When one of the most distinctive voices in the history of music is looking for songs, it makes sense songwriters will come out of the woodwork looking to provide material. That was the case when Art Garfunkel made his first solo album after his professional split from Paul Simon.
Videos by American Songwriter
Jimmy Webb came in with impeccable credentials, but nothing he originally played for Garfunkel hit the mark. That’s when he remembered “All I Know,” a song of seduction that didn’t achieve the goal of winning the girl, but did win over Garfunkel.
“Know” How
Art Garfunkel had the pick of the litter when it came to the songs provided to him for Angel Clare, his 1973 solo debut album. Garfunkel, who had taken some time away from music while building his acting career, wanted to make a splash and prove his bona fides as an artist separate from Paul Simon after their split.
Jimmy Webb seemed like a no-brainer choice when it came to a possible writer-for-hire. Time and again throughout the ‘60s, artists had mined his songbook for big hits. It was a wide variety of acts who covered his songs successfully, including the actor Richard Harris, country-pop star Glen Campbell, soul mavens The Fifth Dimension, and doo-wop veterans The Brooklyn Bridge.
Webb came running when he heard Garfunkel was looking for songs, knowing the cream of the crop of writers would be in the mix. But his initial attempts to wow the singer with his stuff fell flat.
Running out of options, he recalled a song he had written in an attempt to woo Rosemarie Frankland, a one-time beauty queen in the early ‘60s. Frankland didn’t think the song was anything special and soon spurned Webb. Perhaps that’s why Webb didn’t pitch it right off the bat.
Garfunkel immediately took to it. In fact, he liked “All I Know” so much he made it the debut single from Angel Clare. It turned out to be a good choice, as the song, given a soaring arrangement by Garfunkel and producer Roy Halee, made it into the Top 10.
Examining the Lyrics of “All I Know”
“All I Know” is a bit more direct and straightforward than some of Webb’s other famous compositions. Like all the best love songs, it comes at the subject from a realistic perspective. This is evident from the opening lines: I bruise you, you bruise me / We both bruise too easily.
That sets the tone, as the narrator comes to this girl from a place of vulnerability and desperation: All my plans have fallen through / All my plans depend on you. What redeems him is the choice he’s made to pledge his life to her: I love you, and that’s all I know.
In the middle eight, he’s able to locate a bit of optimism, even if it’s only having endured the opposite end of the spectrum: They say the darkest night / There’s a light beyond. When the final verse arrives, he’s forced to contemplate the prospect of her departure, which, based on Webb’s real-life circumstance, was prophetic: But the ending always comes at last / Endings always come too fast.
Webb may have provided the raw material, but Garfunkel’s majestic reading of the song was paramount to its success. How ironic that “All I Know,” one of the most moving love songs of its era, originated from a failed attempt at courtship.
Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.