The best Simon and Garfunkel songs, according to Simon and Garfunkel
At the start, Simon and Garfunkel were symbiotic. Two people who met so young were bound to be as the musicians met before they were even that. Back then, they were just kids with dreams in the same town.
The dream would take them far. From their first-ever doo wop bands to their first real band, Tom and Jerry, they’d soon be noticed as two exciting new voices on the blossoming folk rock scene, and Simon and Garfunkel would take off. Tied together with one of the most interest movie releases of the time, The Graduate, they were strapped to the same rocket to the top, bringing counterculture and the big time together.
But then, it would really be the big time that would bring them crashing down. The pressure at the top is loft, and even the strongest and longest of friendships struggle to survive it. As their career was reaching a fever pitch, leading to opportunities elsewhere for things like movie making for Art Garfunkel, or an increasing desire to go it alone for Paul Simon, so too did their arguments.
Even though it ended up as a split caused by a splinter that never seems to have truly healed, only aching more with any attempt to reunite, that doesn’t mean the two halves of the duo don’t love the music. In fact, their tenderness towards the songs they made together seems to only grow.
Or, at least, it really seems that way for Paul Simon, who can rattle off a sizeable list of Simon and Garfunkel songs he truly loves. Part of that must come down to the fact that, really, he was the songwriter for the band, contributing most of the tracks, especially in the end.
Of all of his own favourites, that was the case. They typically reflect his own feelings and experiences, like one key standout to him, ‘The Boxer’.
There was a moment when Simon wondered if this was his retirement song as he said, “I think the song was about me: everybody’s beating me up, and I’m telling you now, I’m going to go away if you don’t stop.” However, the song itself helped him prevail, not only proving a success for the band, but rejuvenating his thick skin in the final throes of the band as he added, “It took two or three years for people to realise that we weren’t strange creatures that emerged from England but just two guys from Queens who used to sing rock n roll.”
‘Sound Of Silence’ stands out to him as another favourite, and another victory for the band. This track was the breakthrough, although it came in a roundabout way through an unofficial remix from a radio DJ, and through The Graduate. But no matter how the success came, Simon was proud of it down to the simple bones of its build.
“I think about songs that it’s not just what the words say but what the melody says and what the sound says,” he once said, seeing this track as a prime example of a meaningful tune from bottom to top, adding, “Really, the key to ‘The Sound of Silence’ is the simplicity of the melody and the words, which are youthful alienation.”
‘Where does Garfunkel come into this?’ you’re probably asking. The issue here is that post split, Garfunkel was frosty. If either party carried resentment towards the band, and therefore the music, it was him, leading to much tigher lips about his favourite tracks from that period – especially given that Simon was the majority writer.
However, there is one favourite track that unites them. On a BBC radio programme called ‘My Top Twelve’, ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ made the grade as one of Garfunkel’s all time favourite tracks, and his only nod to the band.
But really, Garfunkel has never been able to truly hide his tenderness towards that entire final album. Talking about the tracks ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ and ‘The Boxer’, he said, “they’re just labors of love gone wild, both of those tunes.”
Simon felt the same as the track seemed to come from no where but be born from pure, passionate emotion. “It was one of the most shocking moments in my songwriting career. I remember thinking, ‘This is considerably better than I usually write’”, he said as it felt like a final hallelujah right as the duo were parting ways, offering them one last thing to connect over.
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel’s favourite Simon and Garfunkel songs:
- ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’
- ‘The Boxer’
- ‘Sound of Silence’
