Podcasts about simon and garfunkel

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out!Welcome back to Bad Dads Film Review! This week, we're sinking into the beautifully awkward and emotionally layered world of The Graduate (1967), a landmark in American cinema that captured the confusion and alienation of a generation—and still resonates today.Directed by Mike Nichols and based on Charles Webb's novel, The Graduate stars a breakout Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock, a recent college graduate adrift in a sea of expectations, ennui, and passive-aggressive dinner parties. Returning home to California, Ben finds himself stuck in a well-off suburban limbo, unsure of what to do with his future and utterly disconnected from the adults around him.Enter Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), the wife of his father's business partner and one of the most iconic seductresses in film history. Their affair is sultry, weirdly funny, and shot through with a tragic edge that gives the film its unique tone—equal parts satire, drama, and coming-of-age fable. Complications multiply when Ben falls for Mrs. Robinson's daughter Elaine (Katharine Ross), throwing everyone's lives into romantic chaos and sparking a messy, impulsive pursuit that culminates in one of the most famous closing shots in cinema history.Visually, The Graduate is striking—Nichols' inventive use of framing, reflections, and slow dissolves elevates the emotional subtext, and Simon & Garfunkel's folk-heavy soundtrack ("The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson") lingers in your head long after the credits roll. The music doesn't just underscore the scenes—it becomes a character in itself, echoing Benjamin's alienation and longing.But what really makes The Graduate endure is its tonal complexity. It's satirical, yes, but also melancholic. Benjamin isn't a traditional hero; he's self-absorbed, indecisive, and often unlikeable. Yet in that uncertainty lies the film's power—it taps into that restless moment between adolescence and adulthood where everything feels hollow, and rebellion can look like love, lust, or simply running away.Is the ending romantic or despairing? Is Benjamin a rebel or just another aimless rich kid? The Graduate leaves space for interpretation, and that ambiguity is what keeps it feeling alive, even decades later.So whether you're watching for the sharp dialogue, the iconic performances, or just to see Dustin Hoffman awkwardly floating in a pool of existential dread—this one's a classic for a reason.

On this week's episode of The Album Atmosphere, David sits down with Andrew Baum to discuss fourth album from Simon & Garfunkel, "Bookends".

Well, hey there. I guess it's a good time to tell you that we're back, and we're ready to be a source of love and light for you again, if love and light are boogers and farts. This week, we're picking up where we unexpectedly left off with Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel. This episode features some health advice, and Stacy's not happy about it.

"The Simon and Garfunkel Story" comes to Miller Auditorium March 19 and the creator of the show, Dean Elliot, joined us to talk about it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Young Rascals were one of the early groups which would define the genre of "blue eyed soul."  For a period of two to three years, this group would generate hit after hit.  Their third album, Groovin', would close out the era in which they were known as “The Young Rascals,” because follow-up albums would see them using simply the name "The Rascals."  Felix Cavaliere was a classically trained pianist, and joined a band called the Starliters, where he met David Brigati and his younger brother Eddie.  Cavaliere convinced Eddie Brigati and guitarist Gene Cornish to leave the Starliters and form a band, recruiting jazz drummer Dino Danilli to flesh out the band.  They called themselves "Them" until they found out that a group out of the UK was already using that name (Van Morrison's band).  They settled on "The Young Rascals" when comedian Soupy Sales used them as his back-up band when he toured the college circuit in 1965.Much of this album is a collection of singles rather than a cohesive piece of music.  Eight of the eleven songs are either A-side or B-side single releases.The Rascals moved into a more psychedelic direction after this album, and they would be largely done by the early 70's.  They were early inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, receiving that honor in 1997.Bruce presents this soulful album for this week's podcast.Groovin'This signature song from the group almost didn't make it as a single.  Atlantic Records pushed back on this track because it was very different from the sound of their other songs, having a more Latin influence.  The inspiration for the lyrics was Cavaliere's girlfriend Adrienne Buccheri.  He only got to see her on Sundays because he was so occupied with the group, music, and touring on other days. You Better RunMany listeners who grew up in the 80's will be more familiar with Pat Benatar's cover of this song than the Young Rascals' original.  It was released a year before the album as a single, in May 1966.  The song has more of a garage band feel than other songs on the album.A Girl Like YouThis is the lead-off song for the album, and went to number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Upbeat, feel good, this is the opening song of new love.  It starts off subdued with piano and vocals, then builds into the horns and percussion.  If You KnewThis song was released as the B-side to the single "I've Been Lonely Too Long" from their previous album called Collections.  It is the only song on the album to be listed as written by all member of the band.  Most songs were written by Felix Cavaliere and Eddie Brigati.  ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel (from the motion picture “The Graduate”) Dustin Hoffman's got his breakthrough role in this coming of age film.  STAFF PICKS:Green Tambourine by the Lemon PipersRob leads off the staff picks with the best known song from a short-lived Ohio band.  Unfortunately the success of this song would cause the record company to pigeonhole the group into doing more songs in the psychedelic genre.  The group was unenthusiastic about this direction, and would leave the label in 1969, dissolving shortly thereafter.Sunshine of Your Love by CreamLynch brings us a signature song from the original supergroup.  The song arose out of a bass riff that Jack Bruce created after seeing Jimi Hendrix for the first time.  Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton take turns with vocals while Ginger Baker utilizes a tribal beat on percussion.I Can See for Miles by The WhoWayne features the only single from the Who album “The Who Sell Out.“  Although it went to number 9 on the US charts, guitarist and writer Pete Townshend expected it to do much better.  The Who made use of the studio as an instrument on this heavier, psychedelic song, using techniques similar to the Beach Boys and the Beatles at the time.I Second That Emotion by Smokey Robinson & the MiraclesBruce closes out the staff picks with a song that originated from a trip Smokey Robinson and Al Cleveland took to a Detroit department store in search of a gift for Robinson's wife Claudette.  When Robinson told the salesman of a set of pearls, "I sure hope she likes them," Cleveland accidentally said "I second that emotion," rather than "I second that motion."  The two laughed about it and wrote this song which would go to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967.   INSTRUMENTAL TRACK:Hip Hug-Her by Booker T. & the M.G.'sWe close out with a funky instrumental which was on the charts at the time.   Thanks for listening to “What the Riff?!?” NOTE: To adjust the loudness of the music or voices, you may adjust the balance on your device. VOICES are stronger in the LEFT channel, and MUSIC is stronger on the RIGHT channel.Please follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/whattheriffpodcast/, and message or email us with what you'd like to hear, what you think of the show, and any rock-worthy memes we can share.Of course we'd love for you to rate the show in your podcast platform!**NOTE: What the Riff?!? does not own the rights to any of these songs and we neither sell, nor profit from them. We share them so you can learn about them and purchase them for your own collections.

We discuss the best and worst songs from ”Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel. Tell us your thoughts about these songs and follow us on Facebook and X.  Please support Simon and Garfunkel by purchasing and streaming this album wherever you pay for music! 

#SANREMO2025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ja ha arribat, encara que amb una mica de retard, la primera Crema d'estrelles del 2025, la primera de la quarta temporada. Retard hi ha hagut per molts motius, entre d'altres haver engegat amb en Javier Miranda el projecte Via Miranda, un pòdcast on parlem de tot i divaguem bastant per acabar, gairebé sempre, parlant de música. En aquest episodi comptem de nou amb la participació del Dr. Jefe Pajares, que en una connexió des de la Sinfoprise, una mica accidentada, ens recomana un tema del grup portuguès The Gift. La secció del Dr. en Cap Pajares la comencem a anomenar des d'avui, El Cant de l'ocell. Qui també participa en aquesta Crema 26 és l'Aitor De Las Heras, amb un segon episodi de Perspectiva Battiato. La meva excusa avui és, en part, compartir els discos que més m'han agradat del 2024, entre cançons i fragments farem un tastet de 24 discos: 24 discos del 24. En total, però, parlem de trenta cançons, tot i que hi ha un parell de bonus tracks que es podrien considerar cortines musicals. Una d'elles és un petit homenatge a David Lynch. L'altra cortina és un fragment d'un megamix de Mike Platinas que ve molt a tomb, però res, és molt curt; més endavant farem un tribut com cal als megamixes. La teva cançó i Dos graus de separació es fonen en una sola secció. El tema que sona avui d'en Frank Zappa originalment havia de formar part d'una sola peça que s'ha dividit en tres, si és que ho he entès bé, en qualsevol cas, val molt la pena escoltar-lo. Avui a la Crema podeu escoltar entre altres a Jimena Gonik, Willow, Oques Grasses, Amyl And The Sniffers, The Gift, Aurora Clara, Jordi Farreras, St. Vincent, Fontaines DC, Griffi i Juli Giuliani, Zazen Boys, Vientos Moderados Del Este, Mário Lopes, Actionfredag, Tusmorke, El Último Vecino, Opeth, Blood Incantation, Vylet Pony, Hombres G, Simon And Garfunkel, Frank Zappa, Franco Battiato, Remei De Ca La Fresca, The Circle Project, David Gilmour, Big Big Train, Geordie Greep, Bent Knee i David Lynch amb Angelo Badalamenti. Jordi Via, Terrassa, febrer 2025 Pòdcasts amics: Via Miranda: https://go.ivoox.com/sq/2494621 The Sound Of Music: https://go.ivoox.com/sq/1788620 Sinfonautas: https://go.ivoox.com/sq/1317188 Marcianos Que Nos Tocan Las Guitarras: https://go.ivoox.com/sq/707397 Subterranea: https://go.ivoox.com/sq/17710 Entremixtando: https://go.ivoox.com/sq/1247719 La Capsa De Ritmes: https://go.ivoox.com/sq/1363038

In this first episode of ROTY 2.0 - Chris and Steve count down and analyze the Top 10 Songs of the Year according to Spotify streaming numbers. The boys then do a lightning round of songs #11-25 before discussing the top ten Billboard singles of 1970.Our Spotify 1970 Playlist (*spoiler alert*)https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4wh5TDngA4VGroLf04Ouw5?si=a1c9404181bf4babE-mail:RecordOfTheYearPod@gmail.comInstagram:@recordoftheyear_podcast

Send us a textOn this episode, we take a deep dive into a “Listener Pick” -  the fifth and final studio album by the Simon and Garfunkel, 1970's Bridge Over Trouble Water. While the partnership between Simon and Garfunkel was under immense strain that elementally led to its demise, the duo went out with a bang. Bridge Over Trouble Water was a commercial smash, and is regarded by many as Simon and Garfunkel's masterpiece.  The album was their most ambitious and showed Simon had  become a master song writer.  In addition to folk music, the album incorporate elements of rock, gospel, R&B, Jazz, and world music .  Known for its stirring title track (what Paul Simon called his "Yesterday") as well as its enduring singles, "The Boxer", "Cecelia", and "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)", the album won the Grammy for best album in 1971, while the title track won an additional three awards, including for record and song of the year, and has sold over  25,000,000 copies worldwide.  Visit us at www.tappingvinyl.com.

Together, they made some of the 20th century's most memorable music, but their personal rivalry, animosity, and pettiness was every bit as memorable. If you're like us, you love the music of Simon and Garfunkel. And if you're like us, you'll get some hearty laughs when you hear how stupid and truly petty it all became between these two. This episode first aired on Patreon on December 12, 2022. Want early, ad-free episodes, regular Dumpster Dives, bonus divorces, limited series, Zoom hangouts, and more? Join us at patreon.com/trashydivorces! Want a personalized message for someone in your life? Check us out on Cameo! To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Northfield area news for Friday, January 17th, 2025: Elizabeth Spaulding named Business Person of the Year; Petalina Mercantile Co. is the Business of the Year, and Aaron Nibbe is the Ambassador of the YearDundas City Council Hears Updates on Several Road Construction ProjectsSimon and Garfunkel Tribute Show at the Paradise Center for the Arts Tonight

Holden and Nate talk about the artist Simon and Garfunkel

Art Garfunkel has described his regret over his long-standing feud with his creative partner Paul Simon. 

Go Inside the mind of Chris Dimino, if you dare, as we go Beyond The Goatee presented by Gameday Men's Health Mission Impossible Denzel Washington Simon & Garfunkel much more See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hoy en La Gran Travesía tenemos un especial dedicado a uno de los dúos más importantes de la Historia del Pop, Simon and Garfunkel, con motivo del 60º Aniversario de su disco debut, Wednesday Morning 3. A.M, publicado un 19 de octubre de 1964. ▶️ Y ya sabéis, si os gusta el programa y os apetece, podéis apoyarnos y colaborar con nosotros por el simple precio de una cerveza al mes, desde el botón azul de iVoox, y así, además acceder a todo el archivo histórico exclusivo. Muchas gracias también a todos los mecenas y patrocinadores por vuestro apoyo: Eva Arenas, Poncho C, Nacho, Javito, Alberto, Tei, Pilar Escudero, Utxi 73, Blas, Moy, Silvia Rotlant, Juan Antonio, Dani Pérez, Santi Oliva, Vicente DC, Juan Carlos Ramírez, Leticia, JBSabe, Huini Juarez, Flor, Melomanic, Jarebua, Noni, Arturo Soriano, Gemma Codina, Raquel Jiménez, Francisco Quintana, Pedro, SGD, José Luis Orive, Raul Andres, Tomás Pérez, Pablo Pineda, Quim Goday, Enfermerator, María Arán, Joaquín, Horns Up, Victor Bravo, Fonune, Eulogiko, Francisco González, Marcos Paris, Vlado 74, Daniel A, Redneckman, Elliott SF, Guillermo Gutierrez, Sementalex, Jesús Miguel, Miguel Angel Torres, Suibne, Javifer, Javi Dubra, Matías Ruiz Molina, Noyatan, Estefanía, Iván Menéndez, Niksisley y a los mecenas anónimos.

Nick Cellini and Chris Dimino talk everything Atlanta Sports, the National Sports picture and the current (and WAY back when) in pop culture! Get the latest and your fill of Atlanta Braves, Georgia Bulldogs, Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta Hawks daily from two "Southern" Yankees daily Mon-Fri from 11a-2p! DGD Matt Stinchcomb Beyond the Goatee presented by Gameday Men's Health The Aints are in Trouble See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel, released in 1970, is a timeless masterpiece that blends folk rock with rich orchestration and soulful harmonies. The album, featuring Paul Simon's poetic songwriting and Art Garfunkel's ethereal vocals, explores themes of love, loss, and redemption. The title track, with its soaring gospel-inspired arrangement, became an anthem of comfort and solidarity, while other tracks like "The Boxer" and "Cecilia" showcase the duo's storytelling prowess and musical versatility. As their final studio album together, it stands as a poignant farewell, capturing the peak of their creative synergy and leaving a lasting impact on the music world.Listen to the album: ⁠SpotifyApple MusicLinks:Official websiteContactSupport us on PatreonDISCLAIMER: Due to copyright restrictions, we are unable to play pieces of the songs we cover in these episodes. Playing clips of songs are unfortunately prohibitively expensive to obtain the proper licensing. We strongly encourage you to listen to the album along with us on your preferred format to enhance the listening experience. 

#S3-26 Simon and Garfunkel -Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme  Released October 24, 1966- Recorded Between December 1965 and August 1966 (Columbia Records)  Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme is Simon & Garfunkel's third studio album, showcasing a blend of folk-rock, acoustic, and introspective songs. It includes classic tracks like "Homeward Bound" and "Scarborough Fair," as well as the lesser-known hit "The Dangling Conversation." The album highlights Paul Simon's songwriting craftsmanship, thought-provoking lyrics, and innovative arrangements, perfectly complemented by the duo's harmonies. This record marked a significant evolution in their music. It expanded the possibilities of folk-based music, influencing future songwriters and reinforcing Simon & Garfunkel's enduring legacy in music history. YouTube Playlist https://youtu.be/V1IRDT8TInY?si=euk08ojJWSIo0qnX Spotify Playlist https://open.spotify.com/album/1sh32o99zA04PJIUJUpEj7?si=VXKahQuvRLacGUM34ge1Qw Curated Season Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7I6dzYc5UJfko8unziRMWf?si=570634dc82084781 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqkHb3duD6BTd4l7sJzo2RPeMTpYmqZqU&si=EJPbzwpx6tcGWk1_

In the latest episode of Jagbags, Len and Beave try to discuss the music of Paul Simon (and his music for Simon & Garfunkel), but instead wind up devoting at least a quarter of the episode to the 1980 Art Garfunkel stone classic film "Bad Timing". Tune in for 45-minute playlists, discussions of our favorite Simon and Garfunkel LPs and songs, favorite Paul Simon albums, a discussion of various books and documentaries on Paul Simon's storied career -- and all the "Bad Timing" you can handle! ULTIMATE JAGBAGS!

Johan Bobo (Simon) and Brendan Jacob Smith (Garfunkel) join Steve to talk about the Story of Simon and Garfunkel, opening April 30 to May 5 at the CIBC Theatre, what is was like to meet and perform for Art Garfunkel, and the privilege of performing as both Simon and Garfunkel.

Musician, writer and filmmaker Stuart Murdoch is the lead singer and songwriter for the Scottish band Belle and Sebastian. The group's first album 'Tigermilk' was released to critical claim in 1996; sparking a career that has seen them put out a series of singles, 9 ep's and 12 albums, the most recent, 'Late Developers was released in 2023'. Stuart says "We definitely wouldn't describe ourselves as a 'rock band', we aspire toward what we would call 'classic pop music.'" They highlight pop records from 1979 onwards as the style that unites the passions between the band members.

In this episode of the "We Think It's Funny" podcast, hosts Mark Schiff and Daniel Lobell welcomed the hilarious John DiResta to the conversation. With his background as a former New York City police officer, DiResta provided captivating insights into the city's subways, even delving into the mysterious world of the "mole people." A NY Long Islander and huge Twisted Sister fan, DiResta gained prominence with his own sitcom "DiResta" and has appeared in various other television shows and films, showcasing his comedic talents and unique personality honed from his years as a police officer.Adding a touch of intrigue, they discussed a news story about a mass grave recently discovered in Germany, blending humor with an exploration of unexpected topics that kept listeners engaged throughout the episode. Recorded inside a converted bus studio, the lively and humorous podcast "We Think It's Funny" the discussions encompass a wide range of topics, from personal anecdotes including DiResta's transition from a police officer to a comedian and encounters with 'mole people' in the subway, to the Los Angeles homeless problem, the music of Simon and Garfunkel, reflections on health, celebrities, and societal norms. The conversation is candid, funny, and filled with unexpected moments, offering a mix of personal stories, current events, and humorous takes on life's quirk. You might even learn a thing or two about tables... Enjoy!

Mark Rivera has been the amazing saxophone star in Billy Joel's band for over 40 years! He also plays flute, keyboards, guitar, percussion and hammer and chromium steel pipe. Plus he sings. He's toured with Ringo Starr and played with John Lennon, Peter Gabriel, Simon and Garfunkel and many more.My featured song is “Hey Jake” from the album East Side Sessions by my band Project Grand Slam. Spotify link. ---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------“MILES BEHIND”, Robert's first album, was recorded in 1994 but was “lost” for the last 30 years. It's now been released for streaming. Featuring Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears), Anton Fig (The David Letterman Show), Al Foster (Miles Davis), Tim Ries (The Rolling Stones), Jon Lucien and many more. Called “Hip, Tight and Edgy!” Click here for all links.—--------------------------------------‘THE SINGLES PROJECT” is Robert's new EP, featuring five of his new songs. The songs speak to the ups and downs of life. From the blissful, joyous “Saturday Morning” to the darker commentary of “Like Never Before” and “The Ship”. “This is Robert at his most vulnerable” (Pop Icon Magazine)Reviews: “Amazing!” (Top Buzz Magazine)“Magical…A Sonic Tour De Force!” (IndiePulse Music)“Fabulously Enticing!” (Pop Icon Magazine)“A Home Run!” (Hollywood Digest)Listener Reviews:Saturday Morning:”A neat and simply happy song!””It's so cute and fun. It's describing a world I wish I lived in every day!”Like Never Before:”Great message!””Great song, very perceptive lyrics!”Click here for all links.—--------------------------------------“IT'S ALIVE!” is Robert's latest Project Grand Slam album. Featuring 13 of the band's Greatest Hits performed “live” at festivals in Pennsylvania and Serbia.Reviews:"An instant classic!" (Melody Maker)"Amazing record...Another win for the one and only Robert Miller!" (Hollywood Digest)"Close to perfect!" (Pop Icon)"A Masterpiece!" (Big Celebrity Buzz)"Sterling effort!" (Indie Pulse)"Another fusion wonder for Project Grand Slam!" (MobYorkCity)Click here for all links.Click here for song videos—-----------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with Mark:www.markrivera.com Mark's book:“Sideman: In Pursuit Of The Next Gig”Amazon link Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comPGS Store - www.thePGSstore.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were gifted musicians with a deep and complicated personal relationship, which makes them perfect subjects for a Discord & Rhyme holiday episode. Their magnum opus, Bridge Over Troubled Water, was a huge hit in 1970 and is still as beautiful, innovative, and occasionally silly as it ever was. Ben, Amanda, Rich, and John love this album dearly, and discussing all its strengths and arguing over its few flaws was the perfect way to wind up Discord & Rhyme's sixth calendar year. Happy holidays, everyone, and may all your relationships be less acrimonious than Simon and Garfunkel's. Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Ben Marlin, John McFerrin, Amanda RodgersComplete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/132-simon-and-garfunkel-bridge-over-troubled-waterDiscord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpodSupport the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

Listen. I have to go to work but I will update this with something funny when I remember what we actually talked about. 

This Free Form Rock Podcast Special "America's Podcast" In this episode, we delve into the Beatles' Red Blue Albums, specifically focusing on the 2023 remixes. We discuss whether these remixes take us to musical heaven or if they fall short and leave us disappointed. Tune in to the episode to hear our thoughts and find out if the remixes live up to the hype. No spoilers, we promise! with Guest Lee Gerstsmann. Tracks of the Week: Charles, "Bridge Over Trouble Water" by Simon And Garfunkel. Jerry, "LA Woman" by The Doors. Marc, "Hey Bull Dog 2023 Remix" Lee,  "Don't Let the Sun See You Crying" by Gerry and the Pacemakers. Until next week go find your Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds watch out those yellow and green will trip ya out!!  #thebeatles #thebeatlesredblue2023 #redblue2023 #classicrock #freeformnation #americaspodcast  

Reciban un cordial saludo. Desde Cali (Colombia), les habla Sergio Luis López, compartiéndoles un nuevo episodio de "Así la escuché yo..." En 1986 salió al mercado el álbum “La cagaste, Burt Lancaster" de la agrupación española Hombres G, del cual fue éxito una canción escrita y cantada por su líder, David Summers, la cual tituló: “Marta tiene un marcapasos”. Así la escuché yo… Para la mayoría de musicólogos, es innegable la similitud de “Marta tiene un marcapasos” con el estribillo de un famoso tema musical escrito por el cantautor estadounidense Paul Simon, el cual grabó originalmente en inglés en 1967 junto a su compatriota Art Garfunkel y al año siguiente fue incluido en el álbum "Bookends" de 1968, canción que lleva por título “At the Zoo” (En el zoológico). Como dato curioso, hay que decir que, aunque “Marta tiene un marcapasos” alcanzó el éxito en 1986, la canción ya había sido lanzada tres años antes como disco sencillo en 1983; pero dicha grabación inicial, pasó desapercibida en esa primera instancia. También hay que decir que legalmente no se ha interpuesto querella de plagio contra Hombres G por parte de Paul Simon. ¿Y tú, qué opinas del parecido entre “Marta tiene un marcapasos” y “At the zoo”? Autor: David Summers (español) para “Marta tiene un marcapasos” - Toma la melodía del estribillo de “At the Zoo” de Simon & Garfunkel Autor: Paul Simon (estadounidense) para “At the Zoo” Marta tiene un marcapasos - Hombres G (1983) single "Marta tiene un marcapasos/La cagaste, Burt Lancaster" (1983) “La Cagaste... Burt Lancaster” álbum (1986) Canta: David Summers (nombre real David Summers Rodríguez, español) Hombres G (banda española conformada por David Summers Rodríguez, Daniel Mezquita Hardy, Rafael Gutiérrez Muñoz y Javier Molina Burgos) At the Zoo - Simon & Garfunkel (1967) “At the Zoo” mini-álbum (1967) "Bookends" álbum (1968) Paul Simon (nombre real Paul Frederic Simon, estadounidense) Art Garfunkel (nombre real Arthur Ira Garfunkel, estadounidense) ___________________ “Así la escuché yo…” Temporada: 7 Episodio: 47 Sergio Productions Cali – Colombia Sergio Luis López Mora

Would you like another episode? Is that what you're trying to tell me? Well, here's to you! Look around you, all you see is another episode of THE STORY SONG PODCAST! Laugh about it, shout about it, and join your hosts as they stroll around the grounds to review the 1968 classic “Mrs. Robinson” by folk duo Simon and Garfunkel. Here's a little bit about this episode for your files: we discuss impractical subscription services, Joe DiMaggio (most famous for his work as a coffee spokesman, and nothing else), and plastics. So grab a cupcake from the pantry, take a seat on the sofa, and listen to this episode of THE STORY SONG PODCAST. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Continue the conversation; follow THE STORY SONG PODCAST on social media. Follow us on Twitter (@Story_Song), Instagram (storysongpodcast), and Facebook (thestorysongpodcast). THE STORY SONG PODCAST is a member of the Pantheon Podcast Network. “Mrs. Robinson” by Simon and Garfunkel (from the album Bookends) is available on Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer, Pandora, Spotify, or wherever you listen to music. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever wondered how Simon and Garfunkel's iconic song "Sound of Silence" became the hit we know today? Join us in this captivating episode as Kevin Geddings of WSOS Radio and Dr. Michael Koren, cardiologist and medical researcher, talk about Tom Wilson - a record producer who played a critical role in the Simon and Garfunkel's success. Discover how Wilson's keen eye for potential hits and his electrified versions of Simon and Garfunkel's songs skyrocketed their career, as well as the tragic story of Wilson's early death at the age of 47 due to a heart attack, believed to be caused by genetic dyslipidemia.Dr. Koren also shares the importance of testing for Lp(a), a lipoprotein that isn't traditionally included in lab tests but can significantly impact an individual's risk of heart attack or stroke.  Get ready for a fascinating conversation that intertwines medical research, history, and the world of music!Get tested for Lp(a)Be a part of advancing science by participating in clinical researchShare with a friend. Rate, Review, and Subscribe to the MedEvidence! podcast to be notified when new episodes are released.Follow us on Social Media:FacebookInstagramTwitterLinkedIn Powered by ENCORE Research GroupMusic: Storyblocks - Corporate InspiredThank you for listening!

Има песни, които носят отпечатъка на своето време. За една от тях ще си говорим днес – „El Condor Pasa“ на „Simon and Garfunkel“ от 1967 година. Историята зад песента всъщност е разказ за един живот, посветен на музиката. Daniel Alomía Robles (Даниел Аломия Роблес) се ражда през 1871 година в Уануко, Перу, в семейство на френски мигранти. Още от ученик той проявява силен интерес към музиката на индианските племена, обитаващи пределите на родната му страна. През 1894 година, при едно пътуване до Амазонка, той се запознава с католика мисионер Габриел Сала. Сред джунглата на Амазонка Сала е създал градче, в което 400 души работят на полето и сами изкарват прехраната си. А в неделните следобеди всички се събират, за да пеят и танцуват, припомняйки си стари песни. Може би нещо в дивата атмосфера на градчето сред джунглата, или в характера на Габриел Сала, подтиква Даниел да зареже медицината, към която го тласкат родителите му, и да се посвети изцяло на музиката. Оттогава започват неговите обиколки из Андите и Амазонка, за да се среща с хора в най-затънтените места и да записва от тях народни песни и митовете около появата им. По-късно в архивите на Даниел, дарени на Католическия университет в Перу, са намерени над 700 традиционни перуански песни, плюс още около 230 негови авторски произведения. Вдъхновен от фолклора на Андите, Даниел решава да напише музикална пиеса, в която да вгради фолклора на Перу. Така през 1913 година се ражда зарзуелата „El Condor Pasa“, в превод от испански „Полетът на кондора“. Зарзуела (или още сарсуела) е нещо като фолклорна оперета, характерна като жанр за някои латиноамерикански народи. Либретото е дело на Хулио де Ла Пас (псевдоним на драматурга от Лима - Хулио Бодуен). Действието се развива в миньорско селище в Перу от началото на XX век. Младият Франк е против малтретирането на работниците в мината от нейните собственици, но другите го обвиняват, че е неблагодарен към техните покровители. Той иска да напусне мината и се скарва с двамата собственици. Те са решени да накажат Франк, но единият от тях се оказва негов биологичен баща и това го възпира. Докато върви разказа за миньорите, които са роби на труда, тече и историята на двама пастири - момче и момиче -, които преживяват предбрачни вълнения. Денят на сватбата е празник за всички в града, но не и за онези в мината, защото те не могат да изоставят работата си. Пастирите символизират за миньорите така желаната свобода. Песента „El Condor Pasa“ се свири по време на танца, който младоженците и техни приятели изпълняват, навлизайки в града. Танцът се нарича Pasacalle и затова песента, върху която го изпълняват, носи такова име. Pasacalle е латиноамерикански народен танц за двойки, който няма много общо с характерния за бароковата епоха танц „пасакалия“ от XVIII век. И така, биологичният баща на Франк присъства на тържеството, напива се и жестоко малтретира втория му баща, който в пристъп на отмъщение го убива. Другият съсобственик на мината разбира и веднага отива да отмъсти за убийството, но е посрещнат от Франк, който погубва и него. В самия край на последното действие се появява кондор, който за експлоатираните работници е символ на силата, здравето и най-вече на свободата. Кондорите в Андите са едни от най-големите и дълголетни птици. Те живеят най-вече в труднодостъпни местности. Любопитното при тях е, че при добри условия могат да изминат триста километра дневно, летейки около пет километра над земята. Толкова рядко жителите на тези земи виждат кондор, че го приемат като знак за своя нов живот на свобода и радостно крещят: „Ние сме кондори!“

Una de las bandas femeninas con mayor éxito internacional es, sin duda alguna, la agrupación estadounidense The Bangles; por esta razón, en 1987 fueron solicitadas para participar en la banda sonora de la película “Less than zero”, para la cual grabaron la canción “Hazy shade of Winter”. Así la escuché yo…   La canción de las Bangles es en realidad una nueva versión del tema grabado originalmente por el famoso dúo estadounidense Simon & Garfunkel, canción incluida en él álbum “Bookends” de 1968, escrita por Paul Simon bajo el título “A hazy shade of Winter” (Una brumosa sombra de invierno).   La canción volvió a ponerse de moda en 2019 cuando apareció en la banda sonora de la serie "The Umbrella Academy" de Netflix, versionada por Gerard Way y Ray Toro.   ¿Y tú, conocías la mcanción original de Simon & Garfunkel?   Autor: Paul Simon (estadounidense)   Hazy shade of winter - Bangles (1987) "Less than zero" Movie Soundtrack álbum (1987) The Bangles (banda estadounidense integrada por Susanna Hoffs & Debbi Peterson & Vicki Peterson & Michael Steele (estadounidenses) A hazy shade of winter - Simon & Garfunkel (1966) single "A hazy shade of winter/For Emily, whenever I may find her" (1966) "Bookends" álbum (1968) Art Garfunkel (nombre real Arthur Ira Garfunkel, estadounidense) Paul Simon (nombre real Paul Frederick Simon, estadounidense)   Hazy shade of winter - Gerard Way & Ray Toro (2019) single "Hazy shade of winter" from "The Umbrella Academy" Netflix series Soundtrack (2019) Gerard Way (nombre real Gerard Arthur Way, estadounidense) Ray Toro (nombre real Raymond Manuel Toro Ortiz, estadounidense) ___________________ “Así la escuché yo…” Temporada: 6 Episodio: 75 Sergio Productions Cali – Colombia Sergio Luis López Mora

Music by Dr. Thomas W. Smith

Hi Folks! We are listening to Simon and Garfunkel's song "The Boxer".  Originally released as a single in 1969 it would be included on the duo's 1970 album "Bridge Over Troubled Water".  "The Boxer" took over one hundred hours to create!  We also listen to and discuss Jerry Douglas and Mumford and Son's cover.  We breakdown what this song means to us and why it is so powerful. Thank you for listening!Spotify PlaylistIntro/Outro Music:Upbeat Forever by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5011-upbeat-foreverLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

New friends and old friends are both treasures, one silver and the other gold. Join Lois Matson to hear her thoughts about friendship and some tips for making new friends.Special Announcement: Link to Dicey  Stuff: the podcast private Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1937602999773749 Please join us!Please send your comments, suggestions, and ideas for future shows to diceystuffpodcast@gmail.com or post them in the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1937602999773749. Are you willing to do an interview? Do you have an idea for a Dicey Bible Story? Send it on in!  Intro and outro vocals created with the voices from LOVO @ www.lovo.ai.

ANOTHER YEAR TO PAY TRIBUTE THROUGH MUSIC. TODAY ROBERT WILL BE SINGING A COVER OF SIMON AND GARFUNKEL SONG "I AM A ROCK" --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/robert-col363n/support

We've always known about Simon and Garfunkel as a thing, and known about both men as solo artists (mainly Paul Simon), but until now we'd never taken the time to listen properly to their five album output and decide which we liked best. Their songs are inescapable, they're part of the furniture of Western Civilization, you cannot not know Mrs Robinson and The Sound of Silence and Hazy Shade of Winter and Bridge Over Troubled Water because even now, half a century later, these songs are still meaningful, still poignant, and still played. So, as usual, we read some books and did some research and got to know the story of the band. It wasn't easy to rank the albums, there was a fair bit of disagreement, especially around the final two. We try to use disagreement to better inform our decisions by listening to each others opinions and being willing to change our minds and see things differently; we try not to just compromise by calculating an average view numerically ... but we don't always get that right and sometimes we just have to run the numbers - this felt like one of those times. The Simon and Garfunkel Jeffrey Podcast Playlist is available here on Spotify and here on Deezer. The Simon and Garfunkel page on the JeffreyMusic.Rocks website is here.  

Simon and Garfunkel were an American folk-rock duo who were one of the best-selling groups of the 1960'c.

What exists at the intersection of Rock N Roll, Folk, Poetry and Harmony? The answer can be found within quite possibly the greatest Duo of all time, Simon and Garfunkel. Enjoy

Pair up, couple down, and unite the twain... this week, Alec and Goggs from Movie the Podcast are back to talk about DUOS. We dig into Rodgers & Hammerstein, Lord & Miller, B.J. and the Bear and more! Plus, we play TAG TEAM OR NOT and I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE! Two men enter, and two men will leave... Duos! Listen to Movie the Podcast on Spotify, please: https://open.spotify.com/show/7LpWNiSBRwsWTsyUnZSdymCheck out Spaceboy Books: www.readspaceboy.comAnd the music of Michael J. O'Connor: michaeljoconnor.bandcamp.com 

This episode is part of Pledge Week 2022. Every day this week, I'll be posting old Patreon bonus episodes of the podcast which will have this short intro. These are short, ten- to twenty-minute bonus podcasts which get posted to Patreon for my paying backers every time I post a new main episode -- there are well over a hundred of these in the archive now. If you like the sound of these episodes, then go to patreon.com/andrewhickey and subscribe for as little as a dollar a month or ten dollars a year to get access to all those bonus episodes, plus new ones as they appear. Click below for the transcript Transcript Before I start, a warning. Even though this episode is short it deals with many, many, upsetting subjects. If you're likely to be upset by a story dealing with the death and disfigurement of small children, disability, mental illness, gun violence and eye injuries, you're probably best off skipping this episode altogether, as it deals with these subjects right from after the first excerpt of music until the end. It's not a happy story. In this week's main episode we talk briefly about a record that Paul Simon produced while he was in Britain, before "The Sound of Silence" became a big hit. The performer whose record he produced only released that one album in his lifetime, but it's a record that had an outsized influence on the British folk-music scene. So today, we're going to have a look at the tragic life of Jackson C Frank, and at "Blues Run the Game": [Excerpt: Jackson C Frank, "Blues Run the Game"] Jackson C Frank's life started to go badly, irrevocably, wrong, when he was just eleven years old. His family lived in Buffalo, New York, where the winters are long and cold, and Jackson was a Baby Boomer. Because of the tremendous number of new children going through the school system, the brick schoolhouse at the school he attended had been augmented with an annexe, made out of wood, and he was in that annexe, in a music lesson, when the boiler exploded and set fire to it. Jackson was one of the lucky ones. That fire took the life of fifteen of his classmates, and spurred a national movement towards banning timber buildings for schools and the institution of fire drills, which up to that point had not been a thing. Jackson got thrown out of a window by a teacher, and the snow put out the flames on his back, meaning he "only" suffered burns over sixty percent of his body, scarring him for life. He had to spend a year in hospital, have a tracheotomy, and have a metal plate put in his head. He developed thyroid problems, got calcium deposits that built up over the years and frequently left him in agony, and always walked with a limp and only had limited movement in his arms. Many celebrities did things to comfort the children, who became nationally known. Kirk Douglas came to the hospital to visit them, and later in his childhood Jackson was able to go and meet Elvis, who became a big inspiration for the young man. He spent his teenage years going around the local music scene, including spending a long time with a friend who later became known as John Kay of Steppenwolf, but then when he turned twenty-one he got a massive insurance payout that had been held in trust for him. I've seen different numbers for this -- it was either fifty or a hundred thousand dollars, and in modern terms that would be about ten times that much. Being a young man, he didn't want to invest it, he wanted to buy expensive cars. He wanted an Aston Martin and a Bentley, and Britain was where they made Aston Martins and Bentleys, so he caught a boat to England, and on the trip over started writing songs, including the one that would become his best known: [Excerpt: Jackson C Frank, "Blues Run the Game"] Once he was in the UK, Frank moved into Judith Piepe's flat, where he started a relationship with an eighteen-year-old nurse, who was also trying to be a singer. Frank encouraged her to follow her dreams and become a professional, and Sandy Denny would later record some of his songs, and wrote the song "Next Time Around" about him: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, "Next Time Around"] While he was in London, he became well known on the folk circuit, regularly playing Les Cousins, and as Ralph McTell put it, "EVERYONE" sang 'Blues Run the Game'". Over the years, the song has been performed by everyone from Bert Jansch: [Excerpt: Bert Jansch, "Blues Run the Game"] to Counting Crows: [Excerpt: Counting Crows, "Blues Run the Game"] Frank's own version of the song was recorded on his one and only album,  which was produced by Paul Simon, as we heard in the main episode. That album also included songs like "Carnival", which has now possibly become the song of Frank's that has been heard by most people, as it was featured both on the soundtrack and in the dialogue of the 2019 film Joker: [Excerpt: Jackson C Frank, "Carnival"] The album didn't sell, and Frank returned to the US, after marrying Elaine Sedgwick, the cousin of Edie Sedgwick. He was missed when he left, and Roy Harper, another folk musician who played the same circuit, wrote "My Friend" about his departure: [Excerpt: Roy Harper, "My Friend"] When he came back in 1968 to do a couple of shows, though, his depression, which had always been bad since the fire, had worsened. Al Stewart said "He proceeded to fall apart before our very eyes. His style that everyone loved was melancholy, very tuneful things. He started doing things that were completely impenetrable. They were basically about psychological angst, played at full volume with lots of thrashing. I don't remember a single word of them – it just did not work. There was one review that said he belonged on a psychologist's couch." He was withdrawn, and wouldn't speak to people, and he had writer's block. To make matters worse, his home life was also going awfully. His insurance money had all run out, but Paul Simon had given him a loan of three thousand dollars, with Simon taking Frank's publishing as surety, so he could start a business, but the business failed and Simon kept the publishing. In 1971, when Art Garfunkel was recording his first solo album, he asked Frank if he had a song that might be suitable. Frank had actually written a new song, "Juliette": [Excerpt: Jackson C Frank, "Juliette"] Unfortunately, when he turned up to see Garfunkel, he brought along a few hippy friends, who all made fun of Garfunkel for being a sell-out, and so Garfunkel didn't record the song, though he did give Frank a new guitar. By the early seventies, Frank was in a very bad way. He and his wife had had two children, but one had died of cystic fibrosis, and the marriage had ended. He spent periods of time in psychiatric hospitals, and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, though he always said himself that he wasn't schizophrenic, he was suffering from depression because of the loss of his son. He was living off handouts from friends, even as his songs were inspiring new artists like Nick Drake, who recorded four of his songs: [Excerpt: Nick Drake, "Here Comes the Blues"] In the early eighties he was living with his parents, but then in 1984 while his mother was in hospital he got an idea -- he could go to New York and find his old friend Paul, and ask him for his publishing back, or maybe just for some money. He didn't leave a note, and his parents had no idea where he'd gone. He did go to New York, but he couldn't find his friend, and he ended up homeless, living on the streets, and in and out of psychiatric institutions. In the early nineties, a fan tracked him down and helped sort out some accommodation for him in Woodstock, where he'd lived in his twenties. By this time he was in an awful physical and mental state, and the fan described him as looking like the Elephant man because of the bloating from his thyroid problems and his joint issues affecting his posture (though I have to say that from the couple of photos I've seen of him at this time, that's quite an exaggeration). But just to rub salt in the wound, after the accommodation had been arranged, but before he'd had a chance to move, he was sat on a park bench in Queens, and some kids, shooting randomly with a pellet gun, hit him in his left eye, permanently blinding him in that eye. His rediscovery got a bit of publicity, and led to his album being reissued on CD. He also started writing again, and recorded some demos on a cheap cassette recorder in 1997, many of which have since been released on various compilations: [Excerpt: Jackson C Frank, "(Tumble) in the Wind"] But 1997 was also the year that Frank moved into a care home, and he wouldn't record any more after that. In 1998, Paul Simon finally returned his publishing to him, presumably having given up on ever getting his three thousand dollars back. And on March the third, 1999, one day after his fifty-sixth birthday, Jackson C Frank died of pneumonia. His game had finally run to its end.

BRRRRRRRRR! It's the darkest, coldest, most spiteful season of all: WINTER! And Jeremy Mast and Lindsay Morehouse are here to talk about topics like the Winter Olympics, Winter's Bone, Chionophobia, and Snowbirds. Plus, we play I See What You Did There and two Winter celebs face off in the THUNDERDOME!Get boosted!Check out Station Eleven on HBO Max and Swan Song on Apple TV+!Listen to Michael J. O'Connor's music: https://michaeljoconnor.bandcamp.com/

In Hall of Songs, we attempt to determine the greatest songs of all-time through listener votes. But after our listeners elected no songs to our prestigious song hall of fame the last time out, what would happen after introducing a bunch of songs from 1974? Would the early and mid-1970s continue to be a black hole? Could a 1967 song finally sneak into the hall after several rounds of waiting? What does this all mean?! Listen to this episode to find out, then get more info at hallofsongs.com.Host: Timothy MalcolmHost: Christopher JonesMusic commentary and music history

Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, The Beatles, Bill Withers, Elton John, Dolly Parton. These are names of people. They're also names of people whose songs are currently on the Hall of Songs ballot. Did any of their songs get into our prestigious Hall of Songs, joining 42 other tunes? Listen to find out!Tim and Chris are back after a monthlong break to discuss the results and look ahead to the next episode on 1974.Host: Timothy MalcolmHost: Christopher JonesMusic commentary and music history

After our 1972 episode, we asked you to vote for the songs that you thought were worthy of the Hall of Songs. After that election ... we have results. But we're not giving anything away. Not this time! (You'll have to listen to find out more.)That said, we will say that a few songs that we expected better of are either off the ballot or very close to their end. Which songs? Again, you'll have to listen.Host: Timothy MalcolmHost: Christopher JonesMusic commentary and music history

Yes, there are new inductees in the Hall of Songs. Maybe they're the songs you most expected after listening to the 1971 episode. But the big news is what's on the other side of the ballot: Tim and Chris discuss some shocking cuts -- songs that didn't get enough support to stay on the ballot any longer.Listen, then visit our website at hallofsongs.com. Then come back for our 1972 episode and, after that, vote for the songs that you think should make our hall of fame.Host: Timothy MalcolmHost: Christopher JonesMusic commentary and music history

"You Can't Always Get What You Want." "Bridge Over Troubled Water." Big songs, but we didn't nominate them for the Hall of Songs before. Now we have. We come together as the Veterans Committee to put four more tunes on the ballot for the Hall of Songs. Join us as we discuss these songs from 1967 to '70, then talk about some personal favorites ... including the Beatles and the Grateful Dead. Visit our website at hallofsongs.com and follow us on social media at @hallofsongs.Hosts: Tim Malcolm and Chris JonesGenre: Music Commentary, Music History

Episode one hundred and thirty-five of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel, and the many records they made, together and apart, before their success. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "Blues Run the Game" by Jackson C. Frank. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Errata I talk about a tour of Lancashire towns, but some of the towns I mention were in Cheshire at the time, and some are in Greater Manchester or Merseyside now. They're all very close together though. I say Mose Rager was Black. I was misremembering, confusing Mose Rager, a white player in the Muhlenberg style, with Arnold Schultz, a Black player who invented it. I got this right in the episode on "Bye Bye Love". Also, I couldn't track down a copy of the Paul Kane single version of “He Was My Brother” in decent quality, so I used the version on The Paul Simon Songbook instead, as they're basically identical performances. Resources As usual, I've created a Mixcloud playlist of the music excerpted here. This compilation collects all Simon and Garfunkel's studio albums, with bonus tracks, plus a DVD of their reunion concert. There are many collections of the pre-S&G recordings by the two, as these are now largely in the public domain. This one contains a good selection. I've referred to several books for this episode: Simon and Garfunkel: Together Alone by Spencer Leigh is a breezy, well-researched, biography of the duo. Paul Simon: The Life by Robert Hilburn is the closest thing there is to an authorised biography of Simon. And What is it All But Luminous? is Art Garfunkel's memoir. It's not particularly detailed, being more a collection of thoughts and poetry than a structured narrative, but gives a good idea of Garfunkel's attitude to people and events in his life. Roots, Radicals, and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World by Billy Bragg has some great information on the British folk scene of the fifties and sixties. And Singing From the Floor is an oral history of British folk clubs, including a chapter on Dylan's 1962 visit to London. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Today, we're going to take a look at a hit record that almost never happened -- a record by a duo who had already split up, twice, by the time it became a hit, and who didn't know it was going to come out. We're going to look at how a duo who started off as an Everly Brothers knockoff, before becoming unsuccessful Greenwich Village folkies, were turned into one of the biggest acts of the sixties by their producer. We're going to look at Simon and Garfunkel, and at "The Sound of Silence": [Excerpt: Simon and Garfunkel, "The Sound of Silence"] The story of Simon and Garfunkel starts with two children in a school play.  Neither Paul Simon or Art Garfunkel had many friends when they met in a school performance of Alice in Wonderland, where Simon was playing the White Rabbit and Garfunkel the Cheshire Cat. Simon was well-enough liked, by all accounts, but he'd been put on an accelerated programme for gifted students which meant he was progressing through school faster than his peers. He had a small social group, mostly based around playing baseball, but wasn't one of the popular kids. Art Garfunkel, another gifted student, had no friends at all until he got to know Simon, who he described later as his "one and only friend" in this time period. One passage in Garfunkel's autobiography seems to me to sum up everything about Garfunkel's personality as a child -- and indeed a large part of his personality as it comes across in interviews to this day. He talks about the pleasure he got from listening to the chart rundown on the radio -- "It was the numbers that got me. I kept meticulous lists—when a new singer like Tony Bennett came onto the charts with “Rags to Riches,” I watched the record jump from, say, #23 to #14 in a week. The mathematics of the jumps went to my sense of fun." Garfunkel is, to this day, a meticulous person -- on his website he has a list of every book he's read since June 1968, which is currently up to one thousand three hundred and ten books, and he has always had a habit of starting elaborate projects and ticking off every aspect of them as he goes. Both Simon and Garfunkel were outsiders at this point, other than their interests in sport, but Garfunkel was by far the more introverted of the two, and as a result he seems to have needed their friendship more than Simon did. But the two boys developed an intense, close, friendship, initially based around their shared sense of humour. Both of them were avid readers of Mad magazine, which had just started publishing when the two of them had met up, and both could make each other laugh easily. But they soon developed a new interest, when Martin Block on the middle-of-the-road radio show Make Believe Ballroom announced that he was going to play the worst record he'd ever heard. That record was "Gee" by the Crows: [Excerpt: The Crows, "Gee"] Paul Simon later said that that record was the first thing he'd ever heard on that programme that he liked, and soon he and Garfunkel had become regular listeners to Alan Freed's show on WINS, loving the new rock and roll music they were discovering. Art had already been singing in public from an early age -- his first public performance had been singing Nat "King" Cole's hit "Too Young" in a school talent contest when he was nine -- but the two started singing together. The first performance by Simon and Garfunkel was at a high school dance and, depending on which source you read, was a performance either of "Sh'Boom" or of Big Joe Turner's "Flip, Flop, and Fly": [Excerpt: Big Joe Turner, "Flip, Flop, and Fly"] The duo also wrote at least one song together as early as 1955 -- or at least Garfunkel says they wrote it together. Paul Simon describes it as one he wrote. They tried to get a record deal with the song, but it was never recorded at the time -- but Simon has later performed it: [Excerpt: Paul Simon, "The Girl For Me"] Even at this point, though, while Art Garfunkel was putting all his emotional energy into the partnership with Simon, Simon was interested in performing with other people. Al Kooper was another friend of Simon's at the time, and apparently Simon and Kooper would also perform together. Once Elvis came on to Paul's radar, he also bought a guitar, but it was when the two of them first heard the Everly Brothers that they realised what it was that they could do together. Simon fell in love with the Everly Brothers as soon as he heard "Bye Bye Love": [Excerpt: The Everly Brothers, "Bye Bye Love"] Up to this point, Paul hadn't bought many records -- he spent his money on baseball cards and comic books, and records just weren't good value. A pack of baseball cards was five cents, a comic book was ten cents, but a record was a dollar. Why buy records when you could hear music on the radio for free? But he needed that record, he couldn't just wait around to hear it on the radio. He made an hour-long two-bus journey to a record shop in Queens, bought the record, took it home, played it... and almost immediately scratched it. So he got back on the bus, travelled for another hour, bought another copy, took it home, and made sure he didn't scratch that one. Simon and Garfunkel started copying the Everlys' harmonies, and would spend hours together, singing close together watching each other's mouths and copying the way they formed words, eventually managing to achieve a vocal blend through sheer effort which would normally only come from familial closeness. Paul became so obsessed with music that he sold his baseball card collection and bought a tape recorder for two hundred dollars. They would record themselves singing, and then sing back along with it, multitracking themselves, but also critiquing the tape, refining their performances. Paul's father was a bass player -- "the family bassman", as he would later sing -- and encouraged his son in his music, even as he couldn't see the appeal in this new rock and roll music. He would critique Paul's songs, saying things like "you went from four-four to a bar of nine-eight, you can't do that" -- to which his son would say "I just did" -- but this wasn't hostile criticism, rather it was giving his son a basic grounding in song construction which would prove invaluable. But the duo's first notable original song -- and first hit -- came about more or less by accident. In early 1956, the doo-wop group the Clovers had released the hit single "Devil or Angel". Its B-side had a version of "Hey Doll Baby", a song written by the blues singer Titus Turner, and which sounds to me very inspired by Hank Williams' "Hey, Good Lookin'": [Excerpt: The Clovers, "Hey, Doll Baby"] That song was picked up by the Everly Brothers, who recorded it for their first album: [Excerpt: The Everly Brothers, "Hey Doll Baby"] Here is where the timeline gets a little confused for me, because that album wasn't released until early 1958, although the recording session for that track was in August 1957. Yet that track definitely influenced Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel to record a song that they released in November 1957. All I can imagine is that they heard the brothers perform it live, or maybe a radio station had an acetate copy. Because the way everyone has consistently told the story is that at the end of summer 1957, Simon and Garfunkel had both heard the Everly Brothers perform "Hey Doll Baby", but couldn't remember how it went. The two of them tried to remember it, and to work a version of it out together, and their hazy memories combined to reconstruct something that was completely different, and which owed at least as much to "Wake Up Little Suzie" as to "Hey Doll Baby". Their new song, "Hey Schoolgirl", was catchy enough that they thought if they recorded a demo of it, maybe the Everly Brothers themselves would record the song. At the demo studio they happened to encounter Sid Prosen, who owned a small record label named Big Records. He heard the duo perform and realised he might have his own Everly Brothers here. He signed the duo to a contract, and they went into a professional studio to rerecord "Hey Schoolgirl", this time with Paul's father on bass, and a couple of other musicians to fill out the sound: [Excerpt: Tom and Jerry, "Hey Schoolgirl"] Of course, the record couldn't be released under their real names -- there was no way anyone was going to buy a record by Simon and Garfunkel. So instead they became Tom and Jerry. Paul Simon was Jerry Landis -- a surname he chose because he had a crush on a girl named Sue Landis. Art became Tom Graff, because he liked drawing graphs. "Hey Schoolgirl" became a local hit. The two were thrilled to hear it played on Alan Freed's show (after Sid Prosen gave Freed two hundred dollars), and were even more thrilled when they got to perform on American Bandstand, on the same show as Jerry Lee Lewis. When Dick Clark asked them where they were from, Simon decided to claim he was from Macon, Georgia, where Little Richard came from, because all his favourite rock and roll singers were from the South. "Hey Schoolgirl" only made number forty-nine nationally, because the label didn't have good national distribution, but it sold over a hundred thousand copies, mostly in the New York area. And Sid Prosen seems to have been one of a very small number of independent label owners who wasn't a crook -- the two boys got about two thousand dollars each from their hit record. But while Tom and Jerry seemed like they might have a successful career, Simon and Garfunkel were soon to split up, and the reason for their split was named True Taylor. Paul had been playing some of his songs for Sid Prosen, to see what the duo's next single should be, and Prosen had noticed that while some of them were Everly Brothers soundalikes, others were Elvis soundalikes. Would Paul be interested in recording some of those, too? Obviously Art couldn't sing on those, so they'd use a different name, True Taylor. The single was released around the same time as the second Tom and Jerry record, and featured an Elvis-style ballad by Paul on one side, and a rockabilly song written by his father on the other: [Excerpt: True Taylor, "True or False"] But Paul hadn't discussed that record with Art before doing it, and the two had vastly different ideas about their relationship. Paul was Art's only friend, and Art thought they had an indissoluble bond and that they would always work together. Paul, on the other hand, thought of Art as one of his friends and someone he made music with, but he could play at being Elvis if he wanted, as well as playing at being an Everly brother. Garfunkel, in his memoir published in 2017, says "the friendship was shattered for life" -- he decided then and there that Paul Simon was a "base" person, a betrayer. But on the other hand, he still refers to Simon, over and over again, in that book as still being his friend, even as Simon has largely been disdainful of him since their last performance together in 2010. Friendships are complicated. Tom and Jerry struggled on for a couple more singles, which weren't as successful as "Hey Schoolgirl" had been, with material like "Two Teenagers", written by Rose Marie McCoy: [Excerpt: Tom and Jerry, "Two Teenagers"] But as they'd stopped being friends, and they weren't selling records, they drifted apart and didn't really speak for five years, though they would occasionally run into one another. They both went off to university, and Garfunkel basically gave up on the idea of having a career in music, though he did record a couple of singles, under the name "Artie Garr": [Excerpt: Artie Garr, "Beat Love"] But for the most part, Garfunkel concentrated on his studies, planning to become either an architect or maybe an academic. Paul Simon, on the other hand, while he was technically studying at university too, was only paying minimal attention to his studies. Instead, he was learning the music business. Every afternoon, after university had finished, he'd go around the Brill Building and its neighbouring buildings, offering his services both as a songwriter and as a demo performer. As Simon was competent on guitar, bass, and drums, could sing harmonies, and could play a bit of piano if it was in the key of C, he could use primitive multitracking to play and sing all the parts on a demo, and do it well: [Excerpt: Paul Simon, "Boys Were Made For Girls"] That's an excerpt from a demo Simon recorded for Burt Bacharach, who has said that he tried to get Simon to record as many of his demos as possible, though only a couple of them have surfaced publicly. Simon would also sometimes record demos with his friend Carole Klein, sometimes under the name The Cosines: [Excerpt: The Cosines, "Just to Be With You"] As we heard back in the episode on "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?", Carole Klein went on to change her name to Carole King, and become one of the most successful songwriters of the era -- something which spurred Paul Simon on, as he wanted to emulate her success. Simon tried to get signed up by Don Kirshner, who was publishing Goffin and King, but Kirshner turned Simon down -- an expensive mistake for Kirshner, but one that would end up benefiting Simon, who eventually figured out that he should own his own publishing. Simon was also getting occasional work as a session player, and played lead guitar on "The Shape I'm In" by Johnny Restivo, which made the lower reaches of the Hot One Hundred: [Excerpt: Johnny Restivo, "The Shape I'm In"] Between 1959 and 1963 Simon recorded a whole string of unsuccessful pop singles. including as a member of the Mystics: [Excerpt: The Mystics, "All Through the Night"] He even had a couple of very minor chart hits -- he got to number 99 as Tico and the Triumphs: [Excerpt: Tico and the Triumphs, "Motorcycle"] and number ninety-seven as Jerry Landis: [Excerpt: Jerry Landis, "The Lone Teen Ranger"] But he was jumping around, hopping onto every fad as it passed, and not getting anywhere. And then he started to believe that he could do something more interesting in music. He first became aware that the boundaries of what could be done in music extended further than "ooh-bop-a-loochy-ba" when he took a class on modern music at university, which included a trip to Carnegie Hall to hear a performance of music by the avant-garde composer Edgard Varese: [Excerpt: Edgard Varese, "Ionisation"] Simon got to meet Varese after the performance, and while he would take his own music in a very different, and much more commercial, direction than Varese's, he was nonetheless influenced by what Varese's music showed about the possibilities that existed in music. The other big influence on Simon at this time was when he heard The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Girl From the North Country"] Simon immediately decided to reinvent himself as a folkie, despite at this point knowing very little about folk music other than the Everly Brothers' Songs Our Daddy Taught Us album. He tried playing around Greenwich Village, but found it an uncongenial atmosphere, and inspired by the liner notes to the Dylan album, which talked about Dylan's time in England, he made what would be the first of several trips to the UK, where he was given a rapturous reception simply on the grounds of being an American and owning a better acoustic guitar -- a Martin -- than most British people owned. He had the showmanship that he'd learned from watching his father on stage and sometimes playing with him, and from his time in Tom and Jerry and working round the studios, and so he was able to impress the British folk-club audiences, who were used to rather earnest, scholarly, people, not to someone like Simon who was clearly ambitious and very showbiz. His repertoire at this point consisted mostly of songs from the first two Dylan albums, a Joan Baez record, Little Willie John's "Fever", and one song he'd written himself, an attempt at a protest song called "He Was My Brother", which he would release on his return to the US under yet another stage name, Paul Kane: [Excerpt: Paul Kane, "He Was My Brother"] Simon has always stated that that song was written about a friend of his who was murdered when he went down to Mississippi with the Freedom Riders -- but while Simon's friend was indeed murdered, it wasn't until about a year after he wrote the song, and Simon has confused the timelines in his subsequent recollections. At the time he recorded that, when he had returned to New York at the end of the summer, Simon had a job as a song plugger for a publishing company, and he gave the publishing company the rights to that song and its B-side, which led to that B-side getting promoted by the publisher, and ending up covered on one of the biggest British albums of 1964, which went to number two in the UK charts: [Excerpt: Val Doonican, "Carlos Dominguez"] Oddly, that may not end up being the only time we feature a Val Doonican track on this podcast. Simon continued his attempts to be a folkie, even teaming up again with Art Garfunkel, with whom he'd re-established contact, to perform in Greenwich Village as Kane and Garr, but they went down no better as a duo than Simon had as a solo artist. Simon went back to the UK again over Christmas 1963, and while he was there he continued work on a song that would become such a touchstone for him that of the first six albums he would be involved in, four would feature the song while a fifth would include a snippet of it. "The Sound of Silence" was apparently started in November 1963, but not finished until February 1964, by which time he was once again back in the USA, and back working as a song plugger. It was while working as a song plugger that Simon first met Tom Wilson, Bob Dylan's producer at Columbia. Simon met up with Wilson trying to persuade him to use some of the songs that the publishing company were putting out. When Wilson wasn't interested, Simon played him a couple of his own songs. Wilson took one of them, "He Was My Brother", for the Pilgrims, a group he was producing who were supposed to be the Black answer to Peter, Paul, and Mary: [Excerpt: The Pilgrims, "He Was My Brother"] Wilson was also interested in "The Sound of Silence", but Simon was more interested in getting signed as a performer than in having other acts perform his songs. Wilson was cautious, though -- he was already producing one folkie singer-songwriter, and he didn't really need a second one. But he *could* probably do with a vocal group... Simon mentioned that he had actually made a couple of records before, as part of a duo. Would Wilson be at all interested in a vocal *duo*? Wilson would be interested. Simon and Garfunkel auditioned for him, and a few days later were in the Columbia Records studio on Seventh Avenue recording their first album as a duo, which was also the first time either of them would record under their own name. Wednesday Morning, 3AM, the duo's first album, was a simple acoustic album, and the only instrumentation was Simon and Barry Kornfeld, a Greenwich Village folkie, on guitars, and Bill Lee, the double bass player who'd played with Dylan and others, on bass. Tom Wilson guided the duo in their song selection, and the eventual album contained six cover versions and six originals written by Simon. The cover versions were a mixture of hootenanny staples like "Go Tell it on the Mountain", plus Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'", included to cross-promote Dylan's new album and to try to link the duo with the more famous writer, and one unusual one, "The Sun is Burning", written by Ian Campbell, a Scottish folk singer who Simon had got to know on his trips to the UK: [Excerpt: Simon and Garfunkel, "The Sun is Burning"] But the song that everyone was keenest on was "The Sound of Silence", the first song that Simon had written that he thought would stand up in comparison with the sort of song that Dylan was writing: [Excerpt: Simon and Garfunkel, "The Sound of Silence (Wednesday Morning 3AM version)"] In between sessions for the album, Simon and Garfunkel also played a high-profile gig at Gerde's Folk City in the Village, and a couple of shows at the Gaslight Cafe. The audiences there, though, regarded them as a complete joke -- Dave Van Ronk would later relate that for weeks afterwards, all anyone had to do was sing "Hello darkness, my old friend", for everyone around to break into laughter. Bob Dylan was one of those who laughed at the performance -- though Robert Shelton later said that Dylan hadn't been laughing at them, specifically, he'd just had a fit of the giggles -- and this had led to a certain amount of anger from Simon towards Dylan. The album was recorded in March 1964, and was scheduled for release  in October. In the meantime, they both made plans to continue with their studies and their travels. Garfunkel was starting to do postgraduate work towards his doctorate in mathematics, while Simon was now enrolled in Brooklyn Law School, but was still spending most of his time travelling, and would drop out after one semester. He would spend much of the next eighteen months in the UK. While he was occasionally in the US between June 1964 and November 1965, Simon now considered himself based in England, where he made several acquaintances that would affect his life deeply. Among them were a young woman called Kathy Chitty, with whom he would fall in love and who would inspire many of his songs, and an older woman called Judith Piepe (and I apologise if I'm mispronouncing her name, which I've only ever seen written down, never heard) who many people believed had an unrequited crush on Simon. Piepe ran her London flat as something of a commune for folk musicians, and Simon lived there for months at a time while in the UK. Among the other musicians who stayed there for a time were Sandy Denny, Cat Stevens, and Al Stewart, whose bedroom was next door to Simon's. Piepe became Simon's de facto unpaid manager and publicist, and started promoting him around the British folk scene. Simon also at this point became particularly interested in improving his guitar playing. He was spending a lot of time at Les Cousins, the London club that had become the centre of British acoustic guitar. There are, roughly, three styles of acoustic folk guitar -- to be clear, I'm talking about very broad-brush categorisations here, and there are people who would disagree and say there are more, but these are the main ones. Two of these are American styles -- there's the simple style known as Carter scratching, popularised by Mother Maybelle Carter of the Carter family, and for this all you do is alternate bass notes with your thumb while scratching the chord on the treble strings with one finger, like this: [Excerpt: Carter picking] That's the style played by a lot of country and folk players who were primarily singers accompanying themselves. In the late forties and fifties, though, another style had become popularised -- Travis picking. This is named after Merle Travis, the most well-known player in the style, but he always called it Muhlenberg picking, after Muhlenberg County, where he'd learned the style from Ike Everly -- the Everly Brothers' father -- and Mose Rager, a Black guitarist. In Travis picking, the thumb alternates between two bass notes, but rather than strumming a chord, the index and middle fingers play simple patterns on the treble strings, like this: [Excerpt: Travis picking] That's, again, a style primarily used for accompaniment, but it can also be used to play instrumentals by oneself. As well as Travis and Ike Everly, it's also the style played by Donovan, Chet Atkins, James Taylor, and more. But there's a third style, British baroque folk guitar, which was largely the invention of Davey Graham. Graham, you might remember, was a folk guitarist who had lived in the same squat as Lionel Bart when Bart started working with Tommy Steele, and who had formed a blues duo with Alexis Korner. Graham is now best known for one of his simpler pieces, “Anji”, which became the song that every British guitarist tried to learn: [Excerpt: Davey Graham, "Anji"] Dozens of people, including Paul Simon, would record versions of that. Graham invented an entirely new style of guitar playing, influenced by ragtime players like Blind Blake, but also by Bach, by Moroccan oud music, and by Celtic bagpipe music. While it was fairly common for players to retune their guitar to an open major chord, allowing them to play slide guitar, Graham retuned his to a suspended fourth chord -- D-A-D-G-A-D -- which allowed him to keep a drone going on some strings while playing complex modal counterpoints on others. While I demonstrated the previous two styles myself, I'm nowhere near a good enough guitarist to demonstrate British folk baroque, so here's an excerpt of Davey Graham playing his own arrangement of the traditional ballad "She Moved Through the Fair", recast as a raga and retitled "She Moved Thru' the Bizarre": [Excerpt: Davey Graham, "She Moved Thru' the Bizarre"] Graham's style was hugely influential on an entire generation of British guitarists, people who incorporated world music and jazz influences into folk and blues styles, and that generation of guitarists was coming up at the time and playing at Les Cousins. People who started playing in this style included Jimmy Page, Bert Jansch, Roy Harper, John Renbourn, Richard Thompson, Nick Drake, and John Martyn, and it also had a substantial influence on North American players like Joni Mitchell, Tim Buckley, and of course Paul Simon. Simon was especially influenced at this time by Martin Carthy, the young British guitarist whose style was very influenced by Graham -- but while Graham applied his style to music ranging from Dave Brubeck to Lutheran hymns to Big Bill Broonzy songs, Carthy mostly concentrated on traditional English folk songs. Carthy had a habit of taking American folk singers under his wing, and he taught Simon several songs, including Carthy's own arrangement of the traditional "Scarborough Fair": [Excerpt: Martin Carthy, "Scarborough Fair"] Simon would later record that arrangement, without crediting Carthy, and this would lead to several decades of bad blood between them, though Carthy forgave him in the 1990s, and the two performed the song together at least once after that. Indeed, Simon seems to have made a distinctly negative impression on quite a few of the musicians he knew in Britain at this time, who seem to, at least in retrospect, regard him as having rather used and discarded them as soon as his career became successful. Roy Harper has talked in liner notes to CD reissues of his work from this period about how Simon used to regularly be a guest in his home, and how he has memories of Simon playing with Harper's baby son Nick (now himself one of the greats of British guitar) but how as soon as he became successful he never spoke to Harper again. Similarly, in 1965 Simon started a writing partnership with Bruce Woodley of the Seekers, an Australian folk-pop band based in the UK, best known for "Georgy Girl". The two wrote "Red Rubber Ball", which became a hit for the Cyrkle: [Excerpt: The Cyrke, "Red Rubber Ball"] and also "Cloudy", which the Seekers recorded as an album track: [Excerpt: The Seekers, "Cloudy"] When that was recorded by Simon and Garfunkel, Woodley's name was removed from the writing credits, though Woodley still apparently received royalties for it. But at this point there *was* no Simon and Garfunkel. Paul Simon was a solo artist working the folk clubs in Britain, and Simon and Garfunkel's one album had sold a minuscule number of copies. They did, when Simon briefly returned to the US in March, record two tracks for a prospective single, this time with an electric backing band. One was a rewrite of the title track of their first album, now titled "Somewhere They Can't Find Me" and with a new chorus and some guitar parts nicked from Davey Graham's "Anji"; the other a Twist-beat song that could almost be Manfred Mann or Georgie Fame -- "We Got a Groovy Thing Goin'". That was also influenced by “Anji”, though by Bert Jansch's version rather than Graham's original. Jansch rearranged the song and stuck in this phrase: [Excerpt: Bert Jansch, “Anji”] Which became the chorus to “We Got a Groovy Thing Goin'”: [Excerpt: Simon and Garfunkel, "We Got a Groovy Thing Goin'"] But that single was never released, and as far as Columbia were concerned, Simon and Garfunkel were a defunct act, especially as Tom Wilson, who had signed them, was looking to move away from Columbia. Art Garfunkel did come to visit Simon in the UK a couple of times, and they'd even sing together occasionally, but it was on the basis of Paul Simon the successful club act occasionally inviting his friend on stage during the encore, rather than as a duo, and Garfunkel was still seeing music only as a sideline while Simon was now utterly committed to it. He was encouraged in this commitment by Judith Piepe, who considered him to be the greatest songwriter of his generation, and who started a letter-writing campaign to that effect, telling the BBC they needed to put him on the radio. Eventually, after a lot of pressure, they agreed -- though they weren't exactly sure what to do with him, as he didn't fit into any of the pop formats they had. He was given his own radio show -- a five-minute show in a religious programming slot. Simon would perform a song, and there would be an introduction tying the song into some religious theme or other. Two series of four episodes of this were broadcast, in a plum slot right after Housewives' Choice, which got twenty million listeners, and the BBC were amazed to find that a lot of people phoned in asking where they could get hold of the records by this Paul Simon fellow. Obviously he didn't have any out yet, and even the Simon and Garfunkel album, which had been released in the US, hadn't come out in Britain. After a little bit of negotiation, CBS, the British arm of Columbia Records, had Simon come in and record an album of his songs, titled The Paul Simon Songbook. The album, unlike the Simon and Garfunkel album, was made up entirely of Paul Simon originals. Two of them were songs that had previously been recorded for Wednesday Morning 3AM -- "He Was My Brother" and a new version of "The Sound of Silence": [Excerpt: Paul Simon, "The Sound of Silence"] The other ten songs were newly-written pieces like "April Come She Will", "Kathy's Song", a parody of Bob Dylan entitled "A Simple Desultory Philippic", and the song that was chosen as the single, "I am a Rock": [Excerpt: Paul Simon, "I am a Rock"] That song was also the one that was chosen for Simon's first TV appearance since Tom and Jerry had appeared on Bandstand eight years earlier. The appearance on Ready, Steady, Go, though, was not one that anyone was happy with. Simon had been booked to appear on  a small folk music series, Heartsong, but that series was cancelled before he could appear. Rediffusion, the company that made the series, also made Ready, Steady, Go, and since they'd already paid Simon they decided they might as well stick him on that show and get something for their money. Unfortunately, the episode in question was already running long, and it wasn't really suited for introspective singer-songwriter performances -- the show was geared to guitar bands and American soul singers. Michael Lindsay-Hogg, the director, insisted that if Simon was going to do his song, he had to cut at least one verse, while Simon was insistent that he needed to perform the whole thing because "it's a story". Lindsay-Hogg got his way, but nobody was happy with the performance. Simon's album was surprisingly unsuccessful, given the number of people who'd called the BBC asking about it -- the joke went round that the calls had all been Judith Piepe doing different voices -- and Simon continued his round of folk clubs, pubs, and birthday parties, sometimes performing with Garfunkel, when he visited for the summer, but mostly performing on his own. One time he did perform with a full band, singing “Johnny B Goode” at a birthday party, backed by a band called Joker's Wild who a couple of weeks later went into the studio to record their only privately-pressed five-song record, of them performing recent hits: [Excerpt: Joker's Wild, "Walk Like a Man"] The guitarist from Joker's Wild would later join the other band who'd played at that party, but the story of David Gilmour joining Pink Floyd is for another episode. During this time, Simon also produced his first record for someone else, when he was responsible for producing the only album by his friend Jackson C Frank, though there wasn't much production involved as like Simon's own album it was just one man and his guitar. Al Stewart and Art Garfunkel were also in the control room for the recording, but the notoriously shy Frank insisted on hiding behind a screen so they couldn't see him while he recorded: [Excerpt: Jackson C Frank, "Blues Run the Game"] It seemed like Paul Simon was on his way to becoming a respected mid-level figure on the British folk scene, releasing occasional albums and maybe having one or two minor hits, but making a steady living. Someone who would be spoken of in the same breath as Ralph McTell perhaps. Meanwhile, Art Garfunkel would be going on to be a lecturer in mathematics whose students might be surprised to know he'd had a minor rock and roll hit as a kid. But then something happened that changed everything. Wednesday Morning 3AM hadn't sold at all, and Columbia hadn't promoted it in the slightest. It was too collegiate and polite for the Greenwich Village folkies, and too intellectual for the pop audience that had been buying Peter, Paul, and Mary, and it had come out just at the point that the folk boom had imploded. But one DJ in Boston, Dick Summer, had started playing one song from it, "The Sound of Silence", and it had caught on with the college students, who loved the song. And then came spring break 1965. All those students went on holiday, and suddenly DJs in places like Cocoa Beach, Florida, were getting phone calls requesting "The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel. Some of them with contacts at Columbia got in touch with the label, and Tom Wilson had an idea. On the first day of what turned out to be his last session with Dylan, the session for "Like a Rolling Stone", Wilson asked the musicians to stay behind and work on something. He'd already experimented with overdubbing new instruments on an acoustic recording with his new version of Dylan's "House of the Rising Sun", now he was going to try it with "The Sound of Silence". He didn't bother asking the duo what they thought -- record labels messed with people's records all the time. So "The Sound of Silence" was released as an electric folk-rock single: [Excerpt: Simon and Garfunkel, "The Sound of Silence"] This is always presented as Wilson massively changing the sound of the duo without their permission or knowledge, but the fact is that they had *already* gone folk-rock, back in March, so they were already thinking that way. The track was released as a single with “We Got a Groovy Thing Going” on the B-side, and was promoted first in the Boston market, and it did very well. Roy Harper later talked about Simon's attitude at this time, saying "I can remember going into the gents in The Three Horseshoes in Hempstead during a gig, and we're having a pee together. He was very excited, and he turns round to me and and says, “Guess what, man? We're number sixteen in Boston with The Sound of Silence'”. A few days later I was doing another gig with him and he made a beeline for me. “Guess what?” I said “You're No. 15 in Boston”. He said, “No man, we're No. 1 in Boston”. I thought, “Wow. No. 1 in Boston, eh?” It was almost a joke, because I really had no idea what that sort of stuff meant at all." Simon was even more excited when the record started creeping up the national charts, though he was less enthused when his copy of the single arrived from America. He listened to it, and thought the arrangement was a Byrds rip-off, and cringed at the way the rhythm section had to slow down and speed up in order to stay in time with the acoustic recording: [Excerpt: Simon and Garfunkel, "The Sound of Silence"] I have to say that, while the tempo fluctuations are noticeable once you know to look for them, it's a remarkably tight performance given the circumstances. As the record went up the charts, Simon was called back to America, to record an album to go along with it. The Paul Simon Songbook hadn't been released in the US,  and they needed an album *now*, and Simon was a slow songwriter, so the duo took six songs from that album and rerecorded them in folk-rock versions with their new producer Bob Johnston, who was also working with Dylan now, since Tom Wilson had moved on to Verve records. They filled out the album with "The Sound of Silence", the two electric tracks from March, one new song, "Blessed", and a version of "Anji", which came straight after "Somewhere They Can't Find Me", presumably to acknowledge Simon lifting bits of it. That version of “Anji” also followed Jansch's arrangement, and so included the bit that Simon had taken for “We Got a Groovy Thing Going” as well. They also recorded their next single, which was released on the British version of the album but not the American one, a song that Simon had written during a thoroughly depressing tour of Lancashire towns (he wrote it in Widnes, but a friend of Simon's who lived in Widnes later said that while it was written in Widnes it was written *about* Birkenhead. Simon has also sometimes said it was about Warrington or Wigan, both of which are so close to Widnes and so similar in both name and atmosphere that it would be the easiest thing in the world to mix them up.) [Excerpt: Simon and Garfunkel, "Homeward Bound"] These tracks were all recorded in December 1965, and they featured the Wrecking Crew -- Bob Johnston wanted the best, and didn't rate the New York players that Wilson had used, and so they were recorded in LA with Glen Campbell, Joe South, Hal Blaine, Larry Knechtel, and Joe Osborne. I've also seen in some sources that there were sessions in Nashville with A-team players Fred Carter and Charlie McCoy. By January, "The Sound of Silence" had reached number one, knocking "We Can Work it Out" by the Beatles off the top spot for two weeks, before the Beatles record went back to the top. They'd achieved what they'd been trying for for nearly a decade, and I'll give the last word here to Paul Simon, who said of the achievement: "I had come back to New York, and I was staying in my old room at my parents' house. Artie was living at his parents' house, too. I remember Artie and I were sitting there in my car one night, parked on a street in Queens, and the announcer said, "Number one, Simon & Garfunkel." And Artie said to me, "That Simon & Garfunkel, they must be having a great time.""

In Part 2 of our two-part ranking of Simon and Garfunkel's album "Bridge Over Troubled Water," we're discussing the mysteries of "The Boxer," tidal waves of tears, and the great relief of the occasional uptempo song.Our intro is by Andrew Byrne, and our outro is by Simon & Garfunkel. To contact us or buy our books, visit MarkAndSarahTalkAboutSongs.com. To become a patron of the show, visit patreon.com/mastas.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In Part 1 of our two-part ranking of Simon and Garfunkel's album "Bridge Over Troubled Water," we're discussing songs of friendship, tales of traveling salesmen, and the music you can make at a Staples.Our intro is by Andrew Byrne, and our outro is by Paul Simon. To contact us or buy our books, visit MarkAndSarahTalkAboutSongs.com. To become a patron of the show, visit patreon.com/mastas.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.