Initial sales for Bookends were substantial in the US, and the album produced the number-one single ' Mrs. The album was recorded gradually over the period of a year, with production speeding up around the later months of 1967. Much of the material was crafted alongside producer John Simon (no relation), who joined the recording when Paul Simon suffered from writer's block. Simon's lyrics concern youth, disillusionment, relationships, old age, and mortality. Side two largely consists of previously-released singles and of unused material for The Graduate soundtrack. Side one of the album marks successive stages in life, the theme serving as bookends to the life cycle. The duo had risen to fame two years prior with the albums Sounds of Silence and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme and the soundtrack album for the 1967 film The Graduate.īookends is a concept album that explores a life journey from childhood to old age. Produced by Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel and Roy Halee, the album was released on April 3, 1968, in the United States by Columbia Records. Now.Bookends is the fourth studio album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. I guess I have the films of my teenage years to thank for my initial connection to Simon & Garfunkel, but I'm overjoyed to have found a true friend in Bookends. The music took on its own identity in my eyes, and the album itself became personified - it was almost like the record and I had been through some tough times together and that we'd come out stronger on the other side. Whether I was dancing along or on the brink of tears, I loved the fact that Bookends engaged me emotionally from start to finish.īy the end of the album, the feeling that this record and I were old friends was only intensified, and with further listens I realized that I had an even deeper connection to the album than I wanted to admit. But luckily, the album kept rolling and the upbeat tone of 'Fakin' It' and silly lightheartedness of 'Punky's Dilemma' almost immediately lifted my spirits. If I had been listening to it on vinyl, I don't think I would have been able to muster the wherewithal to cross the room and flip over the record. In fact, it kind of scared me how much of an impact the first seven tracks of Bookends had on my psyche. Simon & Garfunkel hit on so many elements of music that I am naturally drawn to - simple instrumentation, thought-provoking lyrics with narrative leanings and arrangements that allow both to shine.Īnd that's what I've come to discover that I love about Simon & Garfunkel - they are absolute masters of emotive, transformative lyricism. Listening to Bookends was like reuniting with an old friend I didn't know that I had: only after hearing the album start to finish did I recognize that these songs have been around me all along. 'America' breezed right by me in Almost Famous, and I never quite understood why the song surrounding a particularly poignant scene in 500 Days Of Summer was called 'Bookends.'īut now, my narrow cinematic context of Simon & Garfunkel has been broadened. Robinson,' I've never seen The Graduate in its entirety. From there, my knowledge of Simon & Garfunkel continued to be informed solely by incomplete pop culture encounters with the duo. My musical relationship with Simon & Garfunkel began with an influence that any self-respecting, music-loving twenty-something would now be ashamed to admit: The Garden State soundtrack.

Simon garfunkel bookends pdf