“Ladies and Gentlemen . . . Simon and Garfunkel”

I’m in the process of downloading Simon and Garfunkel’s Columbia Studio Recordings (1964-1970) album. That’s a hell of a lot of music. I used to have this on CD, but my little brother lost it. Hmm.

Anyway, I had a hankering to listen to some old Simon and Garfunkel stuff; “Punky’s Dilemma” popped into my head the other day, leading me to join the Citizens for Boysenberry Jam page on Facebook.  The entire Bookends album had been running through my head constantly; add in the desire to hear “Richard Cory”, “Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine” and “Baby Driver”, and you’ve got one sold WordNerd.

I loved these guys throughout high school and college. I’m still a strong Paul Simon devotee (as one could assume from one of my last posts), but Simon and Garfunkel have slipped off my radar a bit;  losing the album with the complete works kind of throw me off of my Simon and Garfunkel game. As the Amazon MP3 Downloader chugs away, I keep on squeeing internally as another forgotten song pops up as imported into iTunes; it then begins playing in my head. Right now “Cloudy” is occupying my brain. These are the songs that kept me sane as the radio played cheesy love ballads, bad boy band songs and fluffy pop that I had no interest in hearing.

My dad was a big fan back in the day; I first came across Simon and Garfunkel while searching for his Christmas gift. My mom recommended the Concert in Central Park album; I handed it over to my dad, but I think whatever interest he had in them had waned. I took up the CD and began listening to it. I loved it. From Koch’s intro (and launching into “Mrs. Robinson”) to the last strains of “Sound of Silence”, I was hooked. I inherited my dad’s discarded Simon and Garfunkel love.

So, Simon and Garfunkel, I return you to my music collection in whole; no more bits and pieces from various albums floating around, but everything is on the iPhone. Tomorrow’s commute will at least be musically superior, and I think I’ll find myself saying “I missed these guys”.