Simon and Garfunkel, Together and Apart

I’ve been a big Simon and Garfunkel fan most of my life, but I never really delved much into their history until my freshman year of college, when I hit “Simon and Garfunkel mode” with particular fervor and found myself shocked to wind up in “Simon-less Garfunkel mode.” I don’t recall identifying Artie as my favorite prior to this time, and I’m not entirely sure what made me shift my loyalties most strongly in his direction. I had been familiar with his solo music before I embraced Simon and Garfunkel; when I was two one of my favorite songs was Feuilles-Oh/Do Space Men Pass Dead Souls on their Way to the Moon? from his Angel Clare album. And I empathized with his personality more than Simon’s. And of course, there was that voice. At any rate, he became the clear favorite, and has been ever since. But Paul Simon remains my favorite songwriter, along with John Denver (an odd pairing), and he is probably my most powerful literary influence when I am writing poetry (not that it shows…). When I began my intensive Internet search for everything I could find out about Simon and Garfunkel, and later Garfunkel solo, Victoria Kingston’s book was referenced over and over again. So just recently, gearing up for the possible Simon and Garfunkel reunion tour, I purchased the book online and awaited it eagerly. Simon and Garfunkel: The Biography has heightened, if that is possible, my desire to see them perform as a duo and renewed my appreciation for Simon and Garfunkel’s master wordsmith.

Since I already had spent hours researching the duo before, there were not many grand revelations for me here in the text. The real pleasure for me was in the small details and the recollections of Art, Paul, and the many people associated with them through the years. Details like Paul deciding to become a singer because once, when he was ten, his father commented that he had a nice voice. Like Paul penning a song, at the age of eighteen, entitled “I’d Like to be the Lipstick on your Lips.” Or deciding he would be a failure if he wasn’t a millionaire by age 30. Or Artie coming into the recording of Bright Eyes sick and leaving the piano off the track because the piano didn’t get tuned in time. Or the fact that Art and Paul’s movies Bad Timing and One Trick Pony were shown in parallel theaters at the same cinema. Or that Art spent a year working out the harmonies for the Simon and Garfunkel reunion album Think Too Much, only to have Paul decide to make it a solo effort. Dozens of friends, acquaintances, and business associates weigh in on their experiences with the men by themselves and as a duo, offering fascinating insights throughout the book.

In 32 chapters, the biography takes us through the lives of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel from birth to the early nineties. Their lives, even when not closely intertwined, often run parallel. They release solo albums at the same time, find and lose love at the same time, sink into a depression at the same time, find happiness again at the same time. And while their partnership becomes more improbable as their individual tastes diverge, their friendship apparently remains, for the most part, intact. Comical evidence of this can be found on The Breakup, found on Art’s Up ‘Til Now album. This track features the two in the studio, with Art trying to explain to listeners why Simon and Garfunkel broke up and Paul constantly cutting in with corrections until the address dissolves into laughter. This a comradeship that is enduring but has gone through many rocky times; the two were estranged until recently, when they began spending more time together and contemplating another tour. Interestingly, the book quotes Simon in the early eighties as saying the next big reunion would be in 2000; let’s hope this is that reunion!

This biography is not perfect. Kingston has a tendency to insert a bit too much of her opinion, particularly in regard to songs. For instance, she complains that the extended “lie-la-lie” fadeout in The Boxer is too long (I think it’s brilliant) and says the length is reminiscent of Hey Jude, an unwanted comparison because The Boxer is a superior song (I agree The Boxer is better, but not by much – they’re both great). I also found several typos, and was somewhat stymied by her references to Saturday Night, always leaving off the Live!. And, of course, there is so much to say about these two that there are aspects of their lives not explored as deeply as they could be. Still, I thought the book seemed complete. It was packed with information and really didn’t favor one artist over another. It alternated between Paul’s time on the folk circuit in England and Art’s collegiate studies in New York; between Art’s Angel Clare and Paul’s Paul Simon; between Art’s second marriage, to Kim Cermak, and Paul’s third, to Edie Brickell. There are also 10 nice photographs in the middle, starting with a super-sharp shot of the clean-cut, coordinated 16-year-old Tom and Jerry and ending with a rather fuzzy image of a 46-year-old Paul signing autographs.

Despite its imperfections, I was very pleased with the book and think that it deserves its distinction of being their definitive biography. Anyone looking for a crash course in Simon and Garfunkel should turn to this book, which I acquired second-hand at Amazon. And now, I am off to hear Simon and Garfunkel’s announcement and hope that they say they’re coming somewhere near Erie!