In September of 1981, a planned Paul Simon solo concert turned into a generation-inspiring event when Simon invited Art Garfunkel to join him onstage in Central Park. Half a million people gathered on the Great Lawn to witness the historic reunion.
The resulting album is a lovely, touching document of the event and a hell of a batch of songs, too. It has a charmingly rough quality, including some flubbed verses and musical stumbles, which only serve to highlight the spontaneity of the show.
I notice a pattern in Paul Simon’s early work of competition and jealousy surrounding Art Garfunkel. Despite Simon’s status as the songwriter of all those wonderful tunes they recorded together, it sometimes feels as if he saw himself in Garfunkel’s shadow.
Take his nagging regrets over letting Garfunkel take the lead on ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water,’ or the cryptic songs he wrote about their partnership sometimes without even letting Art in on their meaning.
I wonder if Simon decided to jump into acting in large part because Garfunkel had found success there (in films such as Carnal Knowledge and Catch-22).
Five years after reaching the pinnacle of his solo career (to that point) with Still Crazy After All These Years, Paul Simon made the bizarre move of writing and starring in a movie.
1980’s One-Trick Pony featured Simon in the semi-autobiographical role of a fading folk rock star attempting a comeback in the face of professional and personal obstacles. While supporting characters in the film are loosely based on people in Simon’s own life, the main character seems like a stab at a self-destructive, self-fulfilled prophecy.
For one of the 70s’ touchstone albums, Paul Simon’s Still Crazy After All These Years is a rather low-key affair. It runs for just ten songs and under 40 minutes and every song has a similar laid-back vibe.
Even the album’s #1 hit, ’50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,’ drifts by on a silky, mellow groove. This is an album made for a lazy Sunday morning.
In 1975, Paul Simon released his fourth solo album, the sublime Still Crazy After All These Years.
The record won him his second of three Album of the Year Grammys (the first went to Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water). Accepting the award, Simon thanked Stevie Wonder for not releasing an album that year, as Wonder had won the award the previous two years (and would go on to win it again the following year).
Meet Me In Montauk 