Playing the Harmony Game with Simon & Garfunkel

Last week the BBC aired ‘The Harmony Game’; a documentary on the making of Simon & Garfunkel’s iconic ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, the last studio album the duo recorded.  For both established fans of Paul Simon and those with an inchoate interest in his music, the programme provides fascinating insight into this era-defining record.

Paul Simon has a very special place in my heart.  It is difficult for me to express my appreciation for his music-in particular his 60s-80s output-without sounding unintentionally trite.  It’s not easy for me to define how listening to both his work with Garfunkel and his solo material affects me. Suffice to say that his music feels like coming home. Clichéd I know. I’m not even exactly sure what that means.  I suppose it denotes an element of safety, recognition, the sensation of reconnecting with a part of myself of which I was previously unaware but is familiar still.  To borrow an expression from a friend, Simon occupies a corner of my soul in the same way some of my other best loved artists-Stevie Wonder, Sade, Brazilian music and the Carpenters for example- each have their own nook.  

Unlike Mr Wonder I didn’t grow up surrounded by S&G records.  I discovered Simon’s work sometime in my early 20s.  Of course I was au fait with his most celebrated songs and they’d always piqued my curiosity.  However it was after watching a spoof interview reflecting on his reportedly turbulent relationship with Art Garfunkel that I finally decided to riffle through his back catalogue.  I instantly came to regard him as one of the greatest 20^th century Anglophone songwriters; one of those rare individuals who, it would not be an exaggeration to say, has been touched by genius. Whilst so many are quick to extol the virtues of the (overrated) 'Fab Four', it's Paul's songwriting virtuosity that stands out from that era and beyond. From an enviably young age he has written with so much depth and empathy, at times way beyond his years.  There’s a parochialism to much of his work that somehow manages to convey something universal.  I don’t normally care for gushing, jingoistic sentiment in song but Simon’s appreciation for the land of his birth avoids mindless patriotism.  He writes a lot about being a New Yorker, an American, what that means and how his own identity is wrapped up in the search for that definition.  The Big Apple is the only part of the US I have any genuine interest in visiting thanks to Mr Simon. I want to walk the streets of the place that has inspired him so.

Yet he’s well known for drawing sonic inspiration from all over the world.  He spent some of his youth living in the UK which influenced the folk direction he took in the early days of Simon & Garfunkel.  His creative wanderlust has seen him visit Brazil, the Caribbean and South Africa.

So yep, I’m a Paul Simon fan.  He’s not often in the public eye these days-as if he ever was-so this documentary was a treat.  He and Art were interviewed separately each giving their unique perspective on the BOTW recording process.  Paul’s speaking voice has retained its light, delicate but nonetheless masculine quality.  The years have turned Art’s soft-spoken tenor into a gravelly baritone. The anorak in me did somersaults when Artie, as he is affectionately known, talked about constructing new melodies by taking liberties with the intervals between notes; exploring how far he could stray from the original tune whilst still working within the given chord structure.

Paul brought clarity to some of the myths that surround BOTW.  No, the album's prevailing theme of loss and separation was not deliberate.  In fact a number of the songs were written over a long period of time prior to recording.  Yes, ‘The Only Living Boy in New York’ (one of the S&G songs dearest to my heart) is about Art going to Mexico to star in the film ‘Catch-22’.  Yes, the ‘Tom’ of the song refers to Garfunkel’s alias from the days when the duo recorded as Tom & Jerry in their teens.  Art himself refused to divulge details of their volatile but enduring friendship, much to the chagrin of some.  True appreciators of the group’s music don’t need dirty linen to be aired to enjoy this expository in any case.  For instance, it is fascinating to hear how the epic soundscapes of ‘Only Living Boy...’ and ‘The Boxer’ - in particular the rousing harmonies –were created; how cumbersome recording sessions were set up in chapels and echo chambers to capture the exquisitely haunting, expansive sound that characterises both songs.

‘The Boxer’ means a lot to me personally...

‘In the clearing stands a boxer 
And a fighter by his trade 
And he carries the reminders 
Of ev'ry glove that laid him down 
Or cut him till he cried out 
In his anger and his shame 
"I am leaving, I am leaving" 
But the fighter still remains ‘

This verse reminds me of my mother; her resilience, her indefatigable spirit and strength of heart in the face of so many obstacles life has thrown at her.

That’s the wonderful thing about timeless art.  It can be both relevant on a personal and global scale.  ‘The Harmony Game’ reflects on the social and political backdrop to BOTW, that of late 60s/early 70s America.  Civil Rights, the Manson Family murders, the Vietnam War, the assassination of respected statesmen...  When a documentary made at the time about the duo broached the subject of the impact of politics on Simon’s writing, it ruffled the feathers of the show’s sponsors.  Paul admitted that they were both wide-eyed naive idealists back then.  He assumed, coming from the liberal North-East of America that everyone espoused the same open-minded views as they.  You can see how they were capable of such presumption. Old footage of the two betrays a callow bravado and self-importance befitting of their youth.

‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’s universally celebrated title-track of course is discussed in great detail.  Although the documentary gave me a renewed appreciation of the song it is not one of my S&G favourites.  It’s not even my favourite from the album.  It is an amazing, transcendent song without a doubt.  However perhaps because it has been played or covered so many times compared to most of Simon’s output, it has lost some of its sheen.  It seems too obvious.  It must be indicative of Paul’s singular gift that such a seminal song is arguably not even the best from his repertoire.

‘Bridge...’ would not have seen the light of day as a single if it wasn’t for the insistence of future Arista boss Clive Davis, then head of CBS records.  He envisaged it has a hit whilst Simon & Garfunkel and their team merely saw it as a powerful album track.  Well, we know the rest.

Album finale ‘Song for the Asking’ is described by Art as ‘an unappreciated gem’.  I couldn’t agree more.  It’s such a simple and earnest song.  In the unassuming vocal (characteristic of Simon) and pretty chord changes lies the magic of his writing.  The human condition is expressed with such profundity wrapped up in simplicity.  It breaks my heart to listen to ‘...Asking’, in a good way.  Like Mr Garfunkel I wonder why it is not covered more.

Towards the end of ‘The Harmony Game’ the duo explain how BOTW marked the beginning of the end.  Having lived so long in each other's pockets Garfunkel longed for a little hiatus. They took different roads creatively too; Simon wanted to move away from the close-harmony Everly Brothers sound that had become S&G’s trademark.  He was itching to be more political and Art wasn’t so keen.  Paul points out how the vocals were less indivisible on ‘Bridge...’  Several songs feature one of them with hardly any accompaniment from the other.

The two weren’t to make another album. A few years later they recorded a stunning one-off duet ‘My Little Town’, featured on Paul’s solo effort ‘Still Crazy After All These Years’. The infamous Madison Garden gig in September 1981, which took place nearly two months after I was born (how I wish I could have been there) was the first of several live reunions over the years to come, but no more studio work.

Nearly 40 years after ‘Bridge...’ was recorded the Jonathan and David of music still speak fondly of each other.  And an album now several decades old effortlessly stands as a master class in record-making. Like much of Simon’s work, there’s something painfully beautiful about ‘Bridge...’ Songs such as ‘So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright’, ‘The Boxer’ ‘...Living Boy’ and ‘...Asking’ tug away gently but persistently at the heart strings. Much like its predecessor ‘Bookends’ it takes a lot out of me emotionally.  Maybe it’s the knowledge that it was to be the last studio album from the duo. Or maybe because it’s all so splendidly melancholy, as life can be; not devoid of hope yet reminding us that we’re constantly in transition.