When Simon and Garfunkel reunited on stage for a crowd of half a million people

14 August 2024, 14:50

They were one of greatest duos in the history of popular music.

But Simon & Garfunkel were also one of the most tempestuous duos in popular music history, despite their gentle and evocative brand of folk rock suggesting otherwise.

After enormous success soundtracking much of the politically shape-shifting sixties, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel split at the turn of the subsequent decade.

Having largely introduced folk music to the mainstream consciousness, the pair decided to go their separate ways, having been musically connected throughout their childhood, adolescence and early adulthood.

In the wake of their lauded, most brilliant 1970 album Bridge Over Troubled Water, their relationship deteriorated having reached their artistic zenith as a duo.

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To the point where they only communicated on a handful of occasions across the year, and it remained that way for years after.

Though they did join each other for one-off performances every so often, there was no intention to ever reunite.

That all changed however in 1981, eleven years after they called it a day, when Simon & Garfunkel stepped on stage together to a crowd of half a million people.

The Concert In Central Park came at a time when both musicians' careers and the city that made them, New York, were both suffering from poor fortunes.

New York was mired by serious economic decline, so concert promoter Ron Delsener suggested putting on a free concert in Central Park to boost the city's morale.

Simon's recent album One Trick Pony had flopped, so when Delsener proposed he headline the concert, Simon was eager.

But he was suffering from depression and was on his lowest ebb when it came to confidence, so suggested that Garfunkel would be keen to join him.

In the recent 2024 documentary, In Restless Dreams: The Music Of Paul Simon, the musician explained his headspace ahead of the proposed concert.

"Because One-Trick Pony was a flop, when they asked me to do a concert in Central Park, I thought, ‘Well I just had this big flop, maybe I should ask Artie to come and sing some songs on this'."

Similarly, Art failed to make any significant impact in his solo career, so after Simon contacted him during a holiday in Switzerland, he returned to the US immediately.

Simon & Garfunkel - America (from The Concert in Central Park)

Naturally, reuniting the pair was a match made in heaven, not only for punters but for promoters too.

Few acts shared the kind of symbiotic relationship with New York City as Simon & Garfunkel did - not only were they a major draw, they grew up in the city, and continued to live in the city after their international success. Even their songs exude the sounds and sights of New York City.

So when 19th September 1981 came around, New Yorkers came out in their masses, with an estimated crowd of 500,000 people attending.

As twilight descended on Central Park, with the city's skyline depicted on the stage backdrop complete with water tank and inner-city rooftop, New York's mayor Ed Koch entered the fray to introduce the long-awaited reunion: "Ladies and gentlemen, Simon and Garfunkel!"

Kicking off proceedings with 'Mrs. Robinson' followed swiftly by 'Homeward Bound' and 'America', the duo proved the magic was still sparkling away between them.

They continue through the classics, like 'Scarborough Fair', 'April Come She Will', and 'Bridge Over Troubled Water', even squeezing in some solo efforts like Simon's 'Still Crazy After All These Years' and '50 Ways To Leave Your Lover'.

As expected, any lyrics referring to New York produced rapturous applause, such as Garfunkel's ode to his home in 'A Heart In New York'.

"New York, lookin' down on Central Park, where they say you should not wander after dark," he sang, where half a million people congregated.

Likewise, the concert's rousing encore in 'The Sound Of Silence' encouraged a wall of claps when the pair sang: "And in the naked light I saw ten thousand people maybe more."

It was a special concert that suggested a new beginning for Simon & Garfunkel, though it didn't last long before the cracks appeared once again between the two.

Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge over Troubled Water (from The Concert in Central Park)

"After the concert in Central Park with Simon & Garfunkel was so big - it was such a big hit - and then that sort of forced us into... forced me into putting the group back together again and doing a tour," Simon recalled in his recent documentary.

"We were famously antagonistic, but I thought, 'You know what? I am going to put that all aside and have a good reunited tour with Artie'."

"We said - the album I was working on, Hearts and Bones - that’ll be a Simon & Garfunkel record."

By that time, their creative relationship had changed considerably, which wasn't to Paul's liking.

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"The way we used to work is, I would write songs, and we would work out the harmonies and sing them together. We were friends, we were hanging out," Simon continued.

"But, by the time we were doing Hearts and Bones, Artie’s idea was 'Give me the songs, and I am going to go to Switzerland and walk and make up the harmonies'."

"It was a recapitulation of he’s in Mexico making a movie. Well, now he wanted to smoke and walk through Switzerland and make up harmonies to these songs and then he would send them back and we would look at it and say, ‘What is this?’"

"It didn’t sound like the old Simon & Garfunkel. And I just said, ‘I can’t work this way.'”

After going back on his decision to make Heart and Bones a Paul Simon solo album again, he knew it wouldn't be as successful, conceding that their reunion concert was nothing but a "luxurious bandage".

"The breakup that happened after Catch-22 was never repaired," he added. "It was just a bandage put over it."

"But the bandage was such a luxurious bandage - the concert in Central Park - we forgot that essentially, we were done as a team."