Simon and Garfunkel- Bookends- Art Garfunkel
On the double-nickel anniversary of Bookends by Simon and Garfunkel, it would be easy (but grossly inaccurate) to dismiss the five hits from it, “A Hazy Shade of Winter”, “At the Zoo”, “Fakin’ It”, “Mrs. Robinson”, and “America” as simply Oldies radio fare, teetering on the apron of anachronism. Yet long before there were DVDs and DirecTV, Simon and Garfunkel reunited in 1981 for a concert in New York City’s Central Park which was filmed. Not only was the massive crowd turnout a testament to Simon and Garfunkel’s enduring popularity and importance, but the video of the performance became an icon on PBS across the country for three decades.
And after watching the first post-9/11 telecast of New York City-based Saturday Night Live, who can ever forget the “cold” opening of steely-eyed native son Paul Simon singing “The Boxer” surrounded by the grim yet defiant phalanx of NYC firefighters, police officers, and paramedics?