Oh really?? what color is the sky on your planet?
If I were you I would demand a refund from whomever taught your history class.
mmm
Just to add to the consensus, I think that is not established history. In any rate I don’t buy it.
It is worth mentioning, I think, that Paul Simon to some degree feared breaking up because he was afraid that Garfunkle would end up being the bigger star. Obviously, he was wrong, and I think I can state with confidence that almost anyone would judge Simon the much greater artist, but that is a far thing from saying that Garfunkle added nothing to the group. That, IMO, is very, very far from the truth.
I find it interesting that the one S & G track Art “created” but didn’t sing on, ALSO is simply voices – voices of old people talking, that is.
He started making music in an era when it was routine to use session musicians for recordings. The Byrds “Mr Tambourine Man” has session musicians except for Jim "Roger McQuinn’s guitar and their voices. Originally The Who’s “I can’t explain” was supposed to have an ace session guitarist Jimmy Page play guitar. Pete Townshend protested, was allowed to have a crack at it and Townshend thinks his guitar was used on the song. Assuming Garfunkel is indeed competent to play, he may just think why change something that I am used to.
I was under the impression that it was more Simon who broke up the band and got jealous when Garfunkel was cast in two big films of the era “Catch 22” and “Carnal Knowledge”. In retrospect we should have seen it was the songwriter who became big. But I remember Tom Snyder once commenting that everybody thought when Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin broke up that Lewis would have the bigger career, that Martin was just some drunk hack singer he was paired with.
This might have something to do with it: Everyone I’ve ever met who worked with Paul Simon has stated he is one of the biggest dicks on the planet with an unbelievably unwarrented huge ego.
I can’t imagine anyone who is remotely familiar with Simon’s work would call his ego unwarranted…
Besides an amazing voice? That’s like saying Ringo was the Beatles worst drummer. It shows a distressing lack of knowledge of the subject at hand.
Like John Lennon, Paul Simon’s talent is only exceeded by his ego.
Simon is a talented singer/songwriter, but he is no Mozart. However, his ego makes Mozart’s look tiny.
Interesting. Lots of Paul Simon ego hate. I don’t recall that being a central component of his persona - like, say, Sting - but that’s cool. Are there specific incidents or events to cite? I know his relationship with Carrie Fisher wasn’t all seashells and balloons…
As for Garfunkel - hmm, I always just assumed that Simon wrote the songs and that they had agreed early on, after re-forming as a folkie-type group, that their “brand” would be one player/singer and one singer. If you look across the various folk-based groups that crossed over into popularity, the choices about which musicians held instruments and which just sang seems more an appearance thing unless there was specific instrumentation like the Kingston Trio. Coupled with Simon writing the songs and actually being a really talented player, using complex chord changes and picking patterns - and there ya go. I never read more into than that…
I’d like to see Mozart’s album of popular folk music so that we may compare talents.
I know he supposedly dicked over Los Lobos during their collaboration on the closing track of Graceland. To hear them tell it, he brought nothing at all to the recording of that song (he did later write the lyrics) but took all the credit for it and told them they could compain all they want - nobody would believe them over him. I don’t know if it’s true, although Los Lobos have stuck by their story and would seem to have little to gain from telling it. I’m not going to sit here and comment on Paul Simon as a person because I don’t know much about him, but I found that discouraging because I’m a big fan of Simon and of Los Lobos.
Okay then.
That quote is pulled and highlighted. Berlin, the sax player for Los Lobos, goes into a lot more detail, including the anecdote that Simon didn’t even know how to pronounce the word “zydeco” when they got together.
Bad blood for sure.
I know this is but one example, but this does not fit in with the ‘biggest dick/huge ego’ designation.
mmm
Apologies, I had read somewhere that Simon was the brains behind the whole thing. It’s possible I was reading a biased source. :o
Please note I did not say that Paul Simon was not talented. He is one of my favorite musicians. I also think he has an ego the size of Cleveland.
Simon and Garfunkel, separate, were good. Together, they were magic.
Shelly DuVall has badmouthed him too.
If Mozart were alive today, he would be well known for making some kind of music. One of my favorite games is figuring out who would be famous in any era and who was born at the right time. Mozart vs. Dylan as it were.