Art Garfunkel has described a recent tearful reunion with Paul Simon, in which the pair moved past old enmities.
Speaking to the Times, Garfunkel said: “I actually had lunch with Paul a couple of weeks back. First time we’d been together in many years. I looked at Paul and said, ‘What happened? Why haven’t we seen each other?’ Paul mentioned an old interview where I said some stuff. I cried when he told me how much I had hurt him. Looking back, I guess I wanted to shake up the nice guy image of Simon & Garfunkel. Y’know what? I was a fool!
“We’ve made plans to meet again. Will Paul bring his guitar? Who knows. For me, it was about wanting to make amends before it’s too late. It felt like we were back in a wonderful place. As I think about it now, tears are rolling down my cheeks. I can still feel his hug.”
Garfunkel was speaking as he promoted new album Father and Son, made with his son Art Jr, who also discussed his father’s reunion with Simon. “They’ve had their ups and downs over the years, but after the meeting, Dad was so happy,” he said. “He called me and said, ‘Paul’s my brother; he’s family.’ I do think there is a possibility of them getting together musically. I’m speaking hypothetically here, but maybe a big TV/charity event. And with a bit of encouragement from their peers in the music industry, that could lead to some new material.”
Simon & Garfunkel were one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed duos in US history, part of a mid-1960s generation who turned folk music into a pop cultural phenomenon. Their debut album initially flopped but the single The Sound of Silence became a slow-burn success, leading to a series of hit albums that culminated with Bridge Over Troubled Water in 1970.
But they had a fractious relationship, starting towards the beginning of their partnership, with a solo single Simon recorded under a pseudonym: “The friendship was shattered for life … I never forget, and I never really forgive,” Garfunkel later wrote in his memoir.
Simon was also affronted by Garfunkel’s acting career, which had begun in the late 1960s. “I think if Artie had become a big movie star he would have left,” Simon wrote in his own memoir. “Instead of just being the guy who sang Paul Simon songs, he could be Art Garfunkel, a big star all by himself … This made me think about how I could still be the guy who wrote songs and sing them. I didn’t need Artie.” Simon split them up following Bridge Over Troubled Water, despite being at the height of their fame with a Grammy award for album of the year.
They reunited in 1981 for a huge concert in New York’s Central Park, but didn’t continue past a world tour the following year. There was another reunion tour in 1993, but again, they didn’t fully reconcile. In 2001, Paul Simon said as he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: “I regret the ending of our friendship. I hope that some day before we die we will make peace with each other. No rush.”
In 2003, they launched the Old Friends tour, but that kindly title couldn’t paper over deeper rifts. Garfunkel remained angry in 2015 at the duo’s split, saying in an interview: “How can you walk away from this lucky place on top of the world, Paul? What’s going on with you, you idiot? How could you let that go, jerk?” Simon said in 2016: “Quite honestly, we don’t get along. So it’s not like it’s fun [to perform together] … So that’ll never happen again.”
Simon, 83, has retired from touring, and even one-off live performances were imperilled by hearing loss he began experiencing during the recording of 2023 album Seven Psalms. But he told the Guardian in an interview in October: “I’m hoping to eventually be able to do a full-length concert. I’m optimistic. Six months ago I was pessimistic.”
Garfunkel, also 83, continues to perform live and will appear at five New York City concerts this month alongside his son and other members of his family.