The Paul Simon Song About Solitude That (Ironically) Became a Hit Once Art Garfunkel Joined In

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel formed one of the most successful duos in music history. Their harmonies showed how two voices could intertwine and somehow bring more meaning out of lyrics than if they were sung solo.

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That was true even when Simon & Garfunkel were singing songs about being alone. Nowhere was that more evident than when they delivered a stunning version of the song “I Am A Rock”.

“Rock” Music

We have the producer Tom Wilson to thank for the Simon & Garfunkel phenomenon as we know it now. The two artists released a 1964 folk-based album that quickly faded into obscurity. The story, at least for those two men as a duo act, could easily have ended there.

But Wilson found out that some radio stations in America had begun playing the S&G song “The Sound Of Silence” in early 1985. Wilson took the song and added rock instrumentation behind it, mirroring the so-called “folk-rock” that had started to bubble up around that time on American radio.

This version of “The Sound Of Silence” took off and went to No. 1. Simon and Garfunkel, who’d gone their separate ways after their debut album failed, hastily reunited. The record company wanted an album to capitalize on the song’s success, and they wanted it in a hurry.

Luckily, Paul Simon didn’t need to write a whole new album’s worth of material in that short time. He had recorded and released an album titled The Paul Simon Songbook in 1965 while spending time in England. Simon took several of the songs from that record, including “I Am A Rock”, and recorded them again in the folk-rock mode with Garfunkel adding his vocals.

Exploring the Lyrics of “I Am A Rock”

Only in the opening and closing moments of “I Am A Rock” does Paul Simon sing solo. Which is ironic, because the lyrics reflect someone who has chosen a life of solitude. At least he comes on like it was his choice. You can also read the song as someone settling for loneliness if only because all other avenues are closed to him.

The narrator begins by setting the scene: “A winter’s day/In a deep and dark December.” And then, his devastatingly direct admission: “I am alone.” It’s at that moment that Garfunkel joins Simon for the first time. After describing the “silent shroud of snow,” the narrator makes his statement of purpose (or lack thereof): “I am a rock/I am an island.”

He describes how he’s constructed barriers between himself and the world, and we find out why. “I have no need of friendship,” he explains. “Friendship causes pain/It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain.”

He then warns the audience not to contradict him. “Don’t talk of love,” he says. “I won’t disturb the slumber/Of feelings that have died/If I never loved, I never would have cried.” While he thinks he’s making a good case, he’s subtly revealing that he retreated to this cocoon because of how he’s been hurt before.

Burying himself in literature, he insists on a total lack of contact with the world. “I touch no one and no one touches me,” he says. Paul Simon may have first recorded “I Am A Rock” solo when he was licking his career wounds in another country. But when he recorded it with Art Garfunkel, the pair proved that misery sounds better with company.

Photo by David Redfern/Redferns