(by Paolo Biamonte) (ANSA) - ROME, NOV 03 - Art Garfunkel turns 80. His friend / foe Paul Simon made them on October 13th. They are a novel story: they know each other from elementary schools, they have formed a duo that has entered the legend of popular music but their relationship has always been problematic: at school, Art was handsome and blond, president of the Confraternity of the College. Paul a taciturn type, complexed by his short stature. The creative engine was Simon who wrote all the songs, Art was the interpreter.
An imbalance of roles that created a continuous tension between the two, so the Simon & Garfunkel company broke up and put it back together several times: just think that the first separation took place in the early 60s, after the first album.
Only after "The Sound of Silence" had reached the top of the charts (the song had been rearranged without their knowledge by producer Tom Wilson) did they come back together. Then again in 1970, after the release of their most famous album, "Bridge Over Troubled Water": this time it was Paul Simon who decided to close the company, a choice never digested by Garfunkel.
In an interview a few years ago he told of a confessional conversation with George Harrison, explaining that both had had their lives ruined by a Paul, referring to the former Beatles' frustration at the poor consideration that Lennon and McCartney gave to his compositions. Probably also to his frustration, given that his friend / enemy / companion has signed all the masterpieces he sang and that as a soloist he has had an amazing career, at the height of that in duo.
Garfunkel experienced the height of his career probably in 1981, with the concert in Central Park in front of 500,000 people, the climax of the last reunion with his friend / foe.
As a soloist he left no fundamental traces, almost better as an actor, since between 1970 and 1971 he starred in two manifesto films of the counterculture, "Comma 22" and "Carnal Knowledge", both by Mike Nichols.
(HANDLE).
