The singer Art Garfunkel said no one could touch: “A rising star”
Some artists are fortunate enough to have found each other at the right time in their lives, and while both Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon would no doubt have been able to find success separately, their individual brilliance was amplified by the presence of the other.
Of course, Simon’s songs that he has done alone are great regardless, but those that he wrote for his former partner were brought to life by Garfunkel’s vocal ability, and similarly, Garfunkel was stretched to his peak by the compositions that Simon was giving to him. To put it simply, there haven’t been many other songwriting and performance partnerships that have excelled to the heights that these two managed to.
Having a partnership made in heaven isn’t something that everyone has the privilege of, but the quality of their output as a duo was ultimately the thing that allowed Simon to flourish, and had Garfunkel chosen to pursue a solo career to the same extent after they went their own separate ways, he would undoubtedly have gone on to great things in some regard.
However, it could be argued that Garfunkel needed Simon more than Simon needed him, and what happens when you have virtually everything there in place for you from a creative point of view is that you’re more likely to be noticed as a far superior talent, and someone who can continue to perform at the highest level for years to come.
Despite being best known for his contributions to the world of folk, one of Garfunkel’s greatest influences is soul music, and the greatest inspiration for his own career was someone from this corner of the music world.
Sam Cooke is frequently regarded as a tremendous talent, and one who was sadly taken from the world prematurely, but it was evident that he could do everything from writing his own material to performing it to the highest level. While his earliest output involved covering the material of others and working with outsiders on songwriting, in the years immediately prior to his death, he was beginning to showcase the full extent of his powers.
In a feature for Rolling Stone, Garfunkel spoke of how he thought of Cooke as one of the greatest performers to have ever existed, and stated that he was the sort of artist who was beyond comparison, especially based on the strength of some of the songs he released in this period. “Sam came along before the album was discovered as an art form, you think of him in terms of songs,” he argued, before listing some of his favourites as being favourites ‘Sad Mood’, ‘Wonderful World’, ‘Summertime’, ‘(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons’ and ‘You Send Me’.
He then went on to state where he believed Cooke would have ended up had his career continued: “I think that ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ shows where he could have gone if he had lived through the ‘60s, doing Marvin Gaye kind of lyrics about the society we live in. It was a tremendous loss when he was killed. I remember thinking, ‘Oh, that can’t be.’ He was such a rising star, a fabulous singer with intelligence. And that brilliant smile.”
Garfunkel concluded his thoughts with perhaps the greatest praise possible and an indication of just how much his legacy lives on in spite of his tragically short career. “I used to think he was just a great singer,” he mused. “Now I think he’s better than that. Almost nobody since then can touch him.”
