Art Garfunkel - Interview

  by Nick Dent-Robinson

published: 14 / 6 / 2019

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Art Garfunkel speaks to Nick Dent-Robinson about his latest solo tour, his recent autobiography and his memories of touring the UK in the 1960s as one half of the iconic Simon and Garfunkel.

Following on from Paul Simon's recent announcement that he is to cease touring - with a final concert in Flushing Meadows, New York - Art Garfunkel, the other half of the iconic Simon and Garfunkel duo, is undertaking a Spring tour of the UK. He began the tour at Oxford's New Theatre. Shortly before his appearance there he said, “I have chosen the material very carefully for this tour. I'll be singing and playing guitar and keyboards, and will include many of the better known Simon and Garfunkel numbers, as well as some solo hits and carefully selected covers. I also intend to read some extracts from my new autobiography, 'What Is It All But Luminous: Notes From An Underground Man'. “I don't think of this as a tour. It is just what I do, what I've always done. I go out on the road and do shows, I sing and talk. My booking agent sends me to venues all over the world and I love every moment of it. “England does bring back fond memories of Paul and my earliest days performing together. Way back in the earlier part of the Sixties we hitchhiked around England, just busking to earn ourselves supper and a place to stay. We were in Oxford then, and the students there were generous. We also busked in the market-place of a little town nearby called Wallingford - but nobody there was very interested in us! On that trip we got stuck waiting for a change of train on Crewe station which was where that song lyric from 'Homeward Bound' about "Sitting in a railway station..." came from. Though we finished off the song in Widnes, near Liverpool, where I think we also had a long wait for a train. We were also in Scarborough, Yorkshire and heard about the ancient fair. It was a wonderful summer and maybe we were both at our creative peak, not that we knew that back then! But that time in England gave me a lasting love of the country and I am very happy to be back here performing again. Maybe there will even be some Wallingford folk out in the New Theatre audience this time who have paid to see me. Or maybe there won't be!”

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