THE SUN IS BURNING
SIMON AND GARFUNKEL
SONGWRITER: IAN CAMPBELL
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: WEDNESDAY MORNING, 3 A. M.
LABEL: COLUMBIA
RECORDS
GENRE: FOLK
ROCK
YEAR: 1964
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 and
began writing songs. In 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; 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 US 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), they 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.
Simon
and Garfunkel had a troubled relationship, leading to artistic disagreements
and their breakup in 1970. Their final studio album, Bridge over
Troubled Water, was released that January,
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 the Mike Nichols films Catch-22 and Carnal
Knowledge and in Nicolas Roeg's 1980 Bad Timing. The duo
have reunited several times; their 1981 concert in
Central Park attracted more than 500,000 people,
one of the largest
concert attendances in history.
Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. is the debut studio
album by American folk rock duo Simon &
Garfunkel. Following their early gig as "Tom and
Jerry", Columbia Records signed the two in late 1963. It was produced by Tom Wilson and engineered by Roy Halee.
The cover and the label include the subtitle exciting new sounds in the folk
tradition. Recorded
in March 1964, the album was released on October 19.
The album was initially unsuccessful, so Paul Simon moved to
London, England and finished his first solo album The Paul
Simon Songbook. Art Garfunkel continued his studies at Columbia
University in his native New York City, before
reuniting with Simon in late 1965. Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. was re-released in
January 1966 (to capitalize on their newly found radio success because of the
overdubbing of the song "The Sound of
Silence" in June 1965, adding electric guitars,
bass guitar and a drum kit), and reached Nº 30 on the Billboard 200. It was belatedly released in the
UK two years later (in 1968) in both mono and stereo formats.
The song "He Was My Brother" was
dedicated to Andrew
Goodman, who was their friend and a classmate of
Simon at Queens College. Andrew
Goodman volunteered in Freedom Summer during 1964 and was abducted and killed in the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner.
The album is included in its entirety as part
of the Simon & Garfunkel box sets Collected Works and The Columbia Studio Recordings(1964–1970).
The sun is burning in
the sky
Strands of clouds go slowly drifting by
In the park the lazy bees
Are joining in the flowers among the trees
And the sun burns in the sky
Now the sun is in the
West
Little kids go home to take their rest
And the couples in the park
Are holding hands and waitin' for the dark
And the sun is in the West
Now the sun is
sinking low
Children playing know it's time to go
High above a spot appears
A little blossom blooms and then draws near
And the sun is sinking low
Now the sun has come to earth
Shrouded in a mushroom cloud of death
Death comes in a blinding flash
Of hellish heat and leaves a smear of ash
And the sun has come to earth
Now the sun has
disappeared
All is darkness, anger, pain and fear
Twisted sightless wrecks of men
Go groping on their knees and cry in pain
And the sun has disappeared.
Postagens
