Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel emerged as the leading folk-rock pairing of the 1960s. They delivered a run of memorable albums and singles built on angelic vocal blends, resonant acoustic and electric guitars, and Simon’s precise, carefully crafted songwriting. The pair consistently occupied the more refined corner of the folk-rock landscape and drew occasional remarks about an overly academic stiffness. Many listeners maintain that Simon reached his full stature as both vocalist and songwriter only after launching a major solo career in the 1970s. Still, the duo’s strongest material ranks with Simon’s best work, and their five albums trace a clear artistic growth from straightforward folk-rock arrangements into Latin rhythms and gospel-inflected settings that anticipated the eclectic direction of his later solo recordings.
Their recording activity actually stretched back nearly a decade before their first mid-1960s breakthrough. Childhood friends from Forest Hills, NY, they began cutting sides in 1957, writing much of their own material and adopting a youthful Everly Brothers approach. Performing as Tom & Jerry, they scored a Top 50 single with “Hey Schoolgirl,” yet follow-up releases failed to chart. The partnership dissolved, and Simon continued chasing success as a songwriter and occasional performer, sometimes under the names Jerry Landis or Tico & the Triumphs.
By the early 1960s both Simon and Garfunkel had absorbed folk influences. When they reformed, they did so as a folk duo, though Simon’s pop sensibilities helped fuse folk and pop elements in their songs. Columbia signed them, and they released an acoustic debut album in 1964 titled Wednesday Morning, 3 AM that initially sold poorly, prompting another split; Simon moved to England to play the folk circuit and issued an obscure solo record.
The Simon & Garfunkel partnership might have ended there had it not been for producer Tom Wilson, who had also worked on several early Bob Dylan albums. As folk-rock surged in 1965, Wilson added electric guitars, bass, and drums to the strongest track from their debut, “The Sound of Silence.” The reworked single reached number one in early 1966, giving the duo fresh momentum to reunite and pursue recording seriously, with Simon returning from the U.K. Throughout 1966 and 1967 they appeared regularly on the pop charts with notable folk-rock singles including “Homeward Bound,” “I Am a Rock,” and “A Hazy Shade of Winter.”
Their early albums remained uneven, yet quality rose steadily as Simon honed his songwriting and the pair grew more assured and adventurous in the studio. Their clean, tasteful execution sometimes cost them credibility during the psychedelic years, though that criticism was misplaced. Far from the rawest acts of the era, they managed to reach multiple segments of the pop and rock audience across age groups without diluting their music. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, released in late 1966, became their first consistently strong album. Bookends in 1968 combined previously issued singles with new songs and reflected their maturing perspective; one track, “Mrs. Robinson,” became one of the biggest hits of the late 1960s after it appeared in the acclaimed film The Graduate, which also featured additional Simon & Garfunkel songs on its soundtrack.
In retrospect, strain within the partnership was unsurprising by the late 1960s. Having known each other most of their lives and performed together for over a decade, Simon began to feel limited by the same collaborator, while Garfunkel, who wrote virtually none of the material, sensed he was overshadowed despite the essential contribution of his high tenor. They started recording some parts separately, and live performances nearly ceased in 1969 as Garfunkel turned toward acting.
Their final studio album, Bridge Over Troubled Water, topped the charts for ten weeks and yielded four hit singles: the title track, “The Boxer,” “Cecilia,” and “El Condor Pasa.” It stood as their most ambitious effort, employing powerful drums and refined orchestration on “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “The Boxer,” while “Cecilia” marked an early Simon exploration of South American rhythms. The record also captured the uncertain, reflective mood of 1970 more effectively than most other major releases that year.
No further albums of new material appeared. Although they did not set out to disband at the time, the recording hiatus became permanent once Simon began a solo career that matched the commercial success of the duo’s work and Garfunkel pursued acting alongside recording. They reunited briefly in 1975 for the Top Ten single “My Little Town” and performed together occasionally thereafter without producing new albums. A 1981 concert in New York’s Central Park drew half a million fans and was documented on a live album; an early-1980s tour followed, yet a planned studio album was abandoned over artistic differences.
