“Very difficult”: The song that signalled the end of Simon and Garfunkel
While many prominent bands of their era were caught up in heavy alcohol and drug use, Simon and Garfunkel consistently projected a cleaner image. Their music also stood apart, rooted in reality rather than the fictional, psychedelic odysseys that dominated the scene. However, despite their outwardly mature persona, the duo’s relationship was often undone by remarkable levels of internal immaturity, creating tension beneath the surface of their polished image.
Although they were just kids when they started out as Tom and Jerry, the name for the New York duo fittingly reflects the constant bickering and childish envy that would later define their relationship as their success grew. While several factors contributed to their eventual split, tensions reached a breaking point following the success of 1968’s Bookends and their soundtrack for The Graduate, which solidified them as the most successful rock duo in the world. The strain of their rising fame and personal differences began to take its toll, hastening their eventual breakup.
As we have often seen with groups in their pomp, despite enjoying their career’s loftiest critical and commercial success, the end was nigh for the duo during the late 1960s, who were splitting at the seams. Things came to a head during the recording of their fifth and final album, January 1970’s Bridge over Troubled Water, when the relationship between Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel broke down beyond repair.
The final nail in the coffin proved to be when Garfunkel took off to play Captain Nately in The Graduate director, Mike Nichols’ feature-length adaptation of Catch-22. Initially, Simon was also set to play Dunbar in the movie, but the screenwriter Buck Henry cut the characters down as he felt the script was too crowded, which meant Simon’s role was canned. Filming commenced in January 1969 and lasted for eight months, much longer than expected, leaving an already insecure Simon on his own with the task of writing songs for the next album.
However, when Garfunkel returned, he had written no new material. To make matters worse for Simon, Garfunkel had also signed on for Mike Nichols’ next film, Carnal Knowledge, meaning he would be away even longer. Garfunkel failed to grasp how asking Simon to write new tracks while he was off pursuing a movie career would make his longtime friend feel. Unsurprisingly, this left Simon feeling depressed and resentful, and their friendship deteriorated during the making of Bridge over Troubled Water, leading to a breakdown in their partnership.
It was not the title track of the 1970 album that was intended as a goodbye to the duo, according to Paul Simon, but ‘So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright’. This can be extrapolated by lines such as “I remember the nights we’d harmonize till dawn, I never laughed so long, so long, so long” and the repeated “so long” throughout the song. Elsewhere, when Garfunkel is singing “so long” as the track fades out, producer Roy Halee is heard shouting, “So long already, Artie!”
Speaking to Mojo in 2011, Simon explained the other reasons why ‘So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright’ was a fitting goodbye to the band. He said: “Singing that on ‘So Long Frank Lloyd Wright’ kind of fitted because Artie had been an architecture student. But I guess the bigger picture was that him flying down to Mexico (to film Catch-22) was a disappointment I was trying to block out.”
Simon later asserted that while Garfunkel’s decision to film Catch-22 was the final straw, their split was inevitable. He explained that being the sole songwriter for so long was a highly stressful and “very difficult” role, with the uneven distribution of creative responsibility ultimately dooming the duo. According to Simon, such an unfairly weighted dynamic is often the downfall of partnerships, as it becomes unsustainable over time.
In July 1970, the group was over. Regardless of their immense success, a quiet handshake in a car park brought the curtain down, and they both went their separate ways. They have never entered the studio together since.
