Simon and Garfunkel minus the Garfunkel

Ahhh Paul Simon. Many of you might not know who this is. Part of that is because you may know him better as the Simon in "Simon and Garfunkel." Simon and Garfunkel in and of themselves were a great band that had a great influence when they were together. I could write an article about them, but to do so would probably waste your time. Plenty of people already know who they are, that's certainly not the pressing issue at hand here. The real issue is people don't know who Paul Simon is. A real travesty. The Simon is always inexorably tied to this famous duo, as if he was forever plagues by Garfunkel's looming afro. However Paul Simon's solo career has a lot of great music, that you should definitely give a try.



Now the music of Simon and Garfunkel definitely had a lot of levity to it. You know songs about adultery, boxing, the pleasures of being a rock ( and a song I'm ALMOST certain is about masturbation), all that fun stuff. Though you get a hint of that more serious song writing with songs like "Sounds of Silence", you do get the general air happy-go-lucky songwriting in a lot of them. I would argue when Paul Simon came into his own, his songwriting adapted a much more serious tone especially in his first album. No more ditties about the wonders of adultery, nay nay good sir, only those sweet sweet songs that reek of sadness and quiet desperation. Although that's not to essentialize the entirety of Paul Simon's solo career. Its not to say that the whole of his solo career lacked any sunshine and happiness. Songs like "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" and "Kodachrome" still had that lighter tone to them. However I would consider these different form his regular solo songwriting.

Personally I like this shift in songwriting Paul Simon exercises. For you cerebral types who actually listen to the lyrics (preposterous!), his subject material gets a lot more serious as well. Paul Simon starts write songs about the self-destructive path of drug abuse, the journey of a boy to a man, the sadness of overwhelmingly large cities, the quiet desperation of lost love, and so many more great songs. If nothing else, completely disregard cvery word I've said and just listen to some of his songs.
(Oh one more thing. Is it just me or is Garfunkel a weird name? I mean seriously, say that shit out loud. It just sounds out loud, why doesn't anyone mention this!?)