Art interview
kapeman
Art Garfunkel is proving that while Paul Simon was the songwriter of
the duo, he has the better voice
Patrick S. Pemberton
The Tribune
Art Garfunkel knows his singing career is more successful when he works
with Paul Simon.
The recent Simon and Garfunkel reunion tour - which took in $65
million, drew a crowd of 600,000 in Rome and spawned a popular live
album - provides the most recent proof.
Yet despite the money, huge crowds and Grammys that came along with
being half of a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame duo, Garfunkel still wants
his own identity. So, just two months after the wildly successful
"Old Friends" tour wrapped up in July, he was touring again as a
solo act.
"When I work with Paul, I am one of two, as Ed McMahon was one of
two," he said in a telephone interview from New York. "I become a
certain kind of guy. And although there's range there, it's all
within a certain kind of foil against Paul. If Paul is going say
something to tease me, but it's a great tease, I'm gonna laugh and
do the thing you do when you have to play the butt of a joke, because
the joke is so damn good. Not having to do any of that stuff or wear
that persona is very nice for me because I love to sing. I believe in
my singing. And I really in my heart of hearts would rather stretch out
more as a vocalist than put myself in that higher tenor range,
harmonizing with Paul."
The folksy '60s icon will bring his solo persona to the Christopher
Cohan Center on Saturday. But he knows fans will be disappointed if he
doesn't sing some of the Simon and Garfunkel classics.
"Wouldn't that be nasty?" he said. "The audience would go,
'Come on, we like The Sound of Silence. Don't be so withholding.'
So that's coy and wrong."
On the other hand, it's not a Simon and Garfunkel show. If you base
your whole show on Simon and Garfunkel, you basically say, 'Let's
face it - I didn't go anywhere afterward.' But I made 11 albums
that I love, and I've had some hits," he said. "My career is not
nearly as big as S and G, so I use a portion and get them both in."
Simon and Garfunkel met as kids in Queens, N.Y., and eventually became
one of the most popular duos in music, recording classics like "Mrs.
Robinson," "Cecilia," "The Boxer" and "Homeward Bound."
Amid well-publicized squabbling, they broke up in 1970, and Garfunkel
immediately went into acting, working alongside Jack Nicholson in
"Carnal Knowledge." He was part of an ensemble cast in
"Catch-22."
As a solo musician, his hits include "All I Know," "I Only Have
Eyes for You" and a cover of Sam Cooke's "(What a) Wonderful
World."
In 2002, he recorded the critically acclaimed "Everything Waits to be
Noticed" with two relatively unknown singer/songwriters, Maia Sharp
and Buddy Mondlock.
At the outset of that collaboration, he said, he had to start on even
terms with his younger partners.
"I have to laugh at myself, and like a piñata, I have to puncture
who Art Garfunkel's supposed to be - with his frizzy hair and all
of that," said Garfunkel, 63. "But I will retain my body of work.
They know I'm a studio man who loves crafting things."
The album proved - as did the reunion tour - that his voice is
still as powerful as it was 35 years ago. The tracks, some of which
feature Garfunkel's first real foray into songwriting, are catchy,
with a mellow feel reminiscent of Simon and Garfunkel hits.
Still, Garfunkel's solo career is always in the shadows of the super
duo's achievements - and the disagreements that kept them apart for
much of the past three decades.
While Simon wrote their hits, Garfunkel's soft tenor voice was
instrumental to the harmonic sound that made the pair famous, and his
leads on songs like "Bridge Over Troubled Water" are viewed as
vocal masterpieces.
So, Garfunkel said, he had no problem letting Simon have songwriting
duties.
"In the early days, my admiration for Paul's writing talent was
immense," he said. "The fun of harmonizing and singing the songs
had me very satisfied. To this day, I've never felt, 'Well, if I
wrote, I might be as good as Paul.' ... He's so damn good. I
don't have to be everything, and I immediately excused myself of
songwriting."
When asked how he feels when people suggest that Simon dominated the
duo - as a "Saturday Night Live" skit once did - Garfunkel
reacted passionately.
"If I feel mocked, I don't feel good about it," he said. "Is
that a mystery to you?"
Though Simon's songwriting career has been more visible, some critics
credit Garfunkel with having the better voice. And when he's onstage
as a solo act, Garfunkel has the opportunity to better showcase his
ability - which might explain why he's on the road again.
"I only know that I sing, and I'm living my life with my family,
and I've got my band, and I've got shows to do," he said. "The
rest of it is: I did my thing with Paul, we said the sweetest things to
each other, and when the tour was over, it was a success from all
points of view."
If you go ...
Art Garfunkel
8:30 p.m. Saturday
Phil LaPorta
"kapeman" <kap...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1108206198.2...@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
number6
kapeman wrote:
> Patrick S. Pemberton - aka Patrick the Brownnose ...
>
> The Tribune
hannes...@hotmail.com
I commend Art for stating this mature point of view, without
noticeable wraths and revenges and axes-to-grind. I've always been
taking it ill of Paul that he could be at times very mean toward his
former partner. So I'm glad to read that Art seems to be his own man
now (at 62, that is).
Hannes Minkema
number6
YEah ... Paul abandoned singing with his friend when Wednesday Morning
3 AM flopped ... Paul ran off on an acting ego trip rather than finish
a new album ... Paul demanded his "improvements" ...or he'll go home
...
Let's see ... Paul wrote the music ... he wrote the lyrics ... played
the guitar ... and sang ...art harmnonized with wo wo wo ... and got
half ... ungratefully ...
Michael J. Anthony
snum...@aol.com says...
> Let's see ... Paul wrote the music ... he wrote the lyrics ... played
> the guitar ... and sang ...art harmnonized with wo wo wo ... and got
> half ... ungratefully ...
He also wrote the "English muffin" verse in Punky's Dilemma, the
instrumental solo in The Boxer, played the piano on Silent Night,
contributed a significant portion of the percussion on Cecilia, was a
third of the production team, half of their vocal sound, and in Paul's
own words, "Without Artie I don't know if I would have been a singer. I
would have been shy." It's said that Artie made many more contributions
to the songs and the recordings that were never publicised, but is that
what fans want to debate?
--
Michael J. Anthony
www.michaeljanthony.com
Bodo Malo
"Michael J. Anthony" <nondis...@no-spam.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:MPG.1c796cf7...@news-server.bak.rr.com...
And don't forget, during the recording session of 'Patterns' Artie brought
some coffe and a muffin for Paul and Roy too.
number6
Bodo Malo wrote:
>
> And don't forget, during the recording session of 'Patterns' Artie
brought
> some coffe and a muffin for Paul and Roy too.
And actually fell down stairs for a realistic sound effect on Punky's
..
number6
OK ... so art's new entry in the Hitchhikers Guide is being changed
from Harmless .... to Mostly Harmless ...
Michael J. Anthony
snum...@aol.com says...
> OK ... so art's new entry in the Hitchhikers Guide is being changed
> from Harmless .... to Mostly Harmless ...
Artie is Slartibartfast and Paul is the mice of Magrathea.
--
Michael J. Anthony
Usenet Jamboree, a song of laughter and riot control @
www.michaeljanthony.com
Phil LaPorta
it bookends would be just another forgetten 60s album!
"number6" <snum...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1108387564.0...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
number6
Phil LaPorta wrote:
> Admit it people! Artie's a genius. Voices of Old People made S&G.
Paul vetoed that as the title for the reunion tour ...
artie was this close (several million dollars ...) from calling the
whole thing off ...