When Paul Simon brutally publicly insulted Art Garfunkel in 1997
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel might have begun playing music together in their early teens, but this bond hasn’t spared them from feuding over the years.
They are, after all, musicians. Feuding with your fellows is par for the course. It isn’t just wayward rogues like Keith Richards running his mouth, even mild-mannered folk performers are prone to cutting remarks.
As Mark E Smith, the frontman who famously went to war with the world, once concluded, “The thing with me is I can’t stick musicians. I’ve thought about this, and I can’t stand them.”
It’s an utterly comical quip; however, the late Smith is far from alone. In the ego-bruising industry of music, insults are traded ten-a-penny, but usually, they’re not as public as Paul Simon’s. While his songs might be floating and beautiful, one night in 1997, he certainly proved he could be stinging, too.
At the awards show for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Simon took to the stage to accept his second induction. Ironically, it was at a point when it seemed that relations between Simon and his old collaborator were passed their tempestuous peak, especially considering they had appeared at the same ceremony together when they were inducted as a duo seven years earlier, but that’s not how things played out.
Simon strolled out and reignited the feud publicly as he accepted this induction as a solo artist and delivered a cutting Woody Allen-style line. “I want to thank Art Garfunkel and say that I regret the ending of our friendship, and I hope that some day, before we die, we will make peace with each other,” then with a wink, after a comically long pause, he delivered the sardonic punchline… “no rush”.
The fact that Simon was achieving a solo induction can only have added to the blow for poor old Artie. Worse still, Simon had pulled a similar stunt at the Grammys back in 1975, when Garfunkel climbed onto a stage to accept an award on Olivia Newton-John’s behalf, presented by John Lennon and his former partner, when Simon turned and quipped, “I thought I told you to wait in the car”.
While his “no rush” line was timed to perfection, it also put to bed the peaceful notion that they had broken bread and moved on. Perhaps the most comical element of all is how wildly incongruous it is with their beautiful little tunes. It’s like watching Pooh Bear bickering with Piglet. Thankfully, they have since reconciled their differences… for all of five minutes.
In 2015, they buried the hatchet after their reunion and world tour sold out. Rather predictably, it was cancelled. It was apparently due to personal reasons between the two, with Simon reportedly sick of Garfunkel’s repeated deceptions.
Garfunkel later lambasted his old partner and rubbished these claims. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, the singer agreed with the interviewer when it was suggested that his old bandmate suffered from a ‘Napoleon complex’ and called him an “idiot” and a “jerk” for “walk(ing) away from this lucky place on top of the world”.
Mort Lewis, the band’s former manager, once offered up his explanation for the feud, stating, “They both envied the other’s place in the team,” he said. “Paul often thought the audience saw Artie as the star because he was the featured singer, and some people probably thought Artie even wrote the songs. But Artie knew Paul wrote the songs and thus controlled the future of the pair.”
Naturally, this was a less-than-pleasing junction for Simon, but Garfunkel thought he was equally undermined by the jealous songwriter. That seems like a hurdle neither of them has ever been able to overcome. This is made all the more tragic by Simon’s recent 2024 remark when he explained, “We were really best friends up until Bridge over Troubled Water.”
