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And Finally Artist News
Paul Simon is a short monster, says Art Garfunkel
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 26 May 2015
Art Garfunkel has called Paul Simon a “jerk” with a Napoleon complex, but added that he’d still go out on another reunion tour with his former musical partner if the opportunity arose. The duo originally split in 1971 at the height of their fame, but have occasionally reunited since, though not always on friendly terms.
In an interview with the Telegraph, Garfunkel voiced part of his frustration, saying: “George [Harrison] came up to me at a party once and said, ‘My Paul is to me what your Paul is to you’. He meant that psychologically they had the same effect on us. The Pauls sidelined us. I think George felt suppressed by Paul and I think that’s what he saw with me and my Paul. Here’s the truth: McCartney was a hell of a music man who gave the band its energy, but he also ran away with a lot of the glory”.
Back on his own Paul, he then accused Simon of being “ungenerous” in feeling slight annoyance that many people think Garfunkel wrote the duo’s biggest hit ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, when actually Simon was the sole writer. The confusion seemingly comes from the fact Garfunkel sings the track solo with Simon accompanying him on the piano.
Speaking about the duo’s split, he added that he still felt it was a mistake: “It was very strange. Nothing I would have done. I want to open up about this. I don’t want to say any anti Paul Simon things, but it seems very perverse to not enjoy the glory and walk away from it instead. Crazy. What I would have done is take a rest from Paul, because he was getting on my nerves. The jokes had run dry … But I’ve been in that same place for decades. This is where I was in 1971: ‘How can you walk away from this lucky place on top of the world, Paul? What’s going on with you, you idiot? How could you let that go, jerk?'”
He added that the real problem was that he’d been too nice to Simon at the outset, claiming to have taken pity on him due to his short stature. Asked if he felt Simon had a ‘Napoleon complex’, Garfunkel replied: “I would say so, yes”, adding that his “compensation gesture” when they first met “created a monster”.
Despite all of this, he said that a reunion tour was “quite do-able”, adding: “When we get together, with his guitar, it’s a delight to both of our ears. A little bubble comes over us and it seems effortless. We blend”.
