CLOUDY
SIMON AND GARFUNKEL
SONGWRITERS: PAUL SIMON & BRUCE
WOODLEY
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: PARSLEY, SAGE, ROSEMARY AND
THYME
LABEL: COLUMBIA RECORDS
GENRE: FOLK ROCK
YEAR: 1965
Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk-rock duo consisting of singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art
Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the
1960s, and their biggest hits—including "The Sound of Silence" (1965), "Mrs.
Robinson" (1968), "The Boxer"
(1969), and "Bridge over Troubled Water"
(1970)—reached number one on singles charts worldwide.
Simon and Garfunkel met in elementary school
in Queens, New York,
in 1953, where they learned to harmonize together and began writing material.
By 1957, under the name Tom & Jerry, the teenagers had their first minor
success with "Hey Schoolgirl", a song imitating their idols the Everly Brothers.
In 1963, aware of a growing public interest in folk music, they regrouped and
were signed to Columbia Records as Simon & Garfunkel. Their debut, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., sold
poorly, and they once again disbanded; Simon returned to a solo career, this
time in England. In June 1965, a new version of "The Sound of
Silence" overdubbed with electric guitar and drums became a major U.S. AM radio hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
The duo reunited to release a second studio album, Sounds of Silence, and
tour colleges nationwide. On their third release, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966), the duo assumed more creative control. Their music was
featured in the 1967 film The
Graduate, giving them further exposure. Their next álbum
Bookends (1968) topped the Billboard
200 chart and included the number-one
single "Mrs. Robinson" from the film.
The
duo's often rocky relationship led to artistic disagreements and their breakup
in 1970. Their final studio album, Bridge over Troubled Water, was released
that year and became their most successful, becoming one of the world's best-selling albums.
After their breakup, Simon released a number of acclaimed albums, including
1986's Graceland.
Garfunkel released solo hits such as "All I Know"
and briefly pursued an acting career, with leading roles in two Mike Nichols films, Catch-22 and Carnal
Knowledge, and in Nicolas
Roeg's 1980 Bad Timing.
The duo have reunited several times, most famously in 1981 for The Concert in Central Park, which
attracted more than 500,000 people, one of the largest concert attendances in history.
Simon & Garfunkel won 10 Grammy Awards and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Rolling Stone ranked them number 3 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All
Time. Richie
Unterberger described them as "the most
successful folk-rock duo of the 1960s" and one of the most popular artists
from the decade. They are among the best-selling music artists, having
sold more than 100 million records. Bridge over Troubled Water is ranked
at number 172 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
"Cloudy" is a song by American
music duo Simon
& Garfunkel from their third studio album,
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966). It was co-written by Paul Simon and Bruce Woodley of the Seekers;
that band later covered it on their 1967 album Seekers
Seen in Green. The Cyrkle released a version of the song on their 1966 debut album, Red
Rubber Ball. The title track, Red
Rubber Ball, was also written by the duo of Woodley/Simon.
Cloudy
The sky is gray and white and cloudy,
Sometimes I think it's hanging down on me.
And it's a hitchhike a hundred miles.
I'm a rag-a-muffin child.
Pointed
finger-painted smile.
I left my shadow waiting down the road for me a while.
Cloudy
My thoughts are scattered and they're cloudy,
They have no borders, no boundaries.
They echo and they swell
From Tolstoy to Tinker Bell.
Down from Berkeley to Carmel.
Got some pictures in my pocket and a lot of time to kill.
Hey Sunshine
I haven't seen you in a long time.
Why don't you show your face and bend my mind?
These clouds stick to the sky
Like floating questions, why?
And they linger there to die.
They don't know where they are going, and, my friend, neither do I.
Cloudy,
Cloudy.