bookends

Simon and Garfunkel reflected on lost innocence and the American Dream with the slick studio sophistication of this captivating concept album.  'Bookends' was produced and engineered by Roy Halee with Paul Simon on vocals, guitar, and production; Art Garfunkel on vocals and production; Hal Blaine on drums and percussion; Joe Osborn on bass; Larry Knechtel on piano and keyboards; and Jimmie Haskell on arrangements.  

Garfunkel recalls:    "The concept of 'Bookends', and I remember when Paul started writing it he was very excited, that it was going to have this thematic .element. The concept was to take side one and let there be a bunch of songs that progressed from youthfulness to old age, in their lyric, in their feeling, in the tempo, in the spirit of the song. Everything about the opening cut should represent adolescence and everything about the final cut should be slow and winter like."

Simon says:    "That album had the most use of the studio, I'd say, of all the Simon and Garfunkel records...In 'Bookends' we started taking much more time with the singing. I remember, in 'Bookends', we were into punching in...Well, we might have repaired a line or something like that, but the concept in Parsley, Sage wasn't to get each line perfect, and it was in 'Bookends'...To a degree, that would happen to Simon and Garfunkel. They'd get too perfect, which could be disturbing. A part of Roy and Artie's thing more than mine. Because I always liked more sloppiness than they did. They got to the point where it had to be just right. Sometimes it worked. Like, "Mrs. Robinson" was punched in a lot, and it worked really good. 'Bookends' was recorded sort of half and half. Bookends is really the one side...With the exception of 'Mrs. Robinson', which was recorded at the same time as the songs on the 'Bookends' side. Those other songs were for me, the dry patch of Simon and Garfunkel, which was from 'The Dangling Conversation'. I think the next was 'Hazy Shade of Winter', 'At the Zoo' and 'Fakin' It'--those four.... They didn't mean a lot. They weren't well recorded. They just didn't have it. Then, The Graduate happened as we were working on 'Bookends'." 

'Bookends' went to number forty in Germany, three in Australia and France, and number one in the UK and the US.  








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'Bookends' 
full album:



1. "Bookends Theme"   0:32
2. "Save the Life of My Child"   2:49
3. "America"   3:34
4. "Overs"   2:14
5. "Voices of Old People" 2:36
6. "Old Friends"   2:36
7. "Bookends"   1:16
8. "Fakin' It"   3:14
9. "Punky's Dilemma"   2:10
10. "Mrs. Robinson"   4:02
11. "A Hazy Shade of Winter"   2:17
13. "At the Zoo"   2:21