“I still do that”: The band Paul Simon said gave birth to Simon and Garfunkel
When Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were two young kids at school together, they bonded over a clear cast of mutual musical loves. From the very start, their influences were locked in, so even as they grew up and gradually took the shape of the Simon and Garfunkel the world knows, certain artists paved their way. Even after the band, Simon carried one name with him, forever informing how he makes music and how he wants his music to sound.
Simon and Garfunkel met as young boys, living a block away from one another and attending the same school in Queens, New York. It was the 1950s and both kids were absolutely obsessed with rock and roll, watching the dawning of this new and exciting genre, yearning to be part of it. That was the basis for their bond, at first simply striking up a friendship by sharing tunes and then, eventually, making this own.
They took on a few forms before they found their feet. First, they were in a doo-wop group called The Peptones, found singing on street corners. Then, they struck off the other members to be a two-piece, performing at school dances and calling themselves Tom and Jerry. Even when they got their first record deal, that was the name they were signed with before eventually shaking that off to be simply Simon and Garfunkel.
Throughout all those interactions, though, one clear musical element caught people’s attention: their ability to harmonise. When Simon and Garfunkel brought their voices together, their talent for tone and the magical way they seemed to merge together were mesmerising as a display of clear skill mixed with pure emotion. That sound takes pride in place across all their best tracks and albums, keeping their harmonies tight and in the spotlight as their finest skill.
But all that comes back to those early days and the artists they first bonded over. Simon and Garfunkel are undeniably students of The Everly Brothers, an early rock and roll duo known for their tight, close harmonies.
Simon himself admits that they “wouldn’t have been a Simon and Garfunkel without the Everly Brothers.” Between the band’s records and their early singing groups, the duo learnt everything they knew about harmonies right then, stating, “We sang in doo-wop groups when we were kids. We learned about singing all the three different parts, from bass to falsetto.”
From then on, through their career as a band and into Simon’s solo career, the impact of the Everly Brothers’ tight harmonies and those early lessons in layering vocals always led the way. “I still do that on all my records, still put in all the background vocals myself,” Simon said, still using that vital influence and those initial inspirations as a blueprint for his music.
The Everly Brothers were so important to Simon and Garfunkel, in fact, that one of the band’s fondest memories as a duo was when they managed to get their idols back together. After splitting on rocky terms, The Everly Brothers came together again in the early 2000s just for Simon and Garfunkel to perform with them on tour. Simon recalled, “They basically came out of retirement for us. I said, ‘Phil, look, if you’re going to retire, you might as well come out one more time and take a bow and let me at least say what it is that you meant to us and to the culture.’” It meant that not only did the duo learn from the rock and rollers, but they were able to give back to the band, too.
