Today I would like to bring you Simon and Garfunkel greatest hits all in one place. I will do the usual list of their hit singles and albums. I will also have a look at one of the biggest selling albums of all time which was released in 1970 so it just made it on this site. First, though I will give you a bit of the history of how Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel got together.

 

Simon And Garfunkel

Art Garfunkel (born in New York on the 5th November 1942) and Paul Simon ( born in Newark, New Jersey on 13th October 1941) were childhood friends. Art’s parents who were both singers had 2 tape recorders, Paul would go round to their house and fool around with the tape machines with Art.

When they were about 13 they started taking rehearsing seriously and also started writing their own songs. They tried taking them round the recording companies in Manhattan. After 3 years of trying to get these companies to take their songs they were overheard cutting a demo of one of their songs by Sid Prosen(a minor wheeler dealer in the New York record industry).

 

Simon and Garfunkel at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 2010

 

He took them to a small label called Big Records, in the November of 1957 they released a song called Hey! Schoolgirl under the names of Tom and Jerry. The song began to sell and got as high as 54 in the charts. This turned out to be like so many other teenage artists a one hit wonder. They released several singles the following year but they all flopped.

They decided to go back to their studies, Paul Simon went to Brooklyn Law School and Art Garfunkel studied art in Columbia. The musical climate was changing by now(1963) and folk music was booming with the likes of Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul and Mary.

 

Paul was working for a music publishing house, peddling the companies songs around the record labels. At night, he would usually play with Art Garfunkel at coffee houses like Folk City and Cafe Wha. Paul had written a song about a friend who had died at a demonstration in Mississippi called He Was My Brother. This was eventually released as a single under the name Paul Kane.

They got their first break when Paul Simon used his contacts in the record industry. Instead of selling his companies songs he asked producer Tom Wilson at Columbia if he would be interested in listening to them. He set up an audition and the sound engineer was Roy Halee, when they went back again they asked for Roy to be the sound engineer. He ended up working with them for most of their career, he even co-produced their 1981 live reunion album.

 

 

 

They recorded their first acoustic album for Columbia in 1964 called Wednesday Morning 3am. This consisted of a new recording of He Was My Brother, a song by Bob Dylan a couple of anti war songs by British writers and 5 of Paul’s own songs. One of these songs was Sound Of Silence, which in time would turn out to be one of Paul Simon’s most recorded compositions, it was covered by over a hundred other artists. The album and song made no impact however.

Paul Simon spent the summers of 1964 and 1965 touring in Europe, sometimes solo and sometimes with Art Garfunkel. Whilst he was in Europe a DJ in Boston had picked up on the album track Sound of Silence. It was pointed out to the people who ran Columbia records and they decided to release it as a single. As this was the era of folk-rock Tom Wilson the sound producer was told to add electric guitars, drums and bass to the acoustic sound.

 

simon and garfunkel greatest hits

 

 

The plan worked and Sound Of Silence started climbing the US charts. Paul Simon was still touring in Europe and had no idea what was happening back home. He was in Denmark when someone showed him a copy of the American charts. He caught the next plane home, reunited with Art Garfunkel and toured large halls as the record reached number 1 at the end of 1965. The rest they say is history.

 

 

Simon And Garfunkel Greatest Hits – Singles

Here is a list of their singles, name of song first, year released and chart position reached here in the UK and also the US

  1. The Sound Of Silence (1965) No.1 in the US
  2. Homeward Bound (1966) (9) (5)
  3. I Am A Rock (1966) (17) (3)
  4. The Dangling Conversation (1966) No. 25 in the US
  5. A Hazy Shade Of Winter (1966) No.13 in the US
  6. At The Zoo (1967) No. 16 in the US
  7. Fakin’ It (1967) No. 23 in the US
  8. Scarborough Fair/Canticle (1968) No. 11 in the US
  9. Mrs Robinson (1968) (4) (1)
  10. Mrs Robinson EP (1969) (9)
  11. The Boxer (1969) (6) (7)
  12. Bridge Over Troubled Waters (1970) (1) (1)
  13. Cecilia (1970) No. 4 in the US
  14. El Condor Pasa (if I Could) (1970) No. 18 in the US
  15. America (1972) (25) (97)
  16. For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her (live) (1972) No.53 in the US
  17. My Little Town (1975) No. 9 in the US
  18. Wonderful World (Art Garfunkel with James Taylor and Paul Simon) (1978) No. 17 in the US
  19. Wake Up Little Suzie (1982) No. 27 in the US
  20. A Hazy Shade Of Winter (1991) (30)
  21. The Boxer (1992 re-release) (1975)

 

 

 

 

Simon And Garfunkel Greatest Hits – Albums

Simon and Garfunkel had 5 studio albums here they are. Album title first, year released and position reached in the UK and the US.

  1. Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. (1964) (24) (30)
  2. Sounds Of Silence (1966) (13) (21)
  3. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966) (13) (4)
  4. Bookends (1968) (1) (1)
  5. Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970) (1) (1)

They also had a live album which made it to number 6 in the UK and US in 1982, it was called The Concert In Central Park. It was recorded 19th September 1981.

They also had some greatest hits albums that made the chart.

  1. Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits (1972) (2) (5)
  2. The Simon and Garfunkel Collection (1981) (4)
  3. The Definitive Simon and Garfunkel (1992) (8)
  4. The Best Of Simon and Garfunkel (1999) (145) (43)
  5. Tales From New York: The Very Best Of Simon and Garfunkel (2000) (8)
  6. The Essential (2003) (25) (27)

 

 

 

This album topped the charts in over 10 countries. Selling over 25 million copies. Here is the track list, remember this was the days of vinyl.

 

 

bridge over troubled water

 

Side One

  1. Bridge Over Troubled Water
  2. El Condor Pasa (If I Could)
  3. Cecilia
  4. Keep The Customer Satisfied
  5. So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright

Side Two

  1. The Boxer
  2. Baby Driver
  3. The Only Living Boy In New York
  4. Why Don’t You Write Me
  5. Bye Bye Love (live recording from Ames, Iowa
  6. Song For The Asking

I hope you enjoyed this look at Simon and Garfunkel greatest hits. If you have, leave a comment below. What are your memories of the duo?

 

If you get a minute could you please pop over to my Facebook Page and join us. I plan to build this page this year as I have more time on my hands since retiring.  I am trying to get people to share their favourite 70s music.  As you know we do not all like the same songs and it would be great to hear page members favourite 70s songs.  I hope to see you there soon.

Thanks For Visiting Today. Make sure you come back as I build the site, leave a comment below if there is any singer or group you think I should add to the site.

Frank

Music Of The 70s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

frank@musicofthe70s.co.uk

 

 

14 Replies to “Simon And Garfunkel Greatest Hits”

  1. My father would make us listen to the oldies station in the car when I was little. That would be when I fell in love with Simon and Garfunkel. In fact, Scarborough Fair is one of my favorite songs to this day. Their voices are so relaxing. I did not know that they started out so young.

    It was interesting learning about their history. It is also an inspiring tale about not giving up on your dream. Thank you for taking the time to post about the group and educating me. This article even got me to look them up in Amazon Music so that I could be brought back in time.

    I am going to check out the rest of your articles. I wanted to leave you a note and let you know that appreciate this post.

    1. Thanks for the comment Dovey, Scarborough Fair is a great song along with a lot of others. I like to put a bit of how bands and artists started up because as you say it is quite interesting to find out how they got together.

      A friend of mine always used to sing The Boxer in the pub after the rugby internatinals here in Cardiff, Wales. Everyone seemed to know the words as they would always join in.

      Thanks for visiting,
      Frank

  2. Thank you for this wonderful article.

    I quite enjoy Simon and Garfunkel. My favorite songs are Mrs. Robinson and of course Sounds of Silence. I heard from them from my parents, and loved them ever since. It is nice to read about their beginnings and how this magic started.

    I will definitely have a closer look at their discography.

    Thanks.

    1. Hi Strahinja, thanks for the comment, those are two very good songs you picked there. A lot of people learn to love music through their parents playing it when they were young. My twin daughters who are 24 now still listen to Rod Stewart, David Bowie, Michael Jackson because I played that type of music all the time when they were growing up.

      It is worth having a look at the other music that Simon and Garfunkel did. They had some great songs that surprisingly didn’t do well in the charts. There albums sold well though.

      Thanks for visiting today,
      Frank

    1. Hi Aaron, thanks for the comment. two good songs there. I have listened to their music for years. I think my favourite is The Boxer.

      Thanks for visiting, make sure you come back as the site grows,

      Frank

    1. Hi Rique, it sure is a great story about persisting with your dreams. They had some great songs and if they hadn’t kept going we would never have heard them. Imagine that!

      Thanks for visiting,
      Frank

  3. I love how you detail everything so well. I really enjoy hearing how these artists started out as friends so young and continued their journey. Such a great way to keep their memories going. Thank you

    1. Hi Kay, thanks for the comment, music from artists like Simon and Garfunkel will be played for ever I think.

      Thanks for visiting,
      Frank

  4. WOW Frank.

    What a wonderful site you’ve managed to put together here, very impressive. The content, design and easy to follow format is very appealing. I can’t say I’m an expert on Simon & Garfunkel, far from it but did enjoy Paul Simon’s Graceland DVD featuring Ladysmith Black Mambazo, my favourite song being Diamonds on the soles of her shoes.

    Well done on your efforts up to now mate. The site will get better and better.

    Adam 🙂

    1. Hi Adam, thanks for dropping by and for the comment. Paul Simon did some great stuff on his own as did Art Garfunkel. I liked 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover best although the one mention was also a good song.

      Thanks for visiting,
      Frank

  5. I loved listening to their ranging from ”Homeward Bound”, ”Kathy’s Song”, ”Cecilia” down to The Only Living Boy in New York. Because my father was a fan of these artists, he loved playing their songs so that was how i turned out loving their songs too as a growing boy. I became their fan but i never knew about them this much. Reading your post has really enlightened me up a lot about two of my favorite stars.
    Thank you for this post.

    1. Hi Eric, I can see you have listened to Simon and Garfunkel a fair bit. Your father had good taste in music to play this music to you. I do like all the songs you mentioned. I am glad you enjoyed finding out more about them.

      Thanks for visiting,
      Frank

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