Simon & Garfunkel - Classic or Dud?

WhA?????

I've always wondered: Did Paul Simon steal that "Coo coo ca-choo" from John Lennon or vice versa?

Several S&G songs are as classic as can be: "The Boxer," "Only Living Boy in New York," "America," "April Come She Will," "Mrs. Robinson."

But they also made some truly troublingly bad things. The swallowed-a-thesaurus 11th-grade-level poetry of "The Dangling Conversation," for example. Or

Pressed in organdy
Clothed in crinoline
Of smoky burgundy

...it just smacks of Trying Too Hard.

And if I never hear "Feelin' Groovy" again, I will die a happy man.

Frankly, I've never really gotten the sense that Garfunkel added a lot. He sings pretty. He sings high. So the fuck what. The songs are where it's at--delete Art from most S&G tracks and you still have good songs.

So semiclassic, with reservations.

Couple in the next room
Bound to win a prize
Theyve been going at it all night long
Well, Im trying to get some sleep
But these motel walls are cheap
Lincoln Duncan is my name
And heres my song, heres my song.

Right up there with "Motel Blues" in the Best Motel Song category.

The snare drum part on the intro of "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" is easily one of the three or four best drum performances ever recorded. I am a drummer and I am telling you that it is utterly, indisputably perfect. But would you call the group that recorded that song "Simon & Gadd"? No.

Simon solo piques me more.

I love those lyrics!

POX (off the top of my head)

America
For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her
Hazy Shade Of Winter
Patterns
Scarborough Fair/Canticle
Faking It
Mrs Robinson
Seven O'Clock News (Silent Night)
The Dangling Conversation

Albums

1. Parsley, Sage Rosemary and Thyme*
2. Bookends
3. Sounds of Silence
4. Bridge Over Troubled Water
5. Wednesday Morning, 3AM
6. The Graduate OST

*Wins over Bookends because of the hilariously over-earnest sleevenotes.

i think his first solo record is the best, most coherent/satisfying thing he's done (though there are some songs on the second solo album that are incredible). but there sure are some awesome s&g songs, even if they all have a few lyrics and/or clipped diction that make me cringe. ("seeking out the poor-er quarters..." egads).

Also, why was S&G never mentioned as a massive "influence" on Belle and Sebastian?? It seems so glaringly obvious.

Classic.

But Graceland is really good.

god, I hadn't heard "Mrs. Robinson" in ages. So good.

spent many a car journey in my childhood listening to S&G so i have a nostalgic bias. But their best work still holds up very well in my opinion - so definite CLASSIC!

simon: classic
garfunkel: dud

super mega classic.

I command everybody to listen to the Aretha Franklin version of Bridge Over Troubled Water right now this minute, and never listen to the original again.

FUCK U IF YOU DON'T THINK CLASSIC

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.

$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