Song of the Day #1,164: ‘Bleecker Street’ – Simon & Garfunkel

Simon & Garfunkel were nearly finished as soon as they began. The failure of Wednesday Morning, 3AM sent Paul Simon to London and Art Garfunkel to college in New York, their dream of recording together shelved indefinitely.

It would have been a depressing finish for the childhood friends who first performed together in high school (as Tom & Jerry) and had been friends since they were 12 years old.

But the turbulence that marked their first stab at recording as Simon & Garfunkel would become par for the course as their careers progressed.

One of the lovelier songs on Wednesday Morning, 3AM is today’s SOTD, ‘Bleecker Street,’ Simon’s ode to the Greenwich Village street that was home to music clubs where Bob Dylan and others got their start.

But it would be another acoustic number that eventually picked up steam and led to the first Simon & Gerfunkel reunion. I’ll get to that story in a couple of weeks.

Fog’s rollin’ in off the East River Bank
Like a shroud, it covers Bleecker Street
Fills the alleys where men sleep
Hides the shepherd from the sheep

Voices leaking from a sad café
Smiling faces try to understand
I saw a shadow touch a shadow’s hand
On Bleecker Street

The poet reads his crooked rhyme
Holy, holy is his sacrament
Thirty dollars pays your rent
On Bleecker Street

I heard a church bell softly chime
In a melody sustainin’
It’s a long road to Canaan
On Bleecker Street

One thought on “Song of the Day #1,164: ‘Bleecker Street’ – Simon & Garfunkel

  1. Dana says:

    hard to imagine S&G being over before they even began. Looking forward to hearing the rest of the story….

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