The Bob Dylan-Inspired Simon and Garfunkel Track That “Horrified” Paul Simon

A significant musical and cultural reset was underway in the mid-1960s, ushered in by the likes of Bob Dylan, the Byrds, and duo Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited marked a pivotal transition from Woody Guthrie-era folk music to a more electric, folk-rock sound. The Byrds followed suit. Then, Simon and Garfunkel joined in.

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The only problem was that the latter band’s transition began unbeknownst to Paul Simon. When he finally heard what had become of a now career-defining track from the duo’s debut, he was “horrified.”

How Bob Dylan Informed This Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel Song

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel released their debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., in 1964, one year after Bob Dylan released The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. Both albums centered around the acoustic folk tradition. By 1965, Dylan was redefining “folk” into “folk-rock” with his seminal album, Highway 61 Revisited. Meanwhile, the musical duo from Queens struggled to gain traction. Simon left for London. Garfunkel studied.

Just when the duo likely thought Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. would fade into obscurity forever, a Boston radio DJ played a track off the album, “The Sound of Silence,” on a Wednesday morning at (you guessed it) 3 a.m. This started a chain reaction with radio stations nationwide until Tom Wilson caught wind of the popular folk ballad. Wilson was a prolific producer who helped define the mid-1960s sound, working with Dylan on multiple albums from 1963 to 1965. At first, Wilson couldn’t understand how a song that soft and somber could ever be a hit. Then, he put on the Byrds’ electric versions of “Turn, Turn, Turn” and “Mr. Tambourine Man,” and it hit him. If “The Sound of Silence” were to be a massively successful hit, it’d need to get a little bit louder.

Wilson emulated Dylan in his revamped version of “The Sound of Silence” in terms of both a folk-rock approach and utilizing the same musicians who played on Dylan’s records. Guitarist Al Gorgoni, bassist Bob Bushnell, and drummer Bobby Gregg performed on both “Like a Rolling Stone” and the full-band arrangement of the Simon and Garfunkel track. Ironically, Wilson thought Al Kooper, the organist on Dylan’s track who wasn’t even supposed to be in the studio that day, had a too distinctively “Dylan” sound to play on “The Sound of Silence.”

The Songwriter’s Reaction To The Reboot Was Less Than Enthusiastic

In Marc Eliot’s 2010 biography, Paul Simon: A Life, the songwriter’s then-roommate and colleague, Al Stewart, recalled Simon’s reaction upon hearing Tom Wilson’s revamped version of “The Sound of Silence.” “[Paul] was horrified when he first heard it,” Stewart said. “[When the] rhythm section slowed down at one point so that Paul and Artie’s voices could catch up.” As biographer Eliot put it, “Paul hated the remix but loved the success.”

And indeed, there was plenty of success to be had. “The Sound of Silence” quickly rose to the top of the charts, cementing its place as one of the most decade-defining tracks of the 1960s. Moreover, Simon and Garfunkel could finally enjoy some breathing room as their duo act took off to international acclaim, which undoubtedly helped soothe the “horror” Simon initially felt.

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