Posted on 05/25/2015 3:35:19 PM PDT by rickmichaels
Art Garfunkel has stunned fans by revealing he only became friends with longtime partner Paul Simon, because he felt sorry for him.
In one of his most candid interviews, the Bright Eyes singer tells Britain's Sunday Telegraph he initially quit Simon & Garfunkel and turned his back on showbusiness to become a teacher because he could no longer work with his sidekick Simon.
He says, "I don'€™t want to say any anti Paul Simon things, but it seems very perverse to not enjoy the glory and walk away from it instead. Crazy... (But) he was getting on my nerves. The jokes had run dry.
"A rest of a year was all I needed. I said, 'I'€™m not married yet. I want to jump on a BMW motorbike and tour round Europe chasing ladies'."
But it's his candid remarks about the start of his friendship with Simon, which led the duo to a recording deal as teenage act Tom & Jerry, that will surprise fans the most.
He admits he felt sorry for the singer/songwriter because he was so short, and adds, "That compensation gesture has created a monster.
"George (Harrison) came up to me at a party once and said, 'My Paul is to me what your Paul is to you'. He meant that, psychologically, they had the same effect on us - the Pauls sidelined us. I think George felt suppressed by Paul (McCartney) and I think that'€™s what he saw with me and my Paul.
"Here's the truth: McCartney was a helluva music man who gave the band its energy, but he also ran away with a lot of the glory."
During his interview with the Telegraph, Garfunkel also calls Simon a "jerk" and agrees with the interviewer that the You Can Call Me Al singer has a Napoleon complex, linked to short people hooked on power.
Despite his comments, Garfunkel, who last toured with Simon in 2010, is open to another Simon & Garfunkel tour: "Will I do another tour with Paul? Well, that's quite do-able. As far as this half is concerned, why not?"
Quite ahead of it its time, I’m inclined to think.
Lifelong NYer, btw.
I am blessed in a few different crafts as well.
God has been very good to me, and I hope i use it all for His glory. :-)
Thank you for your kind words!
(This has turned out to be QUITE a thread!)
Speaking of being a jerk, Art...
“he initially quit Simon & Garfunkel and turned his back on showbusiness to become a teacher because he could no longer work with his sidekick Simon.”
Something doesn’t feel right about that statement. I could see how he would quit S&G but become a teacher because he could no longer work with Simon? He sounds kind of like a jilted lover?
How things have changed. Last time I heard Kodachrome on the radio it wasn’t bleeped. But “Money For Nothing” by Dire Straits now has the word “faggot”, from the line “See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup,” bleeped out. It never was in the 80s or 90s.
He has and does regularly. Big shots aren't always jerks.
We were there for the concert and he has pretty much lost his voice. He has a few notes that are good, but most of it is pretty marginal. He explained he had lost it and it was coming back..... something about vocal paralysis..... I think.
I thought he should be given credit for even going out and performing at all..... but my son said he makes up for it with his demands, as though he is still "it".
Quite a bit of the concert was stories and history, but his son has a wonderful voice. Art treats him like crap as well.
I just had to load the film into the film canister in total darkness. The rest could be done in daylight. The prints I did from Ectachrome had stunning colors (even blacks)except when printing from color slides everything you know about printing black and white and color film is backwards.
Yes...we had a closet for doing the film canister thingy. I had to be so careful to spool the film onto the stainless steel reel, that spiraled out from the center, close the canister, add the chemicals, seal it up, and then do the rumba for a precise amount of time to agitate the solution evenly throughout the can!
My personal opinion is that his “vocal paralysis” is a result of his prodigious pot smoking.
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