When Simon and Garfunkel broke up, Paul Simon became a solo star.
But Art Garfunkel chose a totally bizarre new profession.
What was it?
Keep watching to find out!
It's hard to imagine Simon or Garfunkel feeling they had to hide behind pseudonyms once, but
that's exactly how they started their careers.
Paul Simon, in particular, went through several fake names before finally settling on his
real name as his favorite.
When the pair started writing and playing together, they sang '50s sock-hop teen pop,
emulating their idols the Everly Brothers.
In 1957, while still teenagers, they had their first hit — the bubblegum song "Hey Schoolgirl."
It landed them a record deal, but the label thought their names were too ethnic, so they
started going by Tom and Jerry — you know, like the cartoon.
Simon eventually joined a number of bands and used several fake names, including True
Taylor, Paul Kane, and Jerry Landis, before he and Garfunkel finally broke through as themselves.
Thanks to the success of rock standards like "The Sound of Silence," Simon and Garfunkel
will forever be credited with inventing folk rock — or at least helping to make it as
popular as it was in the '60s and '70s.
But amazingly, not only did they not intend to create folk rock, they didn't even know
they had done it.
That's because when they first recorded "The Sound of Silence," it was entirely acoustic
— much like the rest of their 1964 debut album, "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M."
The record initially flopped, prompting the pair to briefly split up.
But in 1965, producer Tom Wilson noticed some radio stations were beginning to pay attention
to "The Sound of Silence."
Without telling either Simon or Garfunkel, he remixed the song by adding electric guitars,
electric bass, and drums, turning it into the version most people think of today.
"So as we were away in England, Tom Wilson put on an electric 12-string, the fashionable
sound of that season."
"The Sound of Silence" rock remix proved super-successful, prompting the duo to reunite and record a
new album, which officially launched their careers as music megastars.
And this is why producers exist.
"Mrs. Robinson" is one of the most famous movie songs ever, though it wasn't initially
conceived that way.
Originally, it was just another song, with a surprisingly different name.
According to Tony Dunsbee's book "Gathered From Coincidence," Simon and Garfunkel were
approached by director Mike Nichols to contribute songs to "The Graduate."
At that time, they were working on a tune they had yet to name.
Sometimes they called it "Mrs. Roosevelt," but occasionally they would sing "Mrs. Robinson"
instead — after the name of the married woman at the heart of "The Graduate."
"Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me!
Aren't you?"
During a meeting with Nichols, Garfunkel mentioned the song, prompting the movie director to ask,
"You have a song called 'Mrs. Robinson' and you haven't even shown it to me?"
When Garfunkel explained that they weren't sure whether it was going to be "Mrs. Robinson"
or "Mrs. Roosevelt," Nichols reportedly said,
"Don't be ridiculous!
We're making a movie here!
It's 'Mrs. Robinson'!"
The song ended up becoming an iconic hit for an entire generation.
"The Boxer" is a landmark song, though its story is seldom told.
Released almost a year before its inclusion on the Simon and Garfunkel album "Bridge Over
Troubled Water," "The Boxer," which is a stark, dramatic folk rock epic of a song, peaked
at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969.
On the surface, the tune tells the cinematic tale of a boxer knocked around and beaten
up by both his in-ring exploits and the unsettled life his choice of profession brings.
But it turns out the song is really about something else: unappreciative music critics.
Simon told Playboy in 1984,
"I think the song was about me: everybody's beating me up, and I'm telling you now I'm
going to go away if you don't stop.
By that time we had encountered our first criticism.
For the first few years it was just pure praise."
Simon and Garfunkel weren't just fighting with critics, though; they were also battling
perfectionism.
"The Boxer" reportedly took over 100 hours to perfect, utilizing a wide array of hired
session musicians and recording spots.
Some of those spaces included a studio in Nashville, St. Paul's Chapel on the campus
of Columbia University in New York City, and an elevator shaft at Columbia Records' studio
facilities across town.
When Simon and Garfunkel separated in 1970, Paul Simon predictably launched a super-successful
solo career.
Art Garfunkel, meanwhile, became a math teacher.
Yes, it sounds crazy, but it's true.
In 1971, he took a gig teaching geometry at a Connecticut private school.
He later explained to The Guardian that he addressed the elephant in the room right away,
telling his students,
"Yeah, I've had 'Bridge Over Troubled Water,' but we're not going to talk about that, we're
going to talk about geometry, and at the end of the year I'll deal with the fame trip."
According to him, it worked, as the kids seemed pleasantly shocked he was taking the job seriously
and not just doing research for a new song called "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Cosine."
The gig didn't last long, though, as Garfunkel was back on the road touring within nine months.
In the '70s, both Simon and Garfunkel had successful, if very different, solo careers.
Paul Simon became a pop-rock superstar, with smash hits like "Kodachrome" and "50 Ways
to Leave Your Lover," while Garfunkel again branched out — this time into movies, acting
in films like "Catch-22" and "Carnal Knowledge."
In 1975, Simon became fast friends with Lorne Michaels during preproduction for the show
that would become "Saturday Night Live."
After that show debuted later that year and quickly became a cultural phenomenon, Simon
served as guest host on the second-ever episode, which counted Garfunkel among its multiple
musical guests.
While Simon performed his then new single "Still Crazy After All These Years," he later
hit the stage to reunite with Garfunkel to sing "The Boxer" and "Scarborough Fair."
Simon would eventually appear on "SNL" as a host three more times and as a musical guest
nine times, while Garfunkel would preside over a single episode in 1978.
In addition to their brief reteaming on "Saturday Night Live" in 1975, Simon and Garfunkel recorded
"My Little Town" that year — a top 10 hit.
After a couple more team-ups, the stage was set for one of the biggest musician reunions
of all time: the 1981 Central Park concert in New York City.
By the early 1980s, Central Park was in a state of disrepair.
NYC Parks Commissioner Gordon Davis had the idea of drawing attention to the plight of
Central Park and raising money for its upkeep by staging a free concert there and selling
ancillary rights to the broadcast.
They approached Simon, who initially turned it down, believing nobody would come.
But Garfunkel loved the idea, and in September 1981, they put on a free show for a crowd
estimated at over a half a million people.
Amazingly, that wasn't the biggest of their reunion concerts, nor was it the most epic location.
In 2004, the duo came together again to play outside the world famous Colosseum in Rome.
This time, an estimated 600,000 fans gathered to see them perform.
The '80s almost saw a Simon and Garfunkel reunion that would extend beyond the stage
and into the studio.
We thought we would finally get a new S&G album, and the world was stoked.
Then, nothing.
According to Ultimate Classic Rock, after the pair successfully reunited in 1981, their
attention turned to crafting their first new album since 1970, called "Think Too Much."
But sadly for those who thought too much about the album, it never happened, thanks to mean
old Mr. Creative Differences.
As Paul Simon explained in his 1984 Playboy interview, Garfunkel wanted to record his
vocals separately, but Simon wanted control.
"I wanted to be there when it happened because I knew that if what he did wasn't all right
with me, I wasn't going to let it go.
And that was the difference from the Sixties."
Ultimately, they broke up again.
Simon recorded the songs by himself, releasing them in 1983 as his solo album "Hearts and Bones."
It was a commercial flop at the time, though it has since gained a reputation as one of
his better, more mature albums.
But fans still wonder what might have been if they could have agreed on how to record together.
Following the disappointment of their canceled reunion album, Simon ended up creating one
of his most popular and acclaimed works ever — one that also got him censored by the
United Nations.
In 1980, the U.N. officially began a "cultural boycott" of South Africa because the nation
embraced apartheid, and the U.N. wasn't cool with that.
So when Simon ended up recording some songs for his "Graceland" album in South Africa
in 1985, the U.N. added him to their boycott list, which still didn't prevent him from
selling a ton of albums.
Simon argued that he hadn't broken the boycott because he only recorded in South Africa and
didn't play live.
Ultimately, he wrote a letter promising not to perform in South Africa and was removed
from the boycott list after three weeks.
"When a boycott says, boycotts the very culture you're looking to preserve…"
"...then it's-it's nearsighted."
Art Garfunkel didn't write many S&G songs, but he earned his keep with his incredible,
hauntingly angelic voice.
"Bridge Over Troubled Water" simply wouldn't have been the same if Simon had sung lead.
Sadly, that voice disappeared for years, and it seemed like it was never coming back.
Garfunkel explained in a Rolling Stone interview that in early 2010, his voice began to fade
after he ate lobster and choked on a big piece.
Days later, he started having trouble swallowing, and a doctor visit revealed one of his vocal
cords was, quote, "stiffer and fatter than the other one."
This meant, in short, he couldn't sing.
He could still hit high and low notes, but couldn't go mid-level, making him — in his
words — "crude instead of fine."
Onstage with Paul Simon during the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Garfunkel could
barely sing a note.
Shortly thereafter, the pair's tour was postponed, then canceled.
In 2011, Garfunkel began retraining his voice at a rented concert hall, putting on whole
concerts without any audience in an attempt to strengthen his vocal cords.
The following year, he began performing super-tiny, private shows at a New York art gallery.
He was basically rehearsing in front of 90 or fewer people, still fighting to get the
kinks out of his timeless voice.
As he grew stronger and more confident, he would play increasingly bigger shows until,
after four years of fighting, he could finally sing all of his songs, including "Bridge Over
Troubled Water," once again.
Garfunkel's vocal challenges also spelled the final end for Simon and Garfunkel as a
group.
Their canceled 2010 tour was never rescheduled, in part because Simon blamed Garfunkel for
not taking better care of his voice — and for not telling him when his vocal issues
began.
Simon said,
"He let us all down.
I was tired of all the drama.
I didn't feel I could trust him anymore."
Still, Simon told the British press that he had sympathy for his former partner's vocal struggles.
"Of course I feel, like, you know, a tremendous, uh, empathy for his, for his loss."
But in 2016, the same year he released his 13th solo album, "Stranger to Stranger," Simon
ruled out any further reunions with Garfunkel, saying it was, quote, "out of the question."
Then he retired.
In 2018, he posted a letter on Twitter that read in part,
"I've often wondered what it would feel like to reach the point where I'd consider bringing
my performing career to a natural end.
Now I know: it feels a little unsettling, a touch exhilarating, and something of a relief."
Though he left the door open for one-off charity events, Simon effectively closed out his career
with a 2018 performance on "Saturday Night Live" singing "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
alone, including the iconic parts usually sung by Garfunkel.
As for Garfunkel, he still holds out hope for another reunion, telling American Songwriter
in 2020,
"'Bridge Over Troubled Water' has these things: I’ll be your friend when you’re in trouble.
Well, I’m in trouble now that I’m 78, Paul.
If Paul is supposed to be my friend, give me a phone call, Paul."
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