Paul Simon Says He and Art Garfunkel Ended up Fighting Because of an "Uneven Partnership"

In what feels like horrendous irony, Paul Simon said that his friendship with Art Garfunkel began crumbling soon after writing "Bridge Over Troubled Water." Inspired by gospel music, Paul wrote this song fairly quickly and insisted that Art sing it, per American Songwriter. He would later regret that decision after seeing how popular it became. To this day, it is one of the duo's most beloved songs.

This haunting ballad tells the story of one person being a rock for another, who is going through a difficult time. If only Paul and Art were able to take page from their own music, so that they could mend their troubled friendship. Why do Simon and Garfunkel hate each other? It's an envious tale as old as time.

In August 2023, Jim Clash published various interviews he did with Art between 2014 and 2017, in Forbes. At some point, one of the conversations naturally turned towards his "volatile relationship" with Paul. Art addressed it, but he spoke in platitudes and seemed to dance around the question a fair amount. "It’s difficult to analyze your relationship with anybody," he said. "That’s smarmy."

Art spoke of the natural ebb and flow of friendships and said his "fondness and love for Paul is very deep, comes from childhood." He was very reluctant to discuss what was going on in his head, when they were disconnected from each other, and likened it to being married. What he did way was they would sometimes get tired of each other, take a break, and then seek each other out if one had a song idea. Sadly, the end came as they were trying to record one of their most iconic songs.

Paul spoke of his relationship with Art in the 2023 documentary In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon. This is where he revealed that the cracks in the facade began around the time they recorded "Bridge Over Troubled Water." Until that point in their career, Paul said they were best friends, but said the "harmony of the friendship … was broken."

Things really took a turn when Art was cast in Mike Nichols' 1970 adaptation of the book Catch-22. For the uninitiated, Mike also directed The Graduate in 1967. Simon and Garfunkel famously contributed five songs to its soundtrack, including the wildly popular hit "Mrs. Robinson." Art told Paul that while he was filming Catch-22, he fully expected his partner and pal to write songs while he was away.

Paul was not too keen on this idea as it created an "uneven balance of power." Essentially, Paul was writing and composing all the music while Art would sit in the control room and tell him what was and was not working. "The main thing that we were interested in, we shared," said Paul in the documentary. The film destroyed their flow and was incredibly disruptive due to the fact that its schedule would often cut into their recording time.

"Artie was understandably excited about being in a movie with very gifted, gifted people," said Paul during an interview with Howard Stern in September 2023. "It wasn't just the movie, it was also ... our musical inclinations are quite different." When Paul found out Art was doing another movie after Catch-22, he decided he'd had enough. "We would have broken up anyway," he said to Howard. "Duos don't stay together."