Back in our youth, there were so many songs we recognized by ear, but had no idea who actually performed them. Or maybe we just didn’t care — I certainly didn’t. And back then, I didn’t really understand English anyway. A few of those songs for me were now-legendary tracks by the duo Simon & Garfunkel. I still listen to them with great pleasure.
But I only learned the details about their very first song quite recently — thanks to the YouTube channel “Longplay.”
Their very first recorded song was “The Sound of Silence,” recorded on March 10, 1964. It was part of their debut album, “Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.” Interestingly, the original version was performed with just one acoustic guitar as accompaniment. In that stripped-down form, the song went mostly unnoticed. In fact, the entire album made so little impact that Simon and Garfunkel decided not to continue — their duo nearly fell apart right then and there. Here’s that version:
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