Following the success of their Central Park reunion show, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel embarked on a world tour in 1982 and ’83. Riding the high of those performances, the duo headed back into the studio to record their first album together in 13 years.
The record had a working title of ‘Think Too Much,’ named after a pair of songs in its track list.
But the reunion wasn’t meant to be. The old friends, and sometime enemies, suffered from that old standby — “creative differences” — and the collaboration quickly fell apart. Simon removed Garfunkel’s vocals, reworked the songs, and recorded an album he titled Hearts and Bones.
Versions of these songs featuring both men can be found on YouTube, taken from their concert appearances the year or so before the collaboration fell apart.
Hearts and Bones became Paul Simon’s worst-performing record, both critically and commercially. It’s interesting to speculate how differently the same batch of songs might have been received had they represented the reunion of Simon & Garfunkel.
Had gathered in Los Angeles
To analyze the love affair
And possibly unscramble us
And we sat among our photographs
Examined everyone
And in the end, we compromised
And met the morning sun
Maybe I think too much
Maybe I think too much
Oh, maybe I think too much
Maybe I think too much
They say the left side of the brain
Dominates the right
And the right side has to labor through
The long and speechless night
And in the night
My father came to me
And held me to his chest
He said there’s not much more that you can do
Go home and get some rest”
And I said yeah
Maybe I think too much
Maybe I think too much
Oh, maybe I think too much
Maybe I think too much
Meet Me In Montauk 
Love the background story on this album. I had no idea it was supposed to be an S&G album. Fascinating. I wonder if the Garfunkel parts still exist on master tapes allowing the album to be re-released with his vocals.
Anyway, there are some decent songs on this record, including most particularly the title track and my personal favorite, “Train in the Distance.” There are also, of course, some very weak songs, culminating in the legendarily unfortunate “Cars are Cars.” I suspect if he had just killed that song from this record, the critics would have been far kinder in their opinions.