The tour Paul Simon was nervous to perform
Touring is probably not easy at the best of times; no matter how talented or confident you are, it must be excruciatingly nerve-racking to get up on stage to perform night after night and do your absolute best for paying fans. It certainly can’t be easy if you’ve just lost your long-term performing partner either, just as Paul Simon had in 1972 as he was about to embark on a string of solo dates without Art Garfunkel for the first time.
Just two years before, the duo had released what would be their final album together, Bridge Over Troubled Water, and the record was considered by many to be the high point of Simon and Garfunkel’s career. With several hits such as the title track, ‘Cecilia’ and ‘The Boxer’ among its tracklist, it remains regarded as one of the most exceptional pop records of all time.
The shared sentiment between the two artists was that they weren’t going to be able to surpass this achievement, and decided to quit while they were ahead so as to not fatigue themselves in an effort to make an even better record. As with all artistic breakups, there comes the inevitable question of ‘what next’ for the constituent members, and for Garfunkel, the decision was to take a short break from music altogether.
Simon had other ideas, and in an interview for the New York Times in 1972, he shared some of his reasons for deciding to go his own way as an artist before discussing how daunting the prospect of touring solo would be for him. Speaking about the success of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, Simon mused that “that song was bigger than anyone expected, especially me,” before going on to say that he didn’t even think it would make a good single.
“You know, you work on these things and you don’t play them for anyone but your friends,” he adds, “And sometimes you don’t hear another opinion from anyone until the album comes out.”
On the topic of going alone on tour, Simon was understandably a little more reserved in his judgements and was quick to address that certain songs that he had written for Art Garfunkel to sing as part of the duo would be impossible to perform without him, such as ‘The Sound of Silence’ and ‘Homeward Bound’. He was even reluctant to confirm whether he’d be performing the aforementioned smash hit, saying: “I might do ‘Bridge’, but I would feel extremely anxious about it, because I don’t have the same vocal instrument Artie does, and it’s a song so associated with his rendition.”
Missing Garfunkel for some of the key songs in his repertoire would undoubtedly have been one of the more terrifying aspects of becoming a solo performer, but it was also the public and critical response that gave him a sense of fear as well. “When we performed a lot,” Simon began, “I was never nervous. But when you lay off for two years, your situation has changed, and in the meantime your reputation puts you right up there, people can become super critical.”
Paul Simon would, of course, continue to have an illustrious career, enjoying success with songs on his self-titled debut album such as ‘Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard’ and ‘Mother and Child Reunion’, and would also release the acclaimed album Graceland Much later into his career in 1986. Once the initial shock of losing Garfunkel had passed, Simon was certainly more than capable of showing how much of a force he was as a solo act, and while it would have been good to have more than just a handful of one-off reunions, his work post-split was certainly worthy of the marvel it received.
