Central Park


Written on the Subway Wall

I’ve never been a particular fan of Simon and Garfunkel, but I have always had a terrific respect for them, in the same way as you don’t want to read Vanity Fair or Pendennis every week, but Thackeray was a brilliant novelist all the same. Art Garfunkel has the most amazing singing voice and Paul Simon is an immensely skilled and inspired songwriter. When seeking musical solace or entertainment, I don’t necessarily seek them out, but when I do hear something by them, I like it.

Perhaps their most famous work is the album Bridge Over Troubled Water, and I have the same objection to that as I have mentioned for other iconic musical works. I just heard it played over and over again until I was heartily sick of it. As a young teenager, I remember visiting my cousin in Linwood in the west of Scotland and having to spend hours in his bedroom listening to it again and again, because he was in disgrace for some reason, and grounded for the rest of the weekend.

One of the songs on the album is The Boxer, which contains the line, ‘Asking only workman’s wages, I come looking for a job…’ My witty and sardonic pal Kevin Connelly once remarked that only someone who had never done an honest day’s work in his life could have penned that line.

The one time of my life when I did listen to their music a lot was when I lived in Wembley in my late 20’s, and in the 20th century’s early 80’s. I shared a house in Wembley with three young women (apologies, there is no salacious material on the way), and one of them had the double album of S and G’s famous Concert in Central Park. This was in the days when vinyl was the default medium for home listening. Do you remember those big black round things?

Anyway, I was trying to write a novel at the time, and would spend several hours up in my bedroom typing loudly away on my Olympia portable typewriter. I had to have music while I typed and I often borrowed Delyth’s copy of The Concert in Central Park, to play at considerable volume while I plonked away on the typewriter keys. I have to admit that the music was very good and the concert must have been a momentous event. You can get an idea of Art’s magnificent voice from America. Just listen to this.

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

Also, round about that time, the young woman who broke my heart and stimulated my pushing off to Singapore (see previous blogs) was called Cathy, the name of the girl in the song, so it resonated somewhat. And I never finished the novel. It would have been rubbish, anyway.

OK, enough of the maudlin reminiscence. Partly because of the iconic nature of Simon and Garfunkel’s work, it has been the target of parody over the years. The first line of Sound of Silence, ‘Hello darkness my old friend,’ has been rewritten as ‘Hello Douglas my old friend.’ But my favourite is the apparent mishearing of the line from The Boxer, ‘Just a come-on from the whores on Seventh Avenue’ as ‘Just a come-on from the horse on Seventh Avenue.’ Again, I am indebted to Kevin Connelly for that one.

Let’s come back to Paul Simon’s songwriting skills. In the early days of the duo, they were essentially folk singers and the songs were very traditionally structured. Later, Paul Simon’s songwriting talent developed exponentially. The mathematical complexity of the rhythms and the mix of the voice and words just bowl you over. Some of his African numbers are good examples (although by no means the most complex). Here are The Boy in the Bubble and Under African Skies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk7MCvCHNQA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85rr5SqrCZI

A few years ago, I heard an interview with Art Garfunkel on the radio. He struck me as an arrogant, self-satisfied pain in the neck, but I did recall a story that indicates that behind the smartaleckry, he had an inspired native wit. Paul and Art were still living with their parents in the early 1960’s, when their fame was growing with the success of Sound of Silence and Homeward Bound. One Friday night, they were on their way back from some New York folk club, driving back to Art’s parents’ house, when the DJ on the radio played Sound of Silence, announcing that it had just gone to number one. Art Garfunkel remarked, ‘Bet those guys are having a great time.’

 


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