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Paul McCartney’s opinion on Simon & Garfunkel
Although he has always been quite busy writing music throughout his career, Paul McCartney has always been aware of new artists and paid close attention to the music scene.
Besides The Beatles, many incredible songwriters emerged in the 1960s and the British musician had the chance to meet them and see them perform. Over the decades, he has given his opinion on some of them, including the American duo Simon & Garfunkel.
What is Paul McCartney’s opinion on Simon & Garfunkel
Paul McCartney has always been a big fan of Simon & Garfunkel and is a good friend of Paul Simon. As early as the ’70s, he praised the duo and revealed some of his favorite songs by them. “Music publishers from the old days don’t like song lyrics to appear on a record cover because ‘it harms sheet music sales’. This type of book is the epitome of what they’re talking about being, for someone like Paul who is smart enough to own his own publishing rights or so the story goes jolly lucrative.”
“And jolly good luck to him, because, really, some of his things have been very good. ‘Bridge over Troubled Water’, ‘Sound of Silence’, ‘Mrs. Robinson’, ‘The 59th Street Bridge Song’, and ‘Homeward Bound’… to name but a few personal ‘faves’. That’s what it’s all about,” he said already in 1973 when he was asked by Punch Magazine to review a song book released by Simon.
Interestingly, according to John Lennon, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” was a song Paul wished he had written. In his view, the result was “Let It Be” since, to the late Beatle, it had nothing to do with the Fab Four. “That’s Paul. What can you say? Nothing to do with the Beatles. It could’ve been Wings. I don’t know what he’s thinking when he writes ‘Let It Be’. I think it was inspired by ‘Bridge Over Troubled Waters’. That’s my feeling, although I have nothing to go on. I know he wanted to write a ‘Bridge Over Troubled Waters,'” John Lennon told David Sheff in 1980.
Paul McCartney and the Wings covered Simon & Garfunkel’s “Richard Cory” many times
Although McCartney didn’t cover that song during his career, Wings used to perform Simon & Garfunkel’s “Richard Cory” live. They performed the song more often than the duo itself, having included it in their setlist 67 times in 1975 and 1976. It was the band’s guitarist Denny Laine who sang during the performances and he also incorporated the cover into his solo shows later.
Paul was asked once by Howard Stern why they decided to cover that track. He said: “It was actually Denny Laine’s choice. We did a couple of covers, we did that one, we did ‘Love is Strange’ (By Mickey & Sylvia)”. He was then asked if Simon & Garfunkel said something about the cover, he said: “No, nobody, ever! (laughs)”.
McCartney and Simon had the chance to play together many times over the decades but never that song. One of the most recent times was during “Saturday Night Live’s” 40th anniversary when they played The Beatles’ “I’ve Just Seen a Face.” In 1976, Paul Simon had already appeared on SNL with George Harrison, performing “Homeward Bound.” In the following year he presented the Grammy for Record of the Year with John Lennon.
Paul McCartney thinks Paul Simon is one of the greatest songwriters of all time
In McCartney’s opinion, Paul Simon is one of the greatest songwriters of all time, having mentioned him alongside Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Brian Wilson. “Oh, there are a lot (of great songwriters). I think Paul Simon has written some amazing songs. I wouldn’t want to just say one of them but he’s certainly written some great stuff.”
“Bob Dylan has written some great stuff. I think there’s a lot of great songs that weren’t written by me or us. And those two people I have mentioned – Paul Simon, particularly, Dylan. I think Neil Young has come up with some classics, Beach Boys, ‘God Only Knows,’ I think that’s a great classic. And in a way, I could say I wish I’d written them, but I’ve written enough. I’ve got enough to go on with. But yeah, there are some great writers and artists out there,” Paul McCartney told James Daunt in 2021.
John Lennon once asked Art Garfunkel about “Your Paul, My Paul”
Art Garfunkel had a funny encounter with John Lennon in 1977 after they presented one of the prizes at the Grammy Awards together. He was invited, along with David Bowie, to go to Lennon’s apartment at the Dakota building in New York. There they talked about “your Paul and my Paul.”
“I have a great memory of John Lennon when I met him that night with Yoko and David Bowie. We went to the Dakota after hanging out. It was the mid-70s, we were coming from some show we mutually did. Bowie was with us, we come in, John pulls me to the bedroom. Lennon’s bedroom! We never met each other before and incredibly disarmingly. He said to me: ‘Artie, you worked with your Paul recently. I’m getting calls from New Orleans that my Paul wants to work with me.”
He continued:
“I’m thinking about it and I don’t know. How did it go when you worked with Paul?’ He’s measuring his situation. The great John Lennon with Paul McCartney, with Paul and Artie, testing me out. As if to make sure that my ego is fully established as a colleague of his,” Art Garfunkel said in an interview with Seth Swirsky (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
Simon & Garfunkel’s debut album was “Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.”, released in 1964. It was followed by “Sounds of Silence” (1966), “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme” (1966), “Bookends” (1968) and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (1970). The duo played together on and off during their careers and the most recent reunions happened from 2003 to 2005 and 2007 to 2010.
