Tag Archives: Simon & Garfunkel

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Song of the Day #1,185: ‘The Dangling Conversation’ – Simon & Garfunkel

The third single from Parsely, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme might not have the instant familiarity of ‘Scarborough Fair’ and ‘Homeward Bound’ but it is a dazzler nonetheless.

‘The Dangling Conversation’ sets a sad scene of the relationship that has dissolved into apathy. Simon, all of 25 years old when he wrote this, beautifully captures the numbness of faded love.

You can picture these two intellectuals, “couched in… indifference,” reading their poetry and having superficial conversations about analysis and the theater — this is 70s Woody Allen territory a decade earlier.

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Song of the Day #1,184: ‘Homeward Bound’ – Simon & Garfunkel

Simon & Garfunkel’s third album, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, was recorded and released in 1966, the same year that Sounds of Silence introduced their sound to a large audience.

The new album, their third, was even more successful than its predecessor, achieving triple platinum status and sending three singles up the charts.

One was the duo’s rendition of the classic folk tune ‘Scarborough Fair,’ blended with a counter melody inspired by Simon’s solo track ‘The Side of a Hill.’

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Song of the Day #1,178: ‘Kathy’s Song’ – Simon & Garfunkel

Sounds of Silence is best known for the classic song that inspired its name, but it contains a few Paul Simon gems.

Among them is ‘April Come She Will,’ the haunting track that, like ‘The Sound of Silence,’ was featured prominently in the film The Graduate. Another is ‘I Am a Rock,’ Simon’s ode to detachment that English teachers the world over have used to demonstrate metaphor.

Both of those songs appeared as solo compositions on The Paul Simon Songbook, as did ‘A Most Peculiar Man’ and ‘The Leaves That Are Green.’ Essentially, Sounds of Silence was a collection of previously released material rerecorded to capitalize on the duo’s newfound success.

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Song of the Day #1,177: ‘The Sound of Silence’ – Simon & Garfunkel

When we left Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, they had split up after the failure of their debut folk album, 1964’s Wednesday Morning, 3AM, with Simon moving to London to perform in small venues and Garfunkel pursuing a Masters degree in New York City.

During the summer of ’65, one track off of that debut album showed signs of life on college radio. ‘The Sound of Silence,’ a gentle tune with grand lyrics, received a lot of airplay in Gainesville, Florida, and other college towns. Producer Tom Wilson, who had worked on Wednesday Morning, 3AM, sensed an opportunity.

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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.

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