Episode 17: Bookends
Chapter 17 of Rock N Roll Archaeology is bookended by a couple of Simon & Garfunkel albums: “Bookends” from the spring of 1968; and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” from January of 1970.
Our story takes place mostly in New York City: a city big enough to spawn two very different, very talented--and very influential--artists: Paul Simon and Lou Reed.
We skip work on a cold January afternoon to catch a movie: Mike Nichols’ “The Graduate.” It’s a generation milestone of a film, and Simon & Garfunkel’s music is a big part of that; what’s more, we argue, it’s a different kind of soundtrack, something new in film and popular culture.
We meet Tom Wilson, the first African-American staff producer at Columbia Records. Tom oversaw the first two Simon & Garfunkel albums. We follow him for a little while and he leads us to...Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground.
We get to know Lou and the Velvets, and the scene from which they sprang: Andy Warhol’s Factory. We meet a Factory hang-around, an angry young woman with good reasons to be angry, but she takes it way too far, with tragic consequences.
And we’ll meet the first Punk Rock band: The MC5, and the revolutionary political milieu they occupied. Wayne Kramer of the MC5 has some things to say about that, and about a fateful MC5 gig at the Fillmore East.
Finally, we’ll meet one of our favorite artists ever, who came from the same scene as the MC5: Iggy Pop. We say “Amen” to Iggy Pop.
We wrap it back around to Simon & Garfunkel, and their take on the anger and disappointment, on the turmoil of the late 1960s. An offer of comfort and healing is the first big Pop hit of the 1970s.
Songs
Mitch Miller and the Gang: “Camptown Races” from Sing Along With Mitch, 1959
Simon & Garfunkel: “April Come She Will” from Sounds of Silence, 1966
Simon & Garfunkel: “Mrs Robinson” from Bookends, 1968
Simon & Garfunkel: “Hazy Shade of Winter” from Bookends, 1968
Simon & Garfunkel: “Bookends Theme” from Bookends, 1968
Everly Brothers: “Bye Bye Love” single released 1957
The Chords: “Sh-Boom” single released 1954
Tom & Jerry: “Hey Schoolgirl” single released 1957
Simon & Garfunkel: “The Sound of Silence” from Sounds of Silence, 1966
Simon & Garfunkel: “Kathy’s Song” from Sounds of Silence, 1966
Simon & Garfunkel: “Anji” from Sounds of Silence, 1966
Bob Dylan: “Positively 4th Street” single released 1965
The Velvet Underground: “Waiting for the Man” from The Velvet Underground & Nico, 1967
The Primitives: “Do the Ostrich” single released 1966
The Velvet Underground: “Sunday Morning” from The Velvet Underground & Nico, 1967
The Velvet Underground: “White Light/White Heat” from White Light/White Heat, 1968
The Velvet Underground: “Rock and Roll” from Loaded, 1970
The Velvet Underground: “Sweet Jane” from Loaded, 1970
The Beatles: “Happiness is a Warm Gun” from The Beatles (The White Album), 1968
Lou Reed: “Perfect Day” from Transformer, 1973
Lou Reed: “Vicious” from Transformer, 1973
The MC5: “Kick Out The Jams” from Kick Out the Jams, 1969
The MC5: “High School” from Back in the USA, 1970
The MC5: “Motor City is Burning” from Kick Out the Jams, 1969
The Stooges: “I Wanna Be Your Dog” from The Stooges, 1969
The Stooges: “1969” from The Stooges, 1969
The Stooges: “Search and Destroy” from Raw Power, 1973
The MC5: “American Ruse” from Back in the USA, 1970
The MC5: “Lookin at You” from Back in the USA, 1970
Simon & Garfunkel: “Fakin’ It” from Bookends, 1968
Simon & Garfunkel: “America” from Bookends, 1968
Simon & Garfunkel: “Save the Life of my Child” from Bookends, 1968
Simon & Garfunkel: “The Boxer” from Bridge Over Troubled Water, 1970
Simon & Garfunkel: “Baby Driver” from Bridge Over Troubled Water, 1970
Simon & Garfunkel: “The Only Living Boy in New York” from Bridge Over Troubled Water, 1970
Simon & Garfunkel: “Cecilia” from Bridge Over Troubled Water, 1970
Simon & Garfunkel: “El Condor Pasa” from Bridge Over Troubled Water, 1970
Simon & Garfunkel: “Keep the Customer Satisfied” from Bridge Over Troubled Water, 1970
Simon & Garfunkel: “Bye Bye Love” from Bridge Over Troubled Water, 1970
Books
Peter Ames Carlin: Homeward Bound
Anthony DeCurtis: Lou Reed: A Life
Breanne Fahs: Valerie Solanas
Todd Gitlin: The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage
Robert Hilburn: Paul Simon: The Life
Wayne Kramer: The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities
Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain: Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
Patti Smith: Just Kids
Valerie Solanas: The SCUM Manifesto
Andy Warhol: Popism
Online Resources
“Deeper Digs in Rock: Robert Hilburn on Paul Simon” from Pantheon Podcasts
Documentaries, Feature Films, and TV Programs
Almost Famous, directed by Cameron Crowe, 2001
Danny Says, directed by Brendan Toller, 2015
The Graduate, directed by Mike Nichols, 1967
I Shot Andy Warhol, directed by Mary Harron, 1996
Lou Reed: Rock n Roll Heart from American Masters, Season 11 (PBS), first broadcast 2013 (Retrieved from PBS )
Simon & Garfunkel, Songs of America: first broadcast on CBS Television, October 1969. (Retrieved from DailyMotion.)
Credit where (we’re pretty sure) credit is due:
We’d love to claim the phrase “Ever Hopeful and Ever Blue” entirely for ourselves, but it wouldn’t be right. We’ve found it elsewhere...but Dave Baerwald wrote it, as best we can tell. It looks like the first use was in a song by David & David called “Heroes,” from their eponymous 1986 album. (A great, and sadly kinda overlooked, record, BTW.)