Has Art Garfunkel burned the bridge?
The folk pioneer revealed to the U.K.'s Sunday Telegraph that he still regrets "Simon & Garfunkel's" break-up after the release of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" more than four decades ago. He appears to call former bandmate Paul Simon a jerk and an idiot over the slight.
"I don’t want to say any anti-Paul Simon things, but it seems very perverse to not enjoy the glory and walk away from it instead," Garfunkel said of their split. "Crazy."
Garfunkel said he would have preferred to take a break from each other for a year because Simon "was getting on my nerves. The jokes had run dry."
“How can you walk away from this lucky place on top of the world, Paul?" Garfunkel is also quoted as saying. "What’s going on with you, you idiot? How could you let that go, jerk?”
Garfunkel said another reunion tour with Simon would still be "quite do-able." The musician's Telegraph interviewer wrote that despite Garfunkel's bitterness he talked about Simon with "deep affection."
"When we get together, with his guitar, it's a delight to both of our ears," Garfunkel said of their chemistry. "A little bubble comes over us and it seems effortless. We blend. So, as far as this half is concerned, I would say, 'Why not, while we're still alive?'
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"But I've been in that same place for decades. This is where I was in 1971."
Garfunkel, who described himself as a "misanthrope," said that he has told his now 24-year-old son to "be kind to people." Following his own advice has been a challenge, he acknowledged.
Asked about whether Simon might have a Napoleon complex, Garfunkel was quoted as saying, "I think you're on to something."
He added that he felt sorry for Simon over his height when they were classmates. When he offered him love and friendship in response, "that compensation gesture has created a monster," Garfunkel said.
Paul Simon has not immediately responded to requests for comment directed at his music publisher and through his official Facebook page.
In 2012, Simon was asked about whether he would record again with Garfunkel. Simon told the BBC he "would just as soon not go back and visit the past."
