Now I’ve played the most well-known of Simon & Garfunkel’s repertoire, so for tonight, Day #6 of S&G Week, I’m playing one that may be somewhat less well-known, but that is definitely worthy of a spotlight here and it has some really interesting background! This one was recommended to me by our friend Clive, and he even provided the best video for me! Thank you, Clive!!!
According to Songfacts …
Paul Simon wrote this song about his partner Art Garfunkel going to Mexico to act in a movie called Catch-22, which was directed by Mike Nichols, who gave Simon & Garfunkel a big boost when he featured their songs in his 1967 film The Graduate. Simon was also going to be in the film, but Nichols cut his part, which separated the duo. Garfunkel spent months working on the film while Simon returned to New York, where he toiled away on the Bridge Over Troubled Water album. He expresses his frustration in this song: “Here I am, the only living boy in New York.”
Simon sent letters to keep in touch with Garfunkel and update him on the album’s progress. Up to that point, the pair had always partnered musically and shared a bond, which was now breaking. Simon & Garfunkel split up after the album was released; Paul recorded as a solo artist, and Art pursued his acting career.
Regarding the lyrics, “Tom get your plane right on time. I know that your eager to fly now,” before the folk duo became famous, they were known as Tom and Jerry. Tom was Art’s stage name, so this line symbolizes their increasing need for musical and personal freedom.
In a 1990 interview with SongTalk magazine, Simon said: “I liked the ‘aaahhhs,’ the voices singing ‘aaah.’ That was the best I think that we ever did it. It was quite a lot of voices we put on, maybe twelve or fifteen voices. We sang it in the echo-chamber.”
This song was addressed during a screening of the Simon & Garfunkel documentary Songs of America. At the screening, Garfunkel said, “I had Paul sort of waiting: ‘All right, I can take this for three months. I’ll write the songs, but what’s the fourth month? And why is Artie in Rome a fifth month? What’s Mike [Nichols] doing to Simon & Garfunkel?’ And so there’s Paul in the third month, still with a lot of heart, writing about, ‘I’m the only living boy in [New York]. You used to be the other one.”
The song charted only in Indonesia at #4, though it did receive Silver Certification in the U.K.
The Only Boy Living In New York
Simon & Garfunkel
Tom, get your plane right on time
I know your part’ll go fine
Fly down to Mexico
Doh-n-doh-de-doh-n-doh
And here I am
The only living boy in New York
I get the news I need on the weather report
Oh, I can gather all the news I need on the weather report
Hey, I’ve got nothing to do today but smile
De-doh-n-doh-de-doh
And here I am
The only living boy in New York
Half of the time we’re gone
But we don’t know where
And we don’t know where
Half of the time we’re gone
But we don’t know where
And we don’t know where
Tom, get your plane right on time
I know that you’ve been eager to fly now
Hey, let your honesty shine, shine, shine now
Doh-n-doh-de-doh-n-doh
Like it shines on me (Here I am)
The only living boy in New York
The only living boy in New York
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Paul Simon
The Only Living Boy in New York lyrics © Sony/atv Songs Llc
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