Art Garfunkel Reveals Emotional Reunion With Paul Simon

Art Garfunkel admits to tearing up during a brief reunion with former bandmate Paul Simon more than a decade after their last Simon and Garfunkel show. Still, it’s a memory Garfunkel says he’ll always “cherish.”

“I met with Paul Simon for the first time in years just recently. We had a lunch,” Garfunkel tells The Sun. “It was very, very warm and wonderful. There were tears. I was crying at a certain point because I felt I had hurt him – but there were hugs.”

The most recent Simon and Garfunkel album dates to 1970’s Bridge Over Troubled Water. They notably reunited on stage over the years, producing 1982’s The Concert in Central Park, but haven’t shared a stage since appearing in 2010 at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

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Simon has since retired from touring. Garfunkel later battled vocal cord paresis but has recovered to produce a pending album with his son. Garfunkel and Garfunkel’s Father and Son is due on Nov. 8.

Father and Son includes an update of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Old Friends” but the elder Garfunkel said he and Simon avoided talk of their ’60s-era successes. “No, we didn’t,” he admits. “That speaks for itself.” Still, it seemed clear that a long-hoped-for reconciliation had taken place.

“I like to think I’m a man who has a lot of love. There are no relationships of mine that don’t have love at the bottom,” Garfunkel said. “I love everyone. I can’t imagine holding a position of dislike and clinging to it. It’s all meant to be resolved so we can die easy.”

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Art Garfunkel Discusses Everlys’ Towering Influence

Garfunkel and Garfunkel’s Father and Son also includes covers of the Beatles (“Blackbird”), Cyndi Lauper (“Time After Time”), Cat Stevens (the title track), the Everly Brothers (“Let It Be Me”), Eurythmics (“Here Comes the Rain Again”) and American Songbook favorites like “Blue Moon.”

The Everlys track has added resonance since the duo was a foundational influence on Simon and Garfunkel. They also covered “Bye Bye Love” on Bridge Over Troubled Water. “Anybody with ears knows that Don and Phil are not surpassed for harmony,” Garfunkel argues. “Nobody is as good – not even Simon and Garfunkel. The blend of those two voices is supreme.”

Garfunkel’s son, Art Jr., interrupts: “I disagree,” he said. “I think Simon and Garfunkel are equally as good or better.” Art Sr. then laughs, exclaiming: “I’ll take a pass at this point!”

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