You've probably seen a car commercial with a background song which happens to be Simon and Garfunkel. The snippet of the song sounds speeded up slightly on the commercial. For some reason this irritated me.
It's similar to changing words in a Mark Twain novel.
Paul Simon wrote this as a thinly-veiled message to Art Garfunkel, referring to a specific incident where Garfunkel went to Mexico to act in the film Catch-22. Simon was left alone in New York writing songs for the album 'Bridge over Troubled Water', hence the lonely feelings of 'The Only Living Boy In New York' Simon refers to Garfunkel in the song as Tom, referring to their early days when they were called Tom and Jerry, and encourages him to "let your honesty shine...like it shines on me."
The background vocals (the part in the commercial) feature both Garfunkel and Simon recorded together in an echo chamber, multi-tracked eight times."
Simon and Garfunkel 'The Only Living Boy in New York' 1970.
Simon will be remembered as a decent tunesmith. Garfunkel's legacy - a few minor parts in movies and the guy that sang Simon's songs.
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