Talk:Simon and Garfunkel

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Former featured article Simon and Garfunkel is a former featured article. Please see the links under Article Milestones below for its original nomination page (for older articles, check the nomination archive) and why it was removed.
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[edit] Questions

It says "They met in high school in 1953," but in 1953 they would have been 11 or 12 years old. Also, further down, it says they had known each other since playing together as kids (and they grew up practically next door to each other). I'm no expert on them, so I don't have a correction to suggest.


Anyone ever noticed that by placing a finger horizontally on the picture of the 'Bridge over troubled waters' album cover, just covering Paul Simon’s eyebrows, Art Garfunkel magically grows a spiffing Cossack style moustache?


According to this entry, "Red Rubber Ball" reached #2 in the charts. According to The Cyrkle's entry, it reached #1. Which is correct?



"Twee"'s closest equivalent in North American English would be "cutesy", I'd say. It's peculiar to Britain, I think, and I only know what it means because I read their music press....It's a highly useful word, though. --Paul Drye


It's not only a British word. It's actually entered music jargon in the States and Britain: "twee pop" is a term commonly used to refer to deliberately cute indie pop. "Preciously cute" might be a better definition.


Surely the 'soaring vocals' on Bridge over Troubled Water are mainly Paul Simon's, not Art Garfunkel's?

Nope, that's Art. --LDC


Wouldn't it be better if all these pages that are being developed to outline the discography of S&G were together on one page? Eclecticology


"(Lewis had refused to lip-synch and insisted on performing live, which was unprecedented on Bandstand.)" Is this really relevant?

[edit] Request for references

Hi, I am working to encourage implementation of the goals of the Wikipedia:Verifiability policy. Part of that is to make sure articles cite their sources. This is particularly important for featured articles, since they are a prominent part of Wikipedia. The Fact and Reference Check Project has more information. Thank you, and please leave me a message when you have added a few references to the article. - Taxman 17:20, Apr 22, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Organization

This article needs to be cleaned up. There is a heading called reunification that refers to events in 1996, that is listed before another heading called subsequent careers, that refers reunifications in 1975 and 1981. This article is too confusing and needs to more chronological. Rogerd 15:48, 14 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Citizen of the Planert

"a "new" studio duo song, "Citizen of the Planet", ironically the only song from the rejected 1983 reunion album that did not originally feature Garfunkel's vocal participation." Is this really certain? On the S&G bootleg of Hearts & Bones, Art can only be heard on two songs... Hakanand 07:11, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

This article claims that the album was completed. Simon has claimed that he did not remove Garfunkel's vocals from the recordings because Garfunkel had never got round to recording them. If the two people closest to the project cannot agree on what actually happened the I guess we will never really know for certain. Keithmall 10:16, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] A lesson for Wikipedians

In 2004, it seemed that Simon and Garfunkel were at last going to get back together again. Do you think that there might be a lesson here for all fans of Wikipedia, in that this might be a portent of a future rapprochement between Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger?ACEO 18:48, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Jesus references in Mrs. Robinson??

What the heck is this topic even doing in discussion? It has nothing to do with anything on the actual page for S&G!

Wasn't Garfunkel Jewish? Why is he singing "Jesus loves you more" in the song "Mrs. Robinson" ?? Davez621 09:40, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Thet's because the song is a soundtrack, and that it's made for the move "The Graduate". Anyways, Paul Simon, who wrote the song, never did much out of either his or Artie's jewish background. Then You might also wonder why Garfunkel has song "Oh come all ye faithful". As I said, their parents were jewish, but that does'nt mean that you can't sing about Jesus.

True, but name one Christian or Jewish artist who sings about Allah? Do you think any Christian artists sing about Hashem? (Norman Greenbaum is another example of a Jew who sang about Jesus in his song "Spirit in the Sky") Davez621

Another example is Leonard Cohen's Suzanne. Charlie MacKenzie 20:34, 17 September 2006 (UTC)
Don't forget Walking in Memphis by Jew Marc Cohn with the lyric "are you a Christian child/ma'am I am tonight."

I think it's rather commercial, all of it. Both Simon, Grafunkel and Cohn are Jewish, but it is and was Western people who are the customers of their music. If a christian artist would have to sing about that "Allah loves you", I suppose the lyric must be really intelligent to sell millions of albums. But as a Paul Simon fan, and the fact that he in my opinion allways set the writing in front of the money he earns from it,I must agree that the chorus in Mrs. Robinson is related to the movie The Graduate, and that's the only reason why Paul shoud mention it. But when S&G sang f.ex. "Go Tell it on the Mountain" on W.M.3p.m., that was in the start of their carriere, and THAT was a part of earning money. On the other side, "7 O'clock news/silent night" also is a "christian" song, but the radio in the background make the lyrics in the song rather paradoxial than a prayer.

Ok, but why is Courtney Love singing "Jesus loves you more than you will know" if she is Jewish too? I found an mp3 of the Simon & Garfunkel song "Mrs. Robinson" played by Courtney Love on the Internet.

Maybe because it's a nice song, and she wanted to sing it. She can't just remake the text, I suppose. Andd it's a well known fact that the "christian" lyrics in the song not is supposed to salvate anyone. The text is saying to Mrs. Robinson - the main character in the movie - that Jesus loves HER, mostly to cheer her up. And Mrs. Robinson is christian. The song isn't telling each and every listener on the planet that Jesus loves THEM.

If you wonder so much about the text in Mrs. Robinson, who is correctly reffered to here, then why don't you asc why they alsp for example sing "Go tell it on the mountain, Jesus Christ i born!"?

[edit] Tom Graph

According to the article, so called because he was fond of tracking ("graphing") hits on the pop charts. Is this true? According to Paul Simon's biography by Laura Jackson, it was due to his interest in Mathmatics. He did have a Masters of Science in Mathematics, after all. Charlie MacKenzie 20:47, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Scarborough Fair

The article states that Martin Carthy composed Scarborough Fair; in fact, it's a traditional English ballad, whose original author is unknown. S&G's version is credited to "Trad. arr. Simon/Garfunkel". Martan 00:58, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

If something is incorrect feel free to amend it yourself. I've removed that bit of Trivia which also implied that Dylan's "Girl from the North Country" was based on the S&G melody whereas it predates the S&G version. It is possible Dylan could have learned the song from Martin Carthy the same way Paul Simon did. S&G's version has always been credited to Simon / Garfunkel. Keithmall 09:50, 11 February 2007 (UTC)