Art Garfunkel Recalls His Wilderness Years

Art Garfunkel recalled his wilderness years after splitting with Paul Simon and quitting the music business.

And even though the old school friends have reconnected, Garfunkel played down the idea of another reunion.

Instead he looked back on becoming a math teacher, losing his partner to suicide and walking across countries for a number of years – before remembering he was always meant to be a singer.

READ MORE: 50 Years Ago: Simon and Garfunkel Reunite on ‘Saturday Night Live’

“I wanted to drop out and be normal and live life,” he told The Guardian of the period following the split with Simon in 1970. He found work as a teacher in Litchfield, Connecticut. “On the first day of class I told them, ‘I know you all think you’re meeting a celebrity, and I can relate to that, but I want to teach you geometry.'”

He promised his students they could ask any question they wanted of him on the last day of term – but his teaching career didn’t take off. “I wasn’t very good,” he admitted. “I know my stuff but I couldn’t motivate them. I didn’t know how to get people to care.”

Returning to music, Garfunkel made what he called “three nice albums” and continued the acting career which had contributed to his split with Simon. In 1979, while shooting a movie, his partner of four years died by a deliberate overdose.

Describing it as his “worst year,” he reflected: “I don’t know how to describe her other than that she was quiet, into herself, beautiful. I was in love with her. It took me years to get over that.”

His solution was to start long-distance walking. In 1982 he came up with the idea in Japan, and acted on it right away. “I stashed my stuff and started walking. Twelve miles later I looked for a place to stay. It’s crazy, but I was walking something off.”

When Art Garfunkel Was Stopped by Cops as He Walked Across America

He shared two key memories of his walk across the U.S.: one of cows following him as he sang in the Appalachian Mountains, and another of an encounter with cops in Wyoming. “They rolled down the window. You know that tone of voice they have: ‘What are you doing, sir?’

“I found myself saying: ‘Every American has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. So I am in the pursuit of happiness, officer.’ And they said: ‘Uh, we were just checking, sir. You get strange folk out here.'”

In 1988 he decided he’d done enough walking and returned to music once again, after having started at the age of five. “I used to sing along to the radio,” he recalled. “Then one day I walked out of kindergarten – the stairwell had lovely reverb – and started singing to myself. I had goosebumps because my voice was pretty. I was having more fun than I’d ever known and I realised: ‘I’m a singer.'”

His later career has included four reunions with Simon, the most recent of which was in 2010. Asked about the chance of another, Garfunkel said: “I haven’t seen him in the last year.

“You know what I think is more interesting? Walking from western Ireland to Istanbul. But yes, we got together. Who knows what the future will bring? Life is a surprise. I don’t know what happens next month. I don’t know what happens after we die.”