Simon and Garfunkel and the Sound of the 60s

Simon and Garfunkel were singer-songwriters in the 1960s, who seemed to me to symbolize the “good” side of the 1960s.  The idealism, the rebellion against conformity and materialism, and against the Vietnam War.

They were of course a folk rock duo, Paul Simon wrote the majority of the songs, and Art Garfunkel had a beautiful voice.  I love country music best, but Simon and Garfunkel though more sophisticated, had simplicity about their lyrics.

They met at school in Queens, New York.. and both were from Jewish families…

They were part of the folk music revival of the 1960s, but they started out in High school listening to rock and roll and wanting to sing as a way of attracting girls.  They began to play at school dances. When they were around 15 they got their first record deal.  They released a few singles and made a little money….When they graduated form high school, they both went to college to pursue their education as their parents were well aware that music was not a very stable career and encouraged them to continue learning. Paul studied English and Art studied architecture.   Paul Simon released a single by himself, while he was still working with Garfunkel –and his friend regarded it as something of a betrayal.  There was tension between them at times, which led to problems later on.   They had worked as “Tom and Jerry”, but they split up and began to work separately.  Simon wrote and worked for Carole King.

However in 1963, they started to work together again and were now focusing on folk music.  They produced some of their most famous songs, such as He was My Brother, Sparrow and the Sound of Silence… and were then signed by Columbia Records.  Their debut album was Wednesday Morning 3 a.m., in 1964.   They were now using their real names Simon and Garfunkel.

Simon had been studying Law; however he and Art found that the new album didn’t sell – and he decided to move to the UK.  In England, he met Kathy, a girl whom he fell in love with and wrote songs for.  She is mentioned as "Kathy" in the iconic "All Gone to look for America"... a song about travelling around the US...
Paul spent some time travelling  in Britain, writing and performing in small folk clubs and Art came over for the summer of 1964.  They both returned to America, and Simon went back to college, but the following year, he tried out England again. By 1966, Sound of Silence became extremely popular and the duo brought out an album entitled “Sound of Silence” with other folk numbers on it.  They recorded Scarborough Fair and they began to insist on creative and musical control of their records.

The film director Mike Nicholls wanted to use their songs on the soundtrack of his new film, the Graduate, and while Simon was wary of “selling out to Hollywood”, he wrote new songs for the film.

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