Art Garfunkel on a recent reunion with Paul Simon: “I was crying at a certain point because I felt that I had hurt him”

Art Garfunkel has revealed that a recent reunion with Paul Simon left him in tears, feeling he had “hurt” his former musical partner.

Simon & Garfunkel were one of the best-selling acts of the 1960s, selling over 100 million records and recording timeless hits such as ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, ‘The Sound of Silence’ and ‘Mrs. Robinson’.

However, they also became known for their troubled relationship, with artistic disagreements leading to their breakup in 1970. They have performed together sporadically since then, but not since 2010.

That year, they had planned a huge reunion tour across North America, but it was shelved after one show, with Garfunkel suffering from vocal issues. Simon later commented that he felt “let down” by the cancelled tour. “I didn’t feel I could trust him any more,” he told biographer Robert Hillman. Garfunkel, in response, described Simon as a “monster with a Napoleon complex”.

However, in a new interview with The Sun, Garfunkel revealed that the duo shared a lunch together recently. “It was very, very warm and wonderful,” he said.

Recounting his complex emotions from the meeting, he added: “There were tears. I was crying at a certain point because I felt that I had hurt him. But there were hugs. I’m cherishing this two-week-old memory of having lunch with Paul Simon.”

Last month, Simon revealed that he was feeling “optimistic” about a potential live return, after going through the “scary, frustrating” experience of a near-total loss of hearing in his left ear.

He had previously spoken about how he had not “accepted” his hearing loss but was in the process of finding a new solution which would help him return to the stage.

He said in an interview with The Guardian that he was “hoping to eventually be able to do a full-length concert”, something about which he had been “pessimistic” just six months earlier.

Back in 2018, Simon embarked on his ‘Farewell’ tour and played what was billed as his final concert at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, New York. Reflecting on the show in the same interview, the musician shared that it was “an act of courage to let go” and went on to describe the “natural end” of performing as “a little unsettling, a touch exhilarating and something of a relief.”