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Paul Simon Squashes Any Chance Of A Simon And Garfunkel Reunion

By Victoria Miller
Published on: 08:23 PST, Apr 19, 2016

Paul Simon is setting the record straight: There will be no more records or tours with Art Garfunkel. Ever. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Simon said there is absolutely no chance that he will ever get back together with his former musical partner for a Simon and Garfunkel reunion. When asked if there was a possibility of the folk rock duo ever reuniting, Paul didn’t mince words.

“No, out of the question. we don’t even talk.”

Instead of rehashing the past (and let’s face it, there’s a lot to rehash), Paul Simon is focusing on his upcoming solo album, Stranger to Stranger, as well as a tour to support the new record. While he has no plans to ever record or tour with Art Garfunkel again, Paul Simon did note that his solo tour will conclude with a two-night gig in July at Forest Hill Stadium, which is located in the neighborhood where he grew up and where he first met his future singing partner.

“It’s the first big concert venue we ever played,” Paul told Rolling Stone. “It was also where the final Simon and Garfunkel concert took place before the reunions that came many years later.”

After splitting up in 1970, Simon and Garfunkel waited more than a decade before their first reunion and they last reunited in 2010. Unfortunately for fans, that 2010 tour may be the last time the two former friends will grace a stage together.

It’s no wonder they’re not talking. Garfunkel previously made headlines for an interview he did with the U.K. site the Telegraph, in which he called Simon an “idiot” and a “jerk.”

In the interview, Art said he thinks Paul Simon has a Napoleon complex, and he revealed that he only befriended him when they were teens because he felt sorry for him over his short stature.

“And that compensation gesture has created a monster,” Garfunkel said.

Art also slammed Paul Simon for walking away from their successful partnership.

“How can you walk away from this lucky place on top of the world, Paul?” he said. “What’s going on with you, you idiot? How could you let that go, jerk?”

But while his frustration towards Paul Simon was clear, Garfunkel still didn’t rule out another tour with his former collaborator.

“Will I do another tour with Paul? Well, that’s quite do-able,” Art said. “Why not, while we’re still alive?”

Simon and Garfunkel’s 1970 split came at the height of their fame, just a few years after they made movie magic with several big songs featured on The Graduate soundtrack. The duo’s early falling out has never been fully explained, but according to the Hollywood Reporter, the pair had a falling out over a movie role in Mike Nichols’ 1970 movie Catch-22, when both men were reportedly offered roles in the film, but Simon’s part was then cut.

Whatever the reasons for their breakup, Simon and Garfunkel patched things up long enough to reunite multiple times over the past four decades, most famously for a huge free concert on the Great Lawn at Central Park in 1981. The duo’s long-awaited reunion was introduced by New York Mayor Ed Koch.

Thirty-five years later, Art Garfunkel still seems willing to work with Paul Simon, but based on Paul’s latest statement, it sounds like fans will never get the chance to see the duo perform together again.

Take a look at the video below to see Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel performing “The Sound of Silence” together in 2009.

[Photo By Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images]

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