Remember When Paul Simon Wrote This Folk Classic About Art Garfunkel
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When Simon & Garfunkel began work on Bridge Over Troubled Water, they were barely hanging on as a duo. Though they were following up the chart-topping album, Bookends, propelled by the success of “Mrs. Robinson”, both Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were moving in opposite directions.

And this pulling apart inspired Simon to pen one of his greatest songs, “The Only Living Boy In New York”.

Art the Film Star

In the late 1950s, Simon & Garfunkel performed as Tom & Jerry. (Garfunkel took the name Tom Graph, and Simon was known as Jerry Landis.)

Simon begins the song by addressing “Tom,” and the Mexico-bound flight his bandmate took to star in the 1970 film adaptation of Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22.

While Garfunkel was away filming the movie, Simon felt isolated in New York as he wrote songs for what became Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Tom, get your plane right on time,
I know your part’ll go fine.
Fly down to Mexico,
Doh-n-doh-de-doh-n-doh.
And here I am,
The only living boy in New York.

Here, Simon focuses on the weather and stays happily oblivious to world events. He won’t allow the gloomy news to get him down. He already feels alone. And though he misses his bandmate, the tension between them would ultimately be too much to overcome.

I get the news I need on the weather report,
Oh, I can gather all the news I need on the weather report.
Hey, I’ve got nothing to do today but smile,
De-doh-n-doh-de-doh.
And here I am,
The only living boy in New York.

Troubled Water

Bridge Over Troubled Water arrived in 1970 and marked the end of Simon & Garfunkel. An album filled with gems, it endures as a folk touchstone. An idyllic farewell to both the 1960s and the iconic duo.

But the singular narrator in “The Only Living Boy In New York” had already foreshadowed the split. When Garfunkel finally returned, the reunion was only temporary.

Half of the time we’re gone,
But we don’t know where,
And we don’t know where.

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.

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images