Art Garfunkel Details Rift With Paul Simon: 'I Cried When He Told Me'

Art Garfunkel shed some light on the status of his rift with Paul Simon during a recent interview with The Sunday Times.

The British newspaper published its interview with the singer-songwriter on Sunday, Nov. 10. In the piece, the Simon & Garfunkel alum revealed that he and Simon, both 83, recently reconnected over a rare meal together.

“I actually had lunch with Paul a couple of weeks back,” the eight-time Grammy Award winner said, adding that it was the first time they’d spent time together “in many years.”

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The relationship between Simon and Garfunkel, who first met in the 1950s and went on to become one of the most popular folk duos of the 1960s, has often been rocky, with the two first parting ways in 1970. Though they reunited multiple times in the decades that followed for benefit concerts and occasional touring opportunities, both Simon and Garfunkel primarily focused on their solo careers in the wake of their initial success with songs like “Mrs. Robinson,” “America” and “The Sound of Silence.”

During their recent lunch, Garfunkel said he’d questioned his former songwriting partner about what had gone wrong in their relationship of late. Simon then brought up “an old interview where I said some stuff,” Garfunkel recalled before admitting, “I cried when he told me how much I had hurt him.”

“Looking back, I guess I wanted to shake up the nice guy image of Simon & Garfunkel,” he reflected, calling himself “a fool” for the attempt.

Moving forward, Garfunkel said he and Simon have made plans to meet up again, though he made no promises about whether the two would attempt to play music together. Forging that reconnection at this stage in their lives is for Garfunkel “about wanting to make amends before it’s too late.”

“It felt like we were back in a wonderful place,” he told the newspaper. “As I think about it now, tears are rolling down my cheeks. I can still feel his hug.”

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