Album: Bridge Over Troubled Water
Year: 1970
. . .
Perhaps the original New York Lonely Boy song — and on the short list of Prettiest Songs Ever Recorded, Folk-Rock Division — this ridiculously lovely piece of pop-craft was Paul Simon’s most direct comment on the tensions that were radiating off of the always-tenuous partnership he’d forged with Art Garfunkel, but of course, it needed both of them to fully make it work.
Early on in the recording of the Bridge Over Troubled Water album, Art Garfunkel took off to Mexico to play Nately in Mike Nichols’ adaptation of Catch-22, leaving Paul Simon to wonder about their friendship and partnership, which of course went all the way back to the late 50s, when they recorded as Tom & Jerry.
Tom, get your plane right on time
I know your part’ll go fine
Fly down to Mexico
Da-n-da-da-n-da-n-da-da and here I am
The only living boy in New York
At first, it’s just Simon’s acoustic guitar and Larry Knechtel’s organ shining over a very light accompaniment by drummer Hal Blaine and some nice runs from bassist Joe Osborn, the sparseness of which accentuates the loneliness and ennui Simon is singing about.
I get the news I need on the weather report
I can gather all the news I need on the weather report
Hey, I’ve got nothing to do today but smile
Da-n-da-da-n-da-da-n-da-da
And here I am
The only living boy in New York
And then, as Hal Blaine executes a skipping, jumping “Day in the Life” type of drum roll, Art Garfunkel joins up to harmonize on the bridge.
Half of the time we’re gone but we don’t know where
And we don’t know where
And after another roll, a heavenly choir starts singing “ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh-ahhhhhhhh-ahhhhhhhh” deep in the background. This, of course, is Simon and Garfunkel, having overdubbed themselves in a echo chamber over and over and over and over and over and over world without end amen “ahhhhhhhhhhhhh-ahhhh-ahhhh-ahhhhhh” finally finishing off with the saddest, most beautiful “heeeerrrrrrrrrreee Iiiiiiiiii aaaaaammmmmmm” ever recorded.
This sets up the final verse, full of anticipation of the loss to come, but now, with the “aahhhhhhhss” continuing in the background, it’s become heartbreak made manifest, the gorgeous sadness now the polar opposite of the gorgeous happiness of “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy),” which now felt a whole lifetime away.
Tom, get your plane right on time
I know that you’ve been eager to fly now
Hey, let your honesty shine, shine, shine now
Da-n-da-da-n-da-da-n-da-da
Like it shines on me
The only living boy in New York
The only living boy in New York
And after that, it’s just those heartbreaking “ahhhhhhs” and the occasional “herrrrrrrrrrre Iiiiii ammmmmmmm” until the fade.
On an album that had “The Boxer,” “Cecilia,” “El Condor Pasa,” and of course, the epic title track, The Only Living Boy in New York” wasn’t even a single, but man, I think it could have been.
Simon & Garfunkel broke up, of course, because what else were they going to do after this? And while they never fully extricated themselves from their partnership — no possible way to do that when you could provoke these kinds of feelings — occasionally getting together for extremely lucrative reunions, they also never fully re-immersed themselves in it, either, recording only the pedestrian “My Little Town” in the five decades since their breakup.
“The Only Living Boy in New York”
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