(via simonandgarfunkel)

Songs of America, 1969 - Art Garfunkel

(via simonandgarfunkel)

When [Paul and I] were making ‘Bookends,’ we wanted to get somehow older and older in theme, in sound and in tempo as the songs progressed. So I took a microphone into Central Park, put it inside a long loaf of French bread that was inside wrapping paper. Only the 1-inch diameter mesh of the microphone was sticking out. And I tucked it under my arm, so it was recording what was going on behind me. I started recording old folks, picking up their conversations. It was fascinating to hear two old ladies talk to each other. This was some of my homework for my song ‘Voices of Old People.’

He’s a very unusual guy … he always was, even when he was ten. The first time I really met him, he was in this candy store which we used to go to after we would get out of school — and he was this kid and he was shaking boxes of Good & Plenty. And then finally — I was watching him because I was going in to buy my Captain Marvel comic, and he was shaking these boxes of Good & Plenty and finally, the owner of the store kicked him out. Said he had to get out. And I said to the guy, ‘Why did you kick him out?’ And he said, ‘He comes in here all the time, and he shakes these boxes to see which has the most Good & Plenty and that’s the one he buys.’ You know?

(via simonandgarfunkel)

It always worked just to have the guitar and two voices, because Paul played wonderfully and our voices were perfectly integrated with that guitar. The simplicity of the arrangements let every nuance, crescendo, and slight halt in our voices come through, because there was so little in the way. Our records were full of that breathing.

simonandgarfunkel:

© 2011 Michael Putland

simonandgarfunkel:

March 2, 1978 © Michael Ochs

You could call it love. Paul Simon was my only buddy, I was his only buddy. We could be outcasts, but we had each other.

simonandgarfunkel:

I grew up with a good sense of values and I try and remember philosophically all the good times seem to be followed by slumps but blessedly all the down times are followed by a return to equilibrium. There are no valleys that don’t seem to have a climbing up the other side of the valley at the far end, if one should just stick it through.

Happy 71st Birthday!

We didn’t talk to each other from the ages of 17 to 21… We were best friends. The love affair stopped with a bruise. People fall out. What else is new? I got over it because Paul was so damn good. I ran into him in Queens and he was so funny and smart that I dropped my old barrier, and when we started working together again we knew we were onto something. Paul started bringing the songs to me at Columbia College, where I was studying architecture. I was the midwife, pulling out and cherishing the babies as Paul kept giving birth.