“Stunning”: Graham Nash’s favourite Simon and Garfunkel album
Poetic yet questionably bombastic at times, Simon and Garfunkel certainly turned a page with their fourth studio album, Bookends. A concept that explores the emotional journey from childhood to old age, Bookends acted as the defining soundtrack to close out the decade—a decade that Graham Nash also helped to shape from his adopted home over in the leafy Laurel Canyon.
Whether it was his time spent playing in the Hollies, creating supergroups like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, his solo career, or being openly praised by Bob Dylan as one of the finest voices of his generation, Nash has proven his ability to be a musical chameleon, something that also reveals itself in his personal taste.
“One of my favourite songwriters is Paul Simon. He and Arthur Garfunkel took great care of me when the Hollies played in NYC. We had recorded Paul’s song ‘I Am A Rock’. He must have liked it because Paul came to our hotel and took me to the CBS studio where they were finishing Bookends,” Nash recalled in a Louder Sounds interview. “The song ‘Old Friends’ is an absolute fave of mine. The lyrics, the melody, the emotion… stunning! ‘America’… give me a break!”
Known for its more frenzied, upbeat songs like ‘Mrs. Robinson’ featured in the 1968 film The Graduate, the album finds a way of tucking these more light-hearted tracks between weightier material, a quick breath before diving back into something deeper. By the time the delicate “Bookends Theme” has its reprise, you’re left with the sense of everything coming full circle.
The title isn’t just clever wordplay – it’s quite literally about life’s bookends, from cradle to grave, and all of the beautiful mess in between. Then there’s the closing track, ‘A Hazy Shade of Winter’. Its jangly guitars and relentless tight rhythm bring the album back to that darker abyss where it began.
After its release, Art Garfunkel – who was backed by David Crosby and Graham Nash on his 1975 hit ‘Breakaway’ – alluded that Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young and himself had actually considered joining forces during 1969, a conversation said to have happened shortly after the trio formed, and around the time Simon and Garfunkel were beginning to wind down their career as a duo. Albeit something of a pipe dream, both Nash and albums like Bookends symbolised the transition from idealistic 1960s folk to more introspective takes, particularly during the new challenges that the 1970s brought Americans.
Much like Simon and Garfunkel, Nash’s legacy remains one of thoughtful collaborations. His musical tapestry demonstrates a constant balancing act between artistic expression and a broader cultural consciousness that connected him to the harder times in which his music began to thrive. Both acts remain forever interlinked with the memory of a bygone era, continuing to inspire musicians and activists alike today, their own personal influences ringing through loud and clear.
With over 20 million records sold and billions of streams, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young forever remain in the American Songbook. The quartet were able to catch lightning in a bottle, continuing to do so with the release of a limited edition vinyl of their 1969 Fillmore East Concert, a double live album, never heard before by the general public, now being released on October 25th.
