The classic Simon and Garfunkel song that split the duo: “I don’t like it”
In many ways, the music industry is like the tail-end of Christmas Day: everybody’s tired, everybody’s had a little too much to drink, and arguments are inevitable. Still, certain stalwarts of the industry seem more prone to conflict than others, and masters of folk rock Simon and Garfunkel certainly fall within that category.
For a duo who spent their heyday enmeshed in the era of ‘peace and love’, crafting a discography of unparalleled folk beauty, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel’s working relationship rarely seemed harmonious.
To be fair to the pair, the cracks in that relationship only truly began to show towards the latter stages of the 1960s, by which time Simon and Garfunkel were among the most renowned and beloved musical acts across the globe. Inevitably, the pressure of that moniker began to drive a wedge between the two musicians, which only widened year after year.
It was in 1970 that Simon and Garfunkel finally threw in the towel, drawing their partnership to a close with one of the greatest albums of all time in Bridge Over Troubled Water – a fitting obituary to the duo, but one which had also hammered the final nail into their musical coffin. All was not lost, of course, and Simon soon established his own incredible solo career, reuniting with his former comrade sporadically for various reunion performances.
Although, for the most part, the intense conflict which had dominated the duo back in the late 1960s eventually subsided, Simon and Garfunkel still rarely seem to see eye to eye, particularly when it comes to their shared discography.
A core part of their continued disagreements seem to arise from the fact that Art Garfunkel looks back upon their heyday with an understandable degree of nostalgia and appreciation for the incredible material they created together during those years, whereas Paul Simon could be accused of being overly critical of his own writing.
Simon, like every great artist, has never been one to stay in the same place for too long. Over the course of his solo career, the songwriter has expanded to incorporate a wealth of diverse influences not present on any Simon and Garfunkel LPs. So, it is perhaps less surprising that there are a few of those earlier efforts which he is, nowadays, not so proud of. One such track being the beloved ‘For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her’.
A beautiful example of Simon’s mid-1960s material, the song was included on the pair’s 1966 record Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, but it went on to reach 53 on the US singles charts in the summer of 1972 after being reissued as a single. Still, Simon doesn’t look back upon the song with much in the way of praise. “Artie likes that song an awful lot. He liked to sing it,” he told SongTalk in 1990. “Well, it was a very romantic song but I don’t like it.”
While it would be presumptuous to guess Simon’s reasons for not liking the track, it is perhaps worth mentioning that ‘For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her’ is inarguably among Art Garfunkel’s greatest vocal performances.
What’s more, it quickly became a highlight, not just of Simon and Garfunkel’s performances, but of Garfunkel’s own solo performances in the post-Simon days. So, it is not much of a stretch to suggest that Simon’s disliking of the legendary track might have arisen simply from the enduring rivalry between the pair.
