It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Thymus (genus). (Discuss) Proposed since February 2012.

A bundle of thyme

Thyme (Thymus mongolicus,  /ˈtaɪm/) is a culinary and medicinal herb of the genus Thymus.

History[link]

Ancient Egyptians used thyme for embalming. The ancient Greeks used it in their baths and burnt it as incense in their temples, believing it was a source of courage. The spread of thyme throughout Europe was thought to be due to the Romans, as they used it to purify their rooms and to "give an aromatic flavour to cheese and liqueurs".^[1] In the European Middle Ages, the herb was placed beneath pillows to aid sleep and ward off nightmares.^[2] In this period, women would also often give knights and warriors gifts that included thyme leaves, as it was believed to bring courage to the bearer. Thyme was also used as incense and placed on coffins during funerals, as it was supposed to assure passage into the next life.^[3]

Cultivation[link]

Thyme is best cultivated in a hot, sunny location with well-drained soil. It is generally planted in the spring, and thereafter grows as a perennial. It can be propagated by seed, cuttings, or by dividing rooted sections of the plant. It tolerates drought well.^[4] The plants can take deep freezes and are found growing wild on mountain highlands. According to observations in 2003, clumps of wild Mediterranean flora including Thyme and Satureja Montana were growing in abundance at 1200m above Tenda/Tende in the Val Roja/Roya in the Maritime Alps, where the climatic conditions and aspect favour a range of other plants including giant heathers. Along the Riviera it is found from sea level and up to 800m ( also seen personally at Alassio SV) particularly near Madonna della Guardia.

Culinary use[link]

In some Levantine countries, and Assyrian, the condiment za'atar (Arabic for thyme) contains thyme as a vital ingredient. It is a common component of the bouquet garni, and of herbes de Provence.

Thyme is sold both fresh and dried. The fresh form is more flavourful, but also less convenient; storage life is rarely more than a week. While summer-seasonal, fresh greenhouse thyme is often available year round.

Fresh thyme is commonly sold in bunches of sprigs. A sprig is a single stem snipped from the plant. It is composed of a woody stem with paired leaf or flower clusters ("leaves") spaced ½ to 1" apart. A recipe may measure thyme by the bunch (or fraction thereof), or by the sprig, or by the tablespoon or teaspoon. Dried thyme is widely used in Armenia (called Urc) in teas.

Depending on how it is used in a dish, the whole sprig may be used (e.g. in a bouquet garni), or the leaves removed and the stems discarded. Usually when a recipe specifies 'bunch' or 'sprig', it means the whole form; when it specifies spoons it means the leaves. It is perfectly acceptable to substitute dried for whole thyme.

Leaves may be removed from stems either by scraping with the back of a knife, or by pulling through the fingers or tines of a fork.

Thyme retains its flavour on drying better than many other herbs. Substitution is often more complicated than that because recipes can specify sprigs, and sprigs can vary in yield of leaves.

Medicinal use[link]

Oil of thyme, the essential oil of common thyme (Thymus vulgaris), contains 20-54% thymol.^[5] Thyme essential oil also contains a range of additional compounds, such as p-Cymene, myrcene, borneol and linalool.^[6] Thymol, an antiseptic, is the main active ingredient in various mouthwashes such as Listerine.^[7] Before the advent of modern antibiotics, oil of thyme was used to medicate bandages.^[1] Thymol has also been shown to be effective against various fungi that commonly infect toenails.^[8] Thymol can also be found as the active ingredient in some all-natural, alcohol-free hand sanitizers.

A tea made by infusing the herb in water can be used for coughs and bronchitis.^[5] Medicinally, thyme is used for respiratory infections in the form of a tincture, tisane, salve, syrup, or by steam inhalation.^{[citation needed]}

In traditional Jamaican childbirth practice, thyme tea is given to the mother after delivery of the baby.^{[citation needed]} Its oxytocin-like effect causes uterine contractions and more rapid delivery of the placenta, but this was said by Sheila Kitzinger^{[citation needed]} to cause an increased prevalence of retained placenta.

Important species and cultivars[link]

Variegated lemon thyme

• Thymus × citriodorus (synonym T. fragrantissimus,^[9] T. serpyllum citratus and T. serpyllum citriodorum)^[10] (citrus thyme). Cultivars are selected for aromas of different citrus fruits:
  • Lemon thyme (Thymus × citriodorus)^[11] — lemon
  • Orange thyme (Thymus × citriodorus 'Orange')^[12] — orange, unusually low growing
  • Silver thyme (Thymus × citriodorus 'Argenteus' or variegata)^[13][14] — lemon, variegated with white or yellow
• Thymus herba-barona (caraway thyme) is used both as a culinary herb and a ground cover, and has a very strong caraway scent due to the chemical carvone.
• Thymus pseudolanuginosus (woolly thyme) is not a culinary herb, but is grown as a ground cover.
• Thymus serpyllum (wild thyme, creeping thyme) is an important nectar source plant for honeybees. All thyme species are nectar sources, but wild thyme covers large areas of droughty, rocky soils in southern Europe (Greece is especially famous for wild thyme honey) and North Africa, as well as in similar landscapes in the Berkshire and Catskill Mountains of the northeastern US. The lowest-growing of the widely used thyme, it is good for walkways.
• Thymus vulgaris (common thyme, English thyme, summer thyme, winter thyme, French thyme,^[15] or garden thyme)^[16] is a commonly used culinary herb. It also has medicinal uses. Common thyme is a Mediterranean perennial which is best suited to well-drained soils and full sun.

Notes[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Thyme (Thymus)

Bibliography[link]

• S. S. Tawfik, M. I. Abbady, Ahmed M. Zahran and A. M. K. ‎Abouelalla. Therapeutic Efficacy Attained with Thyme ‎Essential Oil Supplementation Throughout γ-irradiated ‎Rats. Egypt. J. Rad. Sci. Applic., 19(1): 1-22 (2006).‎‏ ‏‎ ‎
• Flora of China: Thymus
• Flora Europaea: Thymus
• Rohde, E. S. (1920). A Garden of Herbs.
• Easter, M. (2009). International Thymus Register and Checklist.

Simon & Garfunkel
Paul Simon (right) and Art Garfunkel performing live in Dublin.
Background information
Also known as	Tom and Jerry
Origin	Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, New York, USA
Genres	Folk rock, world music, soft rock, folk music
Years active	1957–1970, 1981–1983, 2003–2004, 2009
Labels	Columbia
Website	www.simonandgarfunkel.com
Past members
Paul Simon Art Garfunkel

Simon & Garfunkel were an American music duo consisting of singer-songwriters Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. They formed the group Tom & Jerry in 1957 and had their first success with the minor hit "Hey, Schoolgirl". As Simon & Garfunkel, the duo rose to fame in 1965, largely on the strength of the hit single "The Sound of Silence". Their music was featured in the landmark film The Graduate (1967), propelling them further into the public consciousness.

They are well known for their vocal close harmonies and were among the most popular recording artists of the 1960s. Their biggest hits – including "The Sound of Silence" (1964), "I Am a Rock" (1965), "Homeward Bound" (1965), "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" (1966), "A Hazy Shade of Winter" (1966), "Mrs. Robinson" (1968), "Bridge over Troubled Water" (1969), "The Boxer" (1969), and "Cecilia" (1969) – peaked at number one in several charts. They have received several Grammys and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2007.^[1]

Their sometimes rocky relationship led to their last album, Bridge Over Troubled Water, being delayed several times due to artistic disagreements and as a result the duo broke up in 1970. It was their most successful album worldwide to date, peaking at number one in several countries, including the United States, and receiving 8× Platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America, making it their highest-selling studio album in the U.S. and second-highest album overall. Simon & Garfunkel have, at times, reunited to perform and sometimes tour together. They have done so in every decade since the 1970 breakup, most famously for 1981's "The Concert in Central Park", which attracted more than 500,000 people, making it the 7th-most attended concert in the history of music. In 2004, they were ranked #40 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.

History[link]

Early history[link]

Close friends through childhood, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel grew up in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York, just blocks away from each other. They met in elementary school in 1953, when they both appeared in the school play Alice in Wonderland (Simon as the White Rabbit, Garfunkel as the Cheshire Cat). They were classmates at Parsons Junior High School and Forest Hills High School, and began performing together in their junior year as Tom and Jerry, with Simon as Jerry Landis (whose last name he borrowed from a girl he had been dating) and Garfunkel as Tom Graph (so called because he was fond of tracking ("graphing") hits on the pop charts).^[2] They began writing their own songs in 1955, and made their first professional recording, "Hey, Schoolgirl", for Sid Prosen of Big Records in 1957. Released on 45 rpm and 78 rpm records, with the flip-side song "Dancin' Wild", the recording sold 100,000 copies,^[3] hitting #49 on the Billboard charts. Both Simon and Garfunkel have acknowledged the tremendous impact of the Everly Brothers on their style, and many of their early songs (including "Hey, Schoolgirl") bear the mark of this influence.

They later performed their hit on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, right after Jerry Lee Lewis performed "Great Balls of Fire".

Subsequent efforts in 1958 did not reach near their initial success, and after high school the duo went to separate colleges, with Simon enrolling at Queens College and Garfunkel at Columbia University. While enrolled in college, they both joined their campus chapters of the Jewish fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi.

In 1963, they found prominence as part of the Greenwich Village folk music scene. Simon, who had finished college but dropped out of Brooklyn Law School, had – like Garfunkel – developed an interest in the folk scene. Simon showed Garfunkel a few songs that he had written in the folk style: "Sparrow", "Bleecker Street", and "He Was My Brother", which was later dedicated to Andrew Goodman, a friend of both Simon and Garfunkel and a classmate of Simon's at Queens College, who was one of three civil rights workers murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, on June 21, 1964.

These three efforts were among five original songs by Simon included on their first album for Columbia Records, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., which initially flopped upon its release on October 19, 1964.

First breakup[link]

Shortly after finishing recording, the duo split and Simon moved to the United Kingdom, where he performed at Les Cousins and the Troubadour in London and toured provincial folk clubs. While in England, he recorded his solo The Paul Simon Songbook in 1965. Recorded on three different dates in June and July at Levy's Studio, London, the album was released as an LP. By agreement, the album was supposed to go out of print after ten years. However, Billboard reported in early 1978 that Simon filed legal papers to get CBS to delete the album, noting that they were violating their agreement by keeping it in print and stating that it was "not representative of the performer's style."^[4] Many years later in March 2004, Simon responded to fan requests by re-releasing the album on CD with bonus tracks.^[5] During this period in London he also collaborated on a number of songs with Bruce Woodley of the Seekers, including "I Wish You Could Be Here", "Cloudy", and "Red Rubber Ball", which would be a U.S. #1 hit for the Cyrkle in 1966.

While Simon was in England that summer of 1965, radio stations around Cocoa Beach and Gainesville, Florida, began to receive requests for a song from the album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. called "The Sound of Silence". The song also began to receive radio airplay in Boston. Seizing the chance, the duo's U.S. producer, Tom Wilson, inspired by the Byrds' hugely popular electric versions of Bob Dylan songs, used Dylan's studio band (who had collaborated with him on his landmark hit "Like a Rolling Stone" that year) to dub electric guitars, bass and drums onto the original "Sound of Silence" track, and released it as a single, backed with "We've Got a Groovy Thing Goin'".^[6] The dubbing turned folk into folk rock, the debut of a new genre for the Top 40, much to Simon's surprise. A few months earlier Simon and Garfunkel had briefly reunited and experimented with a more contemporary sound and recorded a couple of songs including "Groovy Thing".

In September 1965, Simon first learned that it had entered the pop charts while he was about to go on stage in a Danish folk club. The song hit #1 on the pop charts by New Year's Day, 1966.

Reformation and success[link]

A red vinyl promotional copy of Simon & Garfunkel's single "I Am a Rock", from 1966.

Simon immediately returned to the United States and the duo re-formed to record more tracks in a similar style, though neither approved of what Wilson had done with "The Sound of Silence".^{[citation needed]} The result was a sequence of folk rock records which have endured as well as any in the genre. On January 17, 1966, the duo released the album Sounds of Silence, which – helped by the title track's success – hit #21, while Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. was re-released and reached #30. Among the tracks on The Paul Simon Songbook that were rerecorded (some with electric backing) for Sound of Silence were "I Am a Rock" (which as a single reached U.S. #3 in the summer of 1966), "Leaves That Are Green", "April Come She Will", "A Most Peculiar Man", and "Kathy's Song".

Further hit singles came, including "Scarborough Fair/Canticle", based on a traditional English ballad with an arrangement by Martin Carthy, and "Homeward Bound" (later U.S. #5), about life on the road while Simon was touring in England in 1965. Paul Simon was inspired to write "Homeward Bound" while waiting at Ditton railway station on the outskirts of Widnes in North West England. A plaque commemorating this claim to fame was displayed at Ditton railway station until it was closed in 1994 when the plaque was moved to the ticket office on the Liverpool bound platform of the nearby Widnes railway station. Simon is quoted as saying "if you'd ever seen Widnes, then you'd know why I was keen to get back to London as quickly as possible."

More tracks from The Paul Simon Songbook were included along with recent compositions on their October 10, 1966, album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, which refined the folk rock sound hastily released on Sound of Silence. "Cloudy", co-written earlier with Bruce Woodley, was included on Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. However, a Woodley credit was incorrectly omitted. The following year, Woodley's band The Seekers recorded it for their studio album Seen in Green, on which Simon received a credit.

In early 1967, Pickwick Records, which had a reputation as a low-quality label, decided that it would capitalize on the duo's newfound fame by releasing an album titled The Hit Sounds of Simon and Garfunkel. This album consisted of ten tracks recorded from the late 1950s and early 1960s while the duo still called themselves Tom & Jerry, including their hit "Hey, Schoolgirl", and its B-side, "Dancin' Wild". Simon and Garfunkel then sued Pickwick because the company was presenting the music as recently recorded material, not as songs written and released over five years earlier. Soon afterwards, Pickwick withdrew The Hit Sounds of Simon and Garfunkel from the market.

On June 16, 1967, the duo performed at the Monterey Pop Festival. That same year, Simon and Garfunkel contributed heavily to the soundtrack to Mike Nichols' film The Graduate, which was released on January 21, 1968, and instantly rose to #1 as an album. According to a Variety article by Peter Bart in the May 15, 2005, issue, Nichols had become obsessed with Simon and Garfunkel's music while shooting the film. Larry Turman, his producer, made a deal for Simon to write three new songs for the film. By the time they were nearly finished editing the film, Simon had written only one new song. Nichols begged him for more but Simon, who was touring constantly, told him he didn't have the time. He did play him a few notes of a new song he had been working on; "It's not for the movie... it's a song about times past—about Mrs. Roosevelt and Joe DiMaggio and stuff." Nichols advised Simon, "It's now about Mrs. Robinson, not Mrs. Roosevelt."^[7]

As their albums became progressively more adventurous, The Graduate soundtrack album was immediately followed in March 1968 at the top of the charts by Bookends, which dealt with increasingly complex themes of old age and loss. It features the top 25 hit singles "A Hazy Shade of Winter", "Fakin' It", "At the Zoo", "America" and a full version of "Mrs. Robinson" – the classic #1 single from The Graduate soundtrack. Simon and Garfunkel returned to England in the fall of 1968 and did a concert appearance at Kraft Hall which was broadcast on the BBC, and also featured Paul's brother Ed sitting in on a performance of the instrumental "Anji".^[8]

At the March 1969 Grammy Awards, "Mrs. Robinson" was named Record of the Year, while Simon was also honored with the Grammy for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special.^[9]

Second breakup[link]

By 1969, the duo's success began to take its toll. Garfunkel had begun to pursue a career in acting and was featured in the role of Nately in Nichols's film adaptation of the novel Catch-22. Garfunkel's filming leave conflicted with and subsequently delayed the recording of the duo's next album. The part in the film which had initially been promised to Simon was completely cut from the script.

The duo's deteriorating personal relationship continued into their late 1969 tour, which featured performances at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, on November 11 and Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, on November 8, recordings of which are supposedly widely bootlegged^{[citation needed]}. Video footage of the tour was shown on their controversial November 30 television special Songs of America, which TV sponsors refused to endorse because of its distinct anti-Vietnam War message.

The recording of what would be their final album, Bridge Over Troubled Water, was not without tension. The LP was originally supposed to feature twelve tracks, but the duo could not agree on the twelfth track: Simon refused to record a Bach chorale track favored by Garfunkel, while Garfunkel refused to record a song Simon had written called "Cuba Si, Nixon No". No middle ground was reached, so the album was released with only eleven songs.

Bridge Over Troubled Water was at last released on January 26, 1970. Its title track, featuring Garfunkel's soaring vocals, was a massive hit and one of the best-selling records of the decade, staying #1 on the charts for six weeks and remaining on the charts for far longer. The album includes three other top-twenty hits: "El Cóndor Pasa" (US #18), "Cecilia" (US #4), and "The Boxer" – which, finished in 1968, hit #7 on the charts the following year –as well as a live recording of the Everly Brothers' "Bye Bye, Love" from a 1969 tour concert in Ames, Iowa.

At the subsequent March 1971 Grammy Awards, the album and single were named Album of the Year and Record Of The Year, and also won the awards for Best Engineered Record, Best Contemporary Song, Song Of The Year, and Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists. Their 1972 Greatest Hits album has sold over 14 million copies in the U.S. becoming the number-one selling album by a duo. The duo finally split in 1970 and both went their separate ways.

Simon continued writing and went on to a very successful solo music career, recording several classic albums, including There Goes Rhymin' Simon, Still Crazy After All These Years, and his most highly celebrated solo album, Graceland, collaborating with the Zulu choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo, among others.

Garfunkel split his time between acting and recording solo and collaboration albums, to mixed reviews. His most critically acclaimed album was the 1977 effort Watermark, almost all of the songs for which were penned by acclaimed songwriter Jimmy Webb.

Reunions[link]

Simon and Garfunkel together in 2009

Simon and Garfunkel's first reunion after their second breakup was at a June 1972 benefit concert at Madison Square Garden for presidential candidate George McGovern. On October 18, 1975, the duo made an appearance on the second episode of NBC's new show Saturday Night Live. They performed "The Boxer", "Scarborough Fair", and "My Little Town". The last song was the only new Simon and Garfunkel recording in five years, appearing on both men's solo albums released in 1975 (Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years and Garfunkel's Breakaway) and reaching #9 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Simon, along with James Taylor, provided harmony vocals on Garfunkel's cover of Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World", on Garfunkel's 1977 album Watermark; the single release of that song reached #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and #17 on the Hot 100. Simon also contributed backing vocals to "In Cars", a song on Garfunkel's 1981 solo album Scissors Cut.

Simon and Garfunkel reunited again for a free concert in New York City's Central Park on September 19, 1981. The concert was attended by over 500,000 people, and a recording of it was subsequently released as a live album, with their cover of "Wake Up Little Susie" released as a single. A video recording was likewise televised by HBO and issued on home video. The success of the Central Park concert prompted the duo to go on a world tour in 1982–83, including a performance at Shea Stadium in August, 1983.

Simon and Garfunkel went on to complete the recording of their first new studio album in more than a decade, provisionally titled Think Too Much and featuring some songs previewed on their recent concert jaunt. However, creative differences, coupled with the record company's negative reaction to the decidedly un-Simon-and-Garfunkel-like album, led Simon to remove Garfunkel's vocal tracks and rework the songs himself. The 1983 Simon solo album Hearts and Bones was the result, and a long period of estrangement for the duo followed.

Their next joint public appearance was in 1990, when the two performed at a ceremony for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Simon and Garfunkel appeared together in 1993 for 21 sold out concerts in New York, with half of the show being Paul Simon solo with a band and the other half Simon and Garfunkel. Later the same year, they did some charity concerts, including the Bridge School Benefit concerts and a benefit for United Way Children's Charities at SkyDome in Toronto.

In July 2002, Columbia Legacy issued a previously unreleased live recording of a Simon and Garfunkel concert, Live from New York City, 1967. It features an almost-complete recording of a performance given by the duo at Philharmonic Hall, at Lincoln Center in New York City on January 22, 1967. The album includes a rendition of "A Church Is Burning", one of the songs that originally appeared on Paul Simon's 1965 solo album, The Paul Simon Songbook.

On February 23, 2003, Simon and Garfunkel reunited to perform in public for the first time in a decade, singing "The Sound of Silence" as the opening act of the Grammy Awards. Before the show, the duo was presented with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, honoring their musical contributions over the past four and a half decades. They were introduced by Dustin Hoffman, who made his debut in the film The Graduate, which extensively featured their music.

The good feelings generated by their appearance on the Grammys led to another thaw in their relationship. Soon, Simon and Garfunkel launched a two-month long reunion tour of the United States (and Toronto, Canada), which began October 16 and culminated in Tampa on December 21, 2003. Entitled Old Friends, their first tour in over twenty years included forty shows in twenty-eight cities and featured special guests the Everly Brothers. The tour featured in its opening video montage a short series of clips and photos taken during the day leading up to the concert around the venue. Simon and Garfunkel performed "Hey, Schoolgirl", which they said was the first song they had written and recorded together. At the tour concert at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, they performed "Leaves That Are Green" in place of "Song for the Asking", which had been on their set list for the other concerts on this tour, following an announcement that they had not played it in concert since 1967. They also played "Leaves That Are Green" at concerts in Cleveland and Boston after making a similar announcement.

The success of the first Old Friends tour led to an encore in June and July 2004 with over 25 shows, this time also in Europe. In July 2004, they completed the tour with a flourish, with a finale at the Colosseum in Rome before an audience which, according to the Mayor of Rome, exceeded 600,000 — even larger than the audience at the famous 1981 Central Park concert.^[10][11]

A live CD and DVD from their Old Friends tour was released in late 2004. It featured a "new" studio duo song, "Citizen of the Planet", one of the songs from the rejected 1983 reunion album that did not originally feature Garfunkel's vocal participation.

In 2007, PBS hosted the first Gershwin Awards, at which Paul Simon was honored. Simon introduced Garfunkel (for a cameo appearance) as "my partner in arguments" and the two sang "Bridge Over Troubled Water" together.

Columbia/Legacy announced the September 18, 2007, release of Live 1969, which was said to feature recently discovered masters recorded on their 1969 tour. Most of the arrangements remain virtually unchanged.^{[citation needed]} That 1969 tour would be their last for over a decade, immediately preceding the release of the 1970 album Bridge Over Troubled Water. The tour was recorded preparing for a subsequent live album, but the release of the live album did not happen, until now, as reported in Billboard.^[12]

On February 13, 2009, Simon and his band re-opened New York's legendary Beacon Theatre, which had been closed for seven months for a renovation. As an encore, Simon brought out "[his] old friend" Art Garfunkel. They sang 3 songs: "Sound of Silence", "The Boxer", and "Old Friends".

On April 2, 2009, the duo announced a tour of Australia, New Zealand and Japan for June/July 2009.^[13] On October 29–30, they participated together in the 25th anniversary of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concerts at New York's Madison Square Garden. Other artists on the bill included Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band; U2; Metallica; Aretha Franklin; Stevie Wonder and Crosby, Stills & Nash.^[14]

In March 2010, Simon & Garfunkel announced a 13-date spring tour, to perform in April at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Most performances were scheduled for Canada, with four shows in the upper Midwest of the U.S. According to a press release, the set list would focus on their classic catalog, as well as songs from each of their solo careers.^[15] On June 17, 2010, Simon & Garfunkel canceled the tour, earlier rescheduled for July 2010, now postponed indefinitely as Garfunkel continues to recover from a vocal cord paresis.^[16]

Legacy[link]

From the very beginning of their fame, through the present time years after their break-up, Simon and Garfunkel have had an impact on the popular culture as evidenced by the many references to them made in television, film, music and other aspects of pop culture.

Among the earliest pop culture references or homages came in the late 1960s, when the comedy television show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In had a running skit featuring members of the "Farkel" Family, including Fred & Fanny Farkel, "and the twins, Simon and Gar Farkel". In the early '70s sitcom The Partridge Family, the two youngest Partridge children name their pet goldfish "Simon and Garfunkel".

In an episode of '90s sitcom Friends, the character Ross Geller was convincing character Phoebe Buffay to tell him why she was mad at him by asking her a series of questions requiring a rapid response; to the question "Who would you rather be, Simon or Garfunkel?", Phoebe replies "Garfunkel". In the episode "Our Dear Leaders" of Scrubs, Lucy Bennett refers to herself as "Garfunkel" being the second-in-command of her study group and mistakenly asks Drew Suffin to be her Micky Dolenz. In an episode of Monk, the title character Adrian Monk is upstaged by his now-famous assistant Natalie. This leads to him being referred to as the Garfunkel of the pair, a pop culture reference the character doesn't understand.

The lyrics of Simon and Garfunkel songs continue to be referenced many times on television, long after their initial popularity. On an episode of How I Met Your Mother, Marshall commissions a Venn diagram in which one section represents the "people who are breaking his heart" while the other represents "people who are shaking his confidence daily". The section where the two overlap is labelled "Cecilia". The end of the "Lady Bouvier's Lover" episode of The Simpsons contains one of the series' many homages to The Graduate, and features a parody of "The Sound of Silence" over the closing credits. ("Hello grandpa my old friend/your busy day is at an end/your words are always sad and boring/they tell a tale that's worth ignoring".) In another episode, Mr. Burns spins around a lamp post singing, "Hello lamp post. What ya knowin'? I've come to watch your power flowin'", a reference to the lyrics of "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)".

The episode "Bendin' in the Wind" of Futurama, in a double send-up of Simon and Garfunkel and Battlestar Galactica, features the singing duo "Cylon and Garfunkel" performing a rendition of "Scarborough Fair" in which the robot Cylon's singing is entirely monotone, and Garfunkel – who explains during the performance that he is the descendant of Art – states that he will give Bender the check "over my dead career!".

In an episode of Saturday Night Live's "Celebrity Jeopardy" parody, there was a category entitled "Members of Simon and Garfunkel". The clue read, "Of Simon and Garfunkel, the one who is not Garfunkel." Once the Sean Connery character rang in, he asked for the question to be repeated and said in response, "I Garfunkeled your mother!" This was one of the running gags of the parody. In another SNL skit, Will Forte and Jason Sudeikis pose as Bon Jovi opposite band, Jon Bovi, but when accused of sounding exactly like Bon Jovi, they say, "Well, if you didn't like that, you're going to love our new opposite folk rock band, Gimon & Sarfunkel."

In an episode of Flight of the Conchords, the lead characters form a Simon and Garfunkel tribute band performing "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme". Garfunkel himself later appears in the episode. In the episode "Unnatural Love", the song "Carol Brown" is an homage to the Paul Simon song "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover".

The Nickelodeon sitcom How To Rock uses the artist's family names as those of the main characters.

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Singles with Billboard Hot 100 positions[link]

• 1965: "The Sound of Silence" (#1) / "We've Got a Groovy Thing Goin'"
• 1966: "Homeward Bound" (#5) / "Leaves That Are Green"
• 1966: "I Am a Rock" (#3)/ "Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall"
• 1966: "The Dangling Conversation" (#25)/"The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine"
• 1966: "A Hazy Shade of Winter" (#13) / "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her"
• 1967: "At the Zoo" (#16) / "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)"
• 1967: "Fakin' It" (#23) / "You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies"
• 1968: "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" (#11) / "April Come She Will"
• 1968: "Mrs. Robinson" (#1) / "Old Friends/Bookends"
• 1969: "The Boxer" (#7) / "Baby Driver" (#101)
• 1970: "Bridge over Troubled Water" (#1) / "Keep the Customer Satisfied"
• 1970: "Cecilia" (#4) / "The Only Living Boy in New York"
• 1970: "El Cóndor Pasa" (#18) / "Why Don't You Write Me"
• 1972: "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her" (live version) (#53) / "America" (#97)
• 1975: "My Little Town" (#9) / "Rag Doll" (Art Garfunkel) / "You're Kind" (Paul Simon)
• 1982: "Wake Up Little Susie" (#27) / "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard"
• 1997: "Old Friends (1997 Simon and Garfunkel album)" / "Bookends"

Awards[link]

• Grammy Awards (1969) – Record of the Year, Best Contemporary Pop Performance – Vocal Duo or Group (for "Mrs. Robinson"); Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special (for The Graduate)
• Grammy Awards (1971) – Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Contemporary Song, Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s), Best Engineered Recording, Best Contemporary Vocal Group (for "Bridge over Troubled Water")
• BRIT Awards (1978) – Best International Album (of the past 25 years) (for Bridge Over Troubled Water")
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1990) – Inductee
• Grammy Awards (2003) – Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Charlesworth, Chris, The Complete Guide to the Music of Paul Simon and Simon & Garfunkel, Omnibus Press 1996.

External links[link]

	Book: Simon & Garfunkel
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Simon and Garfunkel

Official

• Official site
• Paul Simon's official site
• Art Garfunkel's official site

Biographical and discographical

• Simon and Garfunkel at Allmusic

Other

• Simon & Garfunkel interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969).
• Interview (2004) of both Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2010)

Dick Gaughan
Gaughan live at the "Rätsche" in Geislingen/Steige (Germany), 6 May 2006 Photo: Markus Großmann
Background information
Birth name	Richard Peter Gaughan
Born	(1948-05-17) 17 May 1948 (age 64) Glasgow, Scotland United Kingdom
Genres	Protest songs, folk
Occupations	Musician, songwriter Composer, Orchestrator
Instruments	Vocals, guitar,
Associated acts	The Boys of the Lough, Clan Alba
Website	Dick Gaughan's official website

Richard Peter Gaughan usually known as Dick Gaughan (born 17 May 1948, Glasgow) is a Scottish musician, singer, and songwriter, particularly of folk and social protest songs.

Early years[link]

Gaughan was born in Glasgow's Rottenrow Maternity Hospital, when his father was working in Glasgow as an engine driver. He spent the first year-and-a-half of his life in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, after which the whole family moved to Leith, a port on the outskirts of Edinburgh. He has never returned to Rutherglen, and is proud to be a Leither. His mother was a Macdonald from Lochaber, and was a native speaker of Gaelic. As a child in the 1930s she won a silver medal at the Gaelic Mod. His father was born in Leith, and his paternal grandfather was an Irish speaker from Mayo, who played the fiddle. The three children, of whom Dick was the eldest, grew up surrounded by the music of both Scotland and Ireland. The family experienced considerable poverty, which had a very strong influence on Gaughan's chosen path in life and his political views.^[1]

Gaughan took up the guitar at the age of seven. Although he later sang in Scottish Gaelic, he is not fluent in that language; he does, however, have a powerful command of Scots. Gaughan sang in Edinburgh folk clubs and became a professional musician in 1970, playing mainly traditional songs on an acoustic guitar. He now writes his own songs as well as performing those of others. Although his approach to performing focuses on the words to the songs, Gaughan is also known as a master of the acoustic guitar. An example of his purely instrumental work is Coppers and Brass (1977).

1970s[link]

He made one solo album, No More Forever, before joining The Boys of the Lough, singing and playing guitar on their debut album in 1972. After leaving, he was a guest of the High Level Ranters when they recorded The Bonnie Pit Laddie in 1975, performing on two tracks. From 1976 to 1978 there then followed a hectic period of his life pursuing two careers, one as a member of Five Hand Reel and one as a soloist. It was a time of hard drinking, travelling continental Europe in vans, and seeing very little of his wife and daughter. The crisis came when his daughter was struck by a car while he was away. The daughter survived, but Gaughan had to take stock of his life and re-prioritise things.

He taught himself to read and write music, and in the late 1970s he began to write reviews for what was at the time the only national folk music paper, Folk Review. He also saw more of his family. He joined the agitprop theatre group 7:84. In this, he appeared to be following in the footsteps of another socialist theatre-director-singer Ewan MacColl, even recording a tribute album to him in 1978. (Gaughan has also taken part in a tribute to Woody Guthrie).

1980s[link]

At the beginning of 1982, Gaughan proposed and oversaw the organisation of a conference, held at Cecil Sharp House, which set up an organisation in the UK called "Performance of Folk and Other Related Music", which was intended to be an umbrella body of people involved in "Folk and Other Related Music" in any capacity - performers, promoters, record companies, journalists, broadcasters, etc. - to facilitate greater communication and cooperation. One of the achievements in its short life was the coordinating of fundraising events to support Nic Jones and his family after his serious road accident. Gaughan served two years as chair with Susie Stockton as secretary and Matt Armour as vice-chair. Following Gaughan's stepping down as chair due to his voice problems at the beginning of 1984, he was succeeded by Matt Armour.

Gaughan's solo albums of the 1980s returned to the acoustic style in which he had begun, containing both traditional ballads ("The Muckle Sangs") as well as his own songs, and using acoustic guitar (although he can play electric guitar and in fact most fretted instruments). His decision to concentrate on songs that convey political messages, rather than those more attractive to the mainstream, is clear in the important albums Handful of Earth (1981) and A Different Kind of Love Song (1983). Handful of Earth was Melody Maker's album of the year in 1981, and in 1989 was also voted album of the decade by Folk Roots (now fRoots) magazine in both readers' and critics' polls.

1990s[link]

In 1991, Gaughan invited seven other well-established Scots musicians to take part in a band project called Clan Alba.^[2] The original lineup was Gaughan, Mary MacMaster (Sprangeen, The Poozies, Sileas), Brian McNeill (Battlefield Band), Patsy Seddon (Sprangeen, The Poozies, Sileas), Davy Steel (Drinker's Drouth, Ceolbeg), Mike Travis (Wildcat, Cauld Blast Orchestra), Dave Tulloch (Spencer's Feat, Five Hand Reel) and Gary West (Ceolbeg). The first performance of Clan Alba was at the Queen's Hall in Edinburgh as part of the 1992 Edinburgh Folk Festival, and over the next two years, Clan Alba performed at numerous festivals across the UK and Europe including Glastonbury, Cambridge, WDR Festival in Bonn, Brugge, Tønder and Stainsby. In 1993, Gary West departed and was replaced by Fred Morrison. In 1994 Clan Alba recorded an eponymous double CD at Redesdale Studios with Gaughan producer before disbanding in 1995. Since then, Gaughan has continued to pursue his solo career. In 1983 Gaughan was the subject of a BBC Spectrum documentary entitled Gaughan, and in 2005 a further television documentary entitled A Different Kind of Love Song formed part of the BBC Four Sessions series.

Style and interests[link]

Gaughan has many and various influences. In his guitar playing one can detect the influence of Doc Watson, Davy Graham and Bert Jansch, but he also claims to have been influenced by musicians as diverse as Hank Williams and Seán Ó Riada. His songs have been recorded by Billy Bragg, Mary Black, Jessica Haines & Mark Kaiser and Capercaillie amongst many others. He has also recorded extensively as a session musician.

Gaughan's interest in composition and orchestration has led to two orchestral commissions from the prestigious Celtic Connections festival: Timewaves (Lovesong to a People's Music) in 2004 and, in 2007, his first symphonic work, Treaty 300; a musical examination of the effects of the Treaty of Union of 1707 on Scottish culture) composed for the inaugural concert of the Celtic Connections Youth Orchestra.

One of Gaughan's strong interests is the Internet, and he has a particular love for Usenet in which he has been an active participant for many years. While recovering from voice problems in 1984 he took a course on computing. He designs and maintains his own extensive website and is strongly in favour of web accessibility.

Present day[link]

In 2002 Gaughan released Prentice Piece, a self-selected thirty-year retrospective of his career (although some material could not be included owing to copyright disputes), and a studio album, Lucky for Some, was released in April 2006. A live CD (the first since 1985) entitled Gaughan Live! at the Trades Club, recorded at the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, was released on 1 April 2008.

Discography[link]

Solo or main performer[link]

• No More Forever (1972)
• The Boys of the Lough (1973) (The Boys of the Lough)
• Kist o' Gold (1976)
• Five Hand Reel (1976) (Five Hand Reel)
• Coppers and Brass (1977)
• For A' That (1977) (Five Hand Reel)
• Songs of Ewan MacColl (1978) (with Dave Burland and Tony Capstick)
• Gaughan (1978)
• Earl o' Moray (1978) (Five Hand Reel)
• Handful of Earth (1981)
• Parallel Lines (1982) (with Andy Irvine)
• A Different Kind of Love Song (1983)
• Fanfare for Tomorrow (1985) (with Ken Hyder)
• Live in Edinburgh (1985)
• True and Bold (1986)
• Call It Freedom (1988)
• Clan Alba (1995) (with Clan Alba)
• Sail on (1996)
• Redwood Cathedral (1998)
• Outlaws and Dreamers (2001)
• Prentice Piece (2002)
• Lucky for Some (2006)
• Gaughan Live! at the Trades Club (2008)

As a guest contributor[link]

• Songs of Ewan MacColl (1985) (with Dave Burland and Tony Capstick
• Woody Lives! (1987) (with Bert Jansch, Rab Noakes, Rory McLeod, Rod Clements and Ray Jackson) (commemorating Woody Guthrie)

This discography excludes recordings to which Gaughan contributed only a few tracks.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dick Gaughan

• Dick Gaughan's official website