had screens on each side of the stage that were showing the concert (it was a large dome) and during "Old Friends" they had a slide show of photos of the two of them starting when they were in elementary school together and ending with them on the stage right at that moment. I don't think I was the only one that teared up.

 

HC, in case you missed it, you'd probably enjoy Simon's review in the NY Times of Sondheim's book:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/books/review/Simon-t.html

 

I like Simon and Garfunkel, but I think my favourite Simon songs were the ones recorded and turned into hits by other artists - Red Rubber Ball, The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) and Hazy Shade of Winter.

 

Thank you so much for that. One of my favourite songwriters writing about my favourite Broadway composer. Lovely.

 

My best friend and I have always loved "Old Friends." In 2004, in the midst of a health scare, when I'd gotten some bad test results and was waiting to have a procedure to see if I was sick or not, we went to see S&G on one of their reunion tours. We both lost it when they did "Old Friends." (I turned out to be perfectly healthy, BTW). The song itself is so poignant (it was when we were 18 and has only gotten more so, the older I get) but seeing these old frenemies onstage together performing it added an extra layer to it.

I was in Manhattan on the day of the concert in Central Park (I was 13), but we were going to visit a relative. I wish I had thought of talking everyone into going over there.

 

Plus, he can take Connie Hawkins to the rim.

 

I disagree that his solo work is somehow less than his S&G stuff. One could also make the argument that since Garfunkel would seem to have less stylistic range than Simon their staying together might have meant the loss of some great stuff too.