SIMON & GARFUNKEL MAKE PEACE – AGAIN!
80-year-olds bury bitter past before going to own graves
FEUDING folk rock legends Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel are mellowing with age and mending fences after despising each other for decades, sources reveal.
Pint-sized Simon, 80, and his 80-yearold former partner Garfunkel are no longer furious at each other despite a petty jealousy and a fierce final bust-up more than ten years ago.
“They’re not going to be hanging out or picking up a microphone anytime soon, but they’ve started communicating and understand there’s no need for any bad blood,” spills an insider.
The brouhaha began shortly after their first tune, Hey Schoolgirl, became a 1957 hit when they performed as Tom & Jerry.
Recording exec Sid Posen urged Simon to record two singles as a solo, which he did on the sly from Art, who felt betrayed.
Five years later, after they released an initially unsuccessful album, the former classmates from Parsons Junior High School in Queens, N.Y., decided to give their partnership a second shot.
Their next two albums — Sounds of Silence and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme — and their soundtrack for The Graduate movie, featuring the hit Mrs. Robinson — rocketed them to superstardom and turned them into millionaires.
But their jealous rivalry continued as Simon got much of the acclaim for their albums and Garfunkel went on to acting.
“Art felt jealous because Paul got all the glory for writing the songs while he just sang,” spills the insider.
Art landed a lead role in Mike Nichols’ 1971 hit Carnal Knowledge, co-starring Hollywood heavyweights Jack Nicholson, Ann-Margret and Candice Bergen.
“It was Paul’s turn to be jealous and they went their separate ways in a huff,” says the insider.
Bitter Simon admitted: “When he agreed to make Carnal Knowledge, something was broken between us. We were finished.”
Two decades later in 1993, they tried reuniting “despite the lingering hostility, but the ceasefire didn’t last long and they went back to hating each other,” blabs the insider.
The final split came in 2010 when they had to cancel a tour because of Art’s vocal problems and “Paul never forgave Art for not telling him how serious it was,” says a source. Simon said: “He let us all down. I didn’t feel I could trust him anymore.” Meanwhile, Garfunkel called him an “idiot” for splitting up the band.
But now, apparently, they’re both older and wiser.