Simon & Garfunkel - Classic or Dud?

I have the _Live in Central Park_ disc for some reason, which I haven't listened to in about 13 years. I can't say I have felt a need to rectify that situation recently. This said, I do actually like the Red House Painters' cover of "I Am a Rock."

In sum, though, dud. Another reason to hate rather than love.

As for 'dis,' like the vast majority of slang over the past fifteen years, if I ever tried to use it in writing I would feel it was forced and extremely self-conscious, since I don't actually say it in regular conversation. Still, interesting to watch the march of linguistic development.

Of course, I don't own any of their albums, but I never switch the channel if I happen across a radio station that's playing them.

BUT. saving grace time. the sample of 'sound of silence' on Bay-B- Kane's 'Hello Darkness' is used to pretty eerie effect.

Haunted.

Not that I'm sure that blemishes are a good thing; in fact I'm not sure that they logically can be. But -

S&G have their flaws, at least from certain POVs (I suppose I mean, my POV). Stevie T calls them 'churchy', and given that they actually recorded some hymns and the like, that seems partially true. I suppose that this criticism means that they're excessively earnest - irritatingly choirboy-ish. I can see the point, but not really enough to put me off. I am attached to the harmonies, and to PS's guitar skills: his takes on things like 'Anji' show how good he was (is he still? There's a mystery), and he plays the simple things well (eg 'Emily'), and finds just the right approach on songs like 'ScarBORO Fair' and 'April Come She Will'. He was a fair lyricist too, though not quite top flight. I think that S&G as a unit should perhaps be judged separately from their different solo careers; I love Graceland too, but perhaps for different reasons.

My answer, by the way, is 'classic' without hesitation. I think that for me it's about atmosphere and a sense of period.

I can't hardly stand Paul Simon (solo or maybe even the individual) nor Art Garfunkel (for that matter), but. As Simon & Garfunkel. They were "classic".

Granted, I'm pro-Brian Wilson, so...that means I'm sort of "unhip" (I guess). And means, also, that I really dig sweet vocal harmonies and sophisticated melodies and such. So, with that said:

The albums 'Parsely, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme' (the one with the incredible "Scarborough Fair") and 'Bookends' are truly great (or classic) albums without a doubt. My plea here (with this post) is that someone out there (even just one person) go beyond their initial prejudices of taste to listen carefully to those two albums in a serious manner (and to then go back and give B.Wilson another try...then, mabye the Zombies 'Odessey & Oracle' and then, fine...I'll stop).

I would just like to agree with a couple of earlier posts on the subject of S&G:

That their song style and literate lyrics really could easily be considered as being comparable to the retro-active "twee-pop" likes of Belle & Sebastian (amongst others) - as previously mentioned. Along with their production style - which is haunting (again, as mentioned previously). Then again, many from the late 60's had a wonderfully haunting hollowed style of production (certainly wasn't near just being S&G, but they did occasionally have that beautiful haunt happening from time to time). But, the fact that the production style was used with thin folk music really added to the "haunt factor" (this goes for early Leonard Cohen, too).

They have to be classed as classic. Lyrically, they were one of the soundest bands of the 1960's. Musically, they tried new things with their unique brand of folk-pop-rock.

But the deciding factor has to be the way they helped (amongst others) to shape the future of the modern pop songs. The classic three-minute chart hit hasn'e sounded better, whether it be from the voice of Gerfunkal or the struming of Simon's guitar.

I have to agree that they do sound a little like Belle and Sebastian. But its the Scottish duo that is doing all the copying, not the other way round, and we sound not forget that.

Classic.

Paul Simon solo: even better.

Art Garfunkel solo: about the same as bathing in honey I suppose - but if listened to at the right time (very happy sunny day), simply sweet.

S&G are fantastic, without reservation. "America" is one of the few songs that makes me cry with unbridled joy - I would say that there's a handful, and America is one of them. "Counting the cars on the New Jersey turnpike/ They've all come to look for America" - genius!

Bookends is a great album, as is Bridge over Troubled Water. The title track of BOTW is a bit OTT, but the rest of the album is great. "Only Living Boy In New York", "The Boxer", "Song for the Asking" - just too good.

The Box Set is first rate, and everyone with a passing interest in tunes will adore it.

Classic to the power to n.

"Kathy," I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
"Michigan seems like a dream to me now"
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've gone to look for America

Laughing on the bus
Playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said "Be careful his bowtie is really a camera"

"Toss me a cigarette, I think there's one in my raincoat"
"We smoked the last one an hour ago"
So I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field

"Kathy, I'm lost," I said, though I knew she was sleeping
I'm empty and aching and I don't know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They've all gone to look for America
All gone to look for America

WhA?????

lye la lye
*PUNCH*
lye la lye lye (*PUNCH*) lye lye lye
lye la lye
*PUNCH*
lye la lye lye (*PUNCH*) la la lye lye lye

it looks like a knitting pattern written out like that

Bookends is classic.

Funny story about how that *PUNCH* was recorded

Which has already been posted here Studio Stories although not the part about the security guard.

I refuse to believe it is anything but the sound of a boxer punching someone.

preferring paul simon solo to S&G seems completely insane to me, sort've on the level of preferring mccartney solo to the beatles -- i mean, mccartney solo is often pretty great, but c'mon!

How I woul;d rank these
1. beatles
2. paul mccartney solo
3. s&g
4. the song where a rabbit dies in Watreship Down
5. paul simon solo

6. *PUNCH*

4. the song where a rabbit dies in Watreship Down

Isn't that the only solo Garfunkel song anyone likes?

cool cool watre

Do you remember the scene in "Jack Nicholson is OCD GRouch" when he has made all these mix CDs to impress Helen Hunt, and when he notices Helen Hunt does not like his OCD mix CDs, it is playing an Art Garfunkel cover of a boring standard?

Should have gone with the dying rabbit!

hey abbott SPOILER ALERT much??

j/k i have heard enough about 'watership down' that i assume it just consists of rabbits exploding and nothing else

preferring paul simon solo to S&G seems completely insane to me, sort've on the level of preferring mccartney solo to the beatles -- i mean, mccartney solo is often pretty great, but c'mon!

― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, May 28, 2012 11:59 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I tend to listen to Paul McCartney solo (or John Lennon or George Harrison solo, even) more than The Beatles, these days. But that's because I've listened to all of those Beatles songs hundreds upon thousands of times and I'm quite bored of them, whereas I haven't quite exhausted 30+ albums of solo material yet.

Anyway: S&G? Classic, without a doubt.

j/k i have heard enough about 'watership down' that i assume it just consists of rabbits exploding and nothing else

In addition to rabbit angst, rabbit gore, rabbit eschatology, and rabbit language, there is also a corvid with a comedy Eastern European accent

In rabbit eschatology, Art Garfunkel figures as Frithrah, the black sun who singes the world with an Eb5 falsetto note

preferring paul simon solo to S&G seems completely insane to me, sort've on the level of preferring mccartney solo to the beatles -- i mean, mccartney solo is often pretty great, but c'mon!

this itself is an insane point! It's easy for me to hear that Paul Simon wrote better songs solo.

whereas as much as I like a lot of solo Macca it quite often wasn't the case.

yeah it's not a good analogy

it's a fine analogy, it's just that Paul McCartney sucks and Paul Simon doesn't

In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade
and he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down
or cut him 'til he cried out in his anger and his shame
I am leaving, I am leaving
but the fighter still remains.

Somebody posted these lyrics to facebook, and I didn't know what they were and immediately thought they were the perfect example of bathos. Just felt vindicated when I realized they were Simon & Garfunkel.

but I agree with above, Paul Simon solo is better.

I wrote up a quick thought about the worst Simon & Garfunkel tune today, the abominable and unreleased "Cuba Si, Nixon No"

http://heystacks.tumblr.com/post/56781841001/simon-garfunkel-cuba-si-nixon-no-back-to

I actually kind of like it, but I'm dumb.

It's basically the antithesis of why I like Simon & Garfunkel, but even a second rate Chuck Berry shuffle with third rate Phil Ochs lyrics on top has certain charms.

Garfunkel was definitely otm. What about the worst Simon & Garfunkel tune that was actually released, though? Not including the Tom & Jerry stuff they did before Simon & Garfunkel, of course.

If you take out their covers I'm not sure. They did some bad covers, especially some of the ones that surfaced as bonus cuts on the early records.

Big bright green pleasure machine is so bad

Simple desultory phillipic too, as noted

I loved "The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine" as a kid so can't fairly judge it.

The stupid sub-Dylan "A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)" is horrid except for that organ bass line or whatever it is that anchors it. Great music, shit lyrics. I feel the same way about "Patterns".

Best unreleased tune is "Groundhog":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaKCN44w-T0

The stupid sub-Dylan "A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)" is horrid

Yep, I'd agree with this... I've never been fond of it!

the rest of the lyrics of The Boxer aren't quite as bad, but they still have kind of a hackneyed, kid in creative writing class writing about "The Poor" quality.

Philippic: YA CAN UNNERSTAN DA WOIDS

Mrs. Robinson is a pretty mediocre song.

line about Dimaggio gets me every time and I don't even like baseball

well i mean imagine a whole nation's worth of eyes

'Mrs. Robinson' isn't a favourite of mine, but I don't mind it. 'The Only Living Boy In New York', though... ALL TIME.

'Mrs. Robinson' was an unfinished song they had lying around til Mike Nichols needed a song called Mrs Robinson

well i mean imagine a whole nation's worth of eyes

$50 for a lawn seat at my local summer outdoor venue on his summer tour. Feels like a lot to pay to sit on the grass (straining our nation's worth of eyes)

got in the car this morning, turned on the radio and... this came on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOGqZJC0_Xs

i don't mean to get all alex in nyc on y'all, but there oughta be a law

It took some time for the YouTube embed to load, all the while I was assuming it'd be this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4

"I Am A Rock" is the first song I have exercised my veto over in my dad cover band. It's a bridge to far, which, incidentally, sounds like it would be the name of a Simon and Garfunkel album.

so I found something rather interesting on wikipedia

In 2015, someone edited the Wikipedia page for "The Sound of Silence," claiming the original first lyric was "Aloha darkness, my old friend." It is still there. https://t.co/uB7mBnA1sQ pic.twitter.com/1EFP7uEXsj

— katherine morayati (@morayati) March 9, 2018

So, I'm listening to Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme for the first time in ages tonight and I've pretty much reminded myself why this is the last Simon & Garfunkel album I tend to reach for. Such a frustrating mix of high quality classics ('Scarborough Fair', 'Patterns', 'Cloudy', 'The 59th Street Bridge Song') and supreme duds ('A Simple Desultory Philippic') ... Sounds of Silence was a relative rush job, but I much prefer it.

i've lost my harmonica, albert

I'd never seen this before. Really enjoyed it--don't know if Simon's a little stoned, or if he's always like that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDqIsuIpVy4