When Simon and Garfunkel opened for Frank Zappa: “Paul was on his hands and knees”
By 1969, Simon and Garfunkel had had enough. It had been a long time, far longer than their fans even realised, as the duo emerged with breakout success in the mid-1960s, but really had been working together since the early ‘50s and since being kids. They were exhausted and rapidly losing passion when a saving grace appeared.
To add to the religious imagery, the light at the end of the tunnel appeared when Paul Simon was both literally and, I guess, spiritually, on his knees. By ‘69, the band had spent their entire youth and early adulthood working on music, first in doo wop groups in school, then as their earlier duo Tom and Jerry and now as Simon and Garfunkel. Finally, that had taken them places, making them a core act in the folk-rock scene. But as we see time and time again, the friends had got to the top and were now falling apart.
Under the pressure of the success they’d wanted for so long, the friendship that used to fuel them was crumbling due to infighting, different schedules, and both members feeling like the other cared less. They were tired, creatively drained, and struggling to find the old excitement they once had.
Simon was feeling particularly disillusioned, especially as Art Garfunkel jetted off to film movies while he stayed back, working on their music. It was a lonely period, as both members seemed to know things were over, but were sending out one last prayer that maybe it would improve. And so they were on their knees, spiritually but also physically, in a music store when Frank Zappa walked in.
“As I walked in the door, Paul was on his hands and knees in front of what appeared to be a Magnavox stereo… He had his ear right up to the speaker, listening to a Django Reinhardt record,” Zappa recalled of the scene. They’re two acts that no one would ever really think of putting together, but in Zappa’s history of caring for artists who were experiencing issues of burnout or addiction, his tenderness towards the duo is in keeping.
When Garfunkel arrived, finding his bandmate and Zappa, they all got talking about touring and its various stresses and issues. In the end, however, Simon and Garfunkel both admitted to missing the purity of the early days of it and being able to perform live without the pressure that came along with it by 1969. Zappa had an idea.
“I said, Well, I can understand your desire to experience the joys of touring once again, and so I’ll make you this offer,” Zappa said. “We’re playing in Buffalo tomorrow night. Why don’t you guys come up there and open for us as Tom and Jerry?”
Offering the duo a chance to shake off their fame and return to their old selves for a night, he added, “I won’t tell anybody. Just get your stuff and go out there and just play only your old stuff, no Simon and Garfunkel tunes.”
Is that not the dream? Especially for celebrities beginning to feel trapped under their notoriety, is the offer to ignore all that for a night and return to basics not the dream? For the duo, it was as they swiftly said yes and went along to play, rejecting the hits apart from ‘Sound of Silence’, performed in the style of the Everly Brothers as a nod to their earliest influence.
It didn’t save the day; the duo split soon after. But for a brief moment on stage, things were fine again thanks to Frank Zappa’s help.
