Both Simon and Garfunkel grew up in New York, and met at elementary school. In the late 50s they performed as Tom & Jerry, owing a lot to the Everly Brothers, and scored a minor hit with their own composition “Hey, Schoolgirl.” After high school they both went to separate colleges, but met up again in the early 60s as part of New York’s Greenwich Village folk scene. Now calling themselves Simon & Garfunkel, they were signed to Columbia Records and recorded a fantastic folk-based album in 1964.Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. introduced them as American folk music’s sweetest voices. From the start it was obvious that both of them were incredible singers, but it was their close harmony singing where the magic truly happened, and which earned them their signature sound. The material on this first album is heavily folk-based - alongside three traditional adaptations are covers of songs by other folk singer-songwriters, including Ed McCurdy’s anti-war classic “Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream”, Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’” and “You Can Tell The World” by Bob Gibson and Bob Camp (i.e. Hamilton Camp). But it was the five fantastic Paul Simon originals that plainly showed where the song writing potential lay. Simon’s song writing and the duo’s harmonizing were the ingredients for great things to come.
Unfortunately, the album flopped, probably because the times WERE a-changin’ and the Beatles were conquering America. Its lack of sales meant they actually broke up for a while, and Paul Simon moved to England (where he recorded his first solo album). But a certain decision from their producer Tom Wilson would soon re-unite them with chart-topping success as folk-rock took off.
|> Sounds Of Silence (1966)
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