3 Fracture Points That Led to Simon & Garfunkel’s Inevitable Breakup in 1970

After becoming one of the biggest musical duos as the 1970s rolled in, Simon & Garfunkel split up in 1970, following a string of best-selling songs and albums. During the recording of Bridge Over Troubled Water, the pair were over it and announced their split soon after. The drama associated with their breakup has been written about to death, but I think there’s something to learn about what led to Simon & Garfunkel’s demise. Let’s look at a few factors that contributed to it.

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The Pressures of Fame

Becoming a massive success, especially after years of not making it big, can ironically lead to the downfall of a good musical duo. Between Bookends and The Graduate soundtrack, Simon & Garfunkel became the biggest rock duo alive as the 1970s kicked off. There was a lot of friction and big egos at play, which led Paul Simon to think that he “didn’t need Artie,” per his memoir.

“I think if Artie had become a big movie star he would have left. Instead of just being the guy who sang Paul Simon songs, he could be Art Garfunkel, a big star all by himself,” he wrote, per The Guardian. “This made me think about how I could still be the guy who wrote songs and sing them. I didn’t need Artie.”

It Was the Paul Simon Show

Creative imbalance is what causes many bands to fall apart, and it’s somewhat inevitable. In many outfits and duos throughout classic rock history, there’s usually one or two members that take on the bulk of the songwriting, from The Beatles to Nirvana. In Simon & Garfunkel, Paul Simon had almost all of the creative control as the primary songwriter. Which was apt, considering his songwriting talent. But putting the bulk of the creative power into Simon’s hands caused a bit of an unequal partnership. Anyone would feel sidelined by this, and Art Garfunkel likely felt the same way.

“We had an uneven partnership because I was writing all of the songs and basically running the sessions,” said Simon, reflecting on his career in Simon & Garfunkel.

Art Garfunkel Was Headed for Hollywood

In 1970, Art Garfunkel made his acting debut in the film Catch-22, portraying a pilot named Lt. Edward J. Natley III. Filming began the previous year, and surprisingly, both Paul Simon and Garfunkel were originally cast in the film. However, Simon’s character was dropped, and he was written out of the script. This whole debacle inspired the song “The Only Boy Living In New York”, which Simon wrote while alone in New York while Garfunkel was in Mexico filming the movie. The drama also had a hand in Simon & Garfunkel’s breakup in 1970.

“That was the beginning of their split-up,” director Charles Grodin said at a screening of his film Simon And Garfunkel: Songs Of America in 2013. “You don’t take Simon & Garfunkel and ask them to be in a movie and then drop one of their roles on them. You just don’t do that.”

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