Simon & Garfunkel’s performance of ‘Sound of Silence’ in 1966
Sometimes, when it’s a bit scary outside, we can take solace and comfort in the musicians of old, providing us with a little bit of home comfort. Nothing is as wholesome as Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel singing their legendary song ‘Sound of Silence’. Here, we look back at the moment the folk singing duo performs the track on the welcomed homestead of 1960s television, Canadian TV show Let’s Sing Out.
On February 17th, 1966, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel took to the studio of Let’s Sing Out with a special moment in mind. They wanted to speak to as many people as possible and share the messages of their songs with college campuses across Canada. By 1966, Let’s Sing Out was getting a name for itself as one of the places to have your folk music heard. While the cultural crucible of New York had been welcoming local folk singers to radio and TV stations for years, the rest of the world was slowly catching up.
Let’s Sing Out was hardly edgy for a TV show. The series always included some homecooked fun and escapades, often welcoming audience participation in the songs. But the more important factor was that it connected with college kids across the country. It was in this environment that Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel had been thriving. It was a scene that allowed the pair to not only sing their songs and gather a little fame as they did but also have their music and their messages actually read and felt and experienced.
As Simon introduces the song, he explains a little about the lyrics: “One of the biggest hangups we have today is the inability of people to communicate, not only on an intellectual level, but on an emotional level as well,” he said. “So you have people unable to touch other people, unable to love other people. And this is a song about the inability to communicate.”
The set brought to you from the University of Toronto also features some other notable songs from the duo who met in school. There’s also a performance of ‘Richard Cory’, the iconic ‘Homeward Bound’, ‘A Most Peculiar Man’ and more. It makes for an interesting viewing that hits your soul like a warm bowl of chicken soup.
Watch Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel perform below.
