He met his future singing partner, Paul Simon, in the sixth grade. Between 1956 and 1962, the two had performed together as Tom & Jerry. Garfunkel ("Tom Graph") chose his nickname because he liked to track, or "graph" hits, on the pop charts. Garfunkel attended Columbia University in the early sixties, where he sang with the Kingsmen, an all-male a cappella group. While at Columbia, he was also a Brother of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity. In 1962 Garfunkel earned a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in art history, followed eventually by a Master's degree in mathematics.
In 1963 he and Simon reformed the duo under their own names as Simon and Garfunkel and released their first album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. on Columbia Records in October 1964. It was not a critical success, and the duo effectively split again after recording. The next year their producer Tom Wilson lifted the song "The Sound of Silence" from the record, redubbed an electric backing onto it, and released it as a single, which eventually went to #1 on the Billboard pop charts. They reunited and went on to become two of the most popular artists of the 1960s, releasing a total of five studio albums. However, citing personal differences and divergence in career interests, they split following the release of their most critically acclaimed album, Bridge Over Troubled Water, in 1970.
Solo career
In the 1970s, Garfunkel released a few solo albums, and although he did not reach the heights that Simon and Garfunkel had reached, he still scored hits with "I Only Have Eyes For You" (a 1934 song originally written by Harry Warren [1]) and "Bright Eyes" (both British #1 hit singles), and "All I Know" (#9 in the United States). A version of "Bright Eyes" also appeared in the movie Watership Down. He briefly reunited with Paul Simon in the 1975 hit "My Little Town".
Art Garfunkel (centre) with his band after the show at Liseberg fairground on June 4 1998
Enlarge
Art Garfunkel (centre) with his band after the show at Liseberg fairground on June 4 1998
In between, he also acted in a few movies, including Catch-22 and Carnal Knowledge (1971) with Jack Nicholson, Candice Bergen, and Ann-Margret.
Following disappointing sales of his 1981 album Scissors Cut, Garfunkel reunited with Paul Simon for the famous concert in Central Park. The subsequent world tour went well musically, but they had disagreements during the tour, with the disappointment for Art Garfunkel that Paul Simon excluded Art's voice from the new album that was announced as a S&G album and came out as a new Paul Simon solo album Hearts and Bones. The reason for that was that Paul Simon's songs were very personal. After this, Garfunkel left the music scene for several years, but returned in 1988 with the album Lefty. None of these projects garnered much critical success, and Garfunkel did not release another album until 1993's Up 'til Now. Perhaps his most noteworthy recent release is his live 1996 concert Across America, recorded live at the registry hall on Ellis Island. The concert features several musical guests, including James Taylor, Garfunkel's wife, Kim, and his son James Arthur.
Garfunkel also performed the theme song for the 1991 television series, "Brooklyn Bridge", and in 1998 Garfunkel sang "The Ballad of Buster Baxter" for an episode of the PBS Kids cartoon Arthur.
Recent events
In 2003, Garfunkel made his debut as a songwriter on his well-received Everything Waits to Be Noticed album. Teaming up with singer-songwriters Maia Sharp and Buddy Mondlock, the album represented some of Garfunkel's strongest solo performances to date, and contained several songs whose origins were poems penned by Garfunkel. Everything Waits to Be Noticed is recognized as his first true effort at songwriting, save his teenage years with Paul Simon in Tom and Jerry.
In 2003, Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon reunited one more time and buried their disagreements once and for all. The world tour in 2003 and 2004 that followed was this time very joyful and was a big success. After the tour, they went their own ways.
Garfunkel made news in early 2004 when he was arrested for possession of cannabis.
The only new recording on the collection The Art Garfunkel Album (1984), the song "Sometimes When I'm Dreaming" (written by Mike Batt), was re-recorded in 2005 by ex ABBA singer Agnetha Fältskog on her comeback album My Colouring Book.
In August 2005, Garfunkel received his second cannabis possession charge after a state police trooper found a joint in the ashtray of his car while in New York State. [2]
In 2006, Garfunkel signed with Rhino Records (revived Atco Records,) and his first Rhino/Atco album Some Enchanted Evening was released in America on January 30, 2007. [3] In late February 2007 during a German television interview to promote his new album Some Enchanted Evening, Garfunkel expressed interest in reuniting with Paul Simon on a new album.
Two Sleepy People
Art Garfunkel Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Holding hands and yawning
Look how late it gets.
Two Sleepy People
By dawn's early light,
And too much in love
To say, "Good night."
Pickin' on a wishbone
From the Frigidaire,
Two Sleepy People
With nothing to say,
And too much in love to break away.
Do you remember
The nights we used to linger in the hall?
Your father didn't like me at all.
Do you remember
The reason why we married in the fall?
To rent this little nest
And get a bit of rest, well.
Here we are
Just about the same
Foggy little fella,
Drowsy little dame.
Two Sleepy People
With nothing to say
And too much in love to break away.
Two Sleepy People
By dawn's early light,
And too much in love
To say, "Good night."
Two Sleepy People
With nothing to say
And too much in love to break away.
Do you remember
The nights we used to linger in the hall?
Your father didn't like me at all.
Do you remember
The reasons why we married in the fall?
To rent this little nest
And get a bit of rest, well.
Here we are
Just about the same
Foggy little fella,
Drowsy little dame.
Two Sleepy People
By dawn's early light,
And too much in love
To say, "Good night."
The song "Two Sleepy People" talks about two lovers who are tired and sleepy, yet they cannot seem to let go of each other. The first verse describes them running out of cigarettes and holding hands while yawning. The two lovers seem unaware of the time as they sit in a cozy chair, pulling the wishbone from the Frigidaire, with nothing to say because they are already too much in love to break away.
The second verse talks about the memories they have shared. The memories they recall are the times they used to linger in the hall, which her father didn't like, and the reason they got married in the fall, which was to rent a cozy little nest and get some rest. The song ends with the two lovers still sitting, too much in love to break away, and too sleepy to say goodnight.
Overall, "Two Sleepy People" is a love song about two people who are very much in love but are too sleepy to do anything about it except sit and reflect on their love.
Line by Line Meaning
Here we are, out of cigarettes
Despite being out of cigarettes, we find ourselves together, holding hands, and feeling quite exhausted.
Holding hands and yawning
We are so tired that we simply hold hands and yawn, without much else to do.
Look how late it gets.
Despite how late it has become, we are still awake, and still together.
Two Sleepy People
We are two people who are extremely tired and in love.
By dawn's early light,
As the sun begins to rise and morning approaches,
And too much in love
We are so deeply in love with each other,
To say, "Good night."
That we cannot bring ourselves to say goodnight to each other.
Here we are, in the cozy chair
We are now sitting in a comfortable chair, enjoying each other's company despite our fatigue.
Pickin' on a wishbone
We are absentmindedly playing with a wishbone from the refrigerator.
From the Frigidaire,
Which we retrieved from the fridge to pass time.
Two Sleepy People
We are still two people who are extremely tired and in love.
With nothing to say,
Despite being together, we do not have much to talk about.
And too much in love to break away.
However, we are still so in love with each other that we cannot bear to separate for just a moment.
Do you remember
Do you recollect the memories we once shared together,
The nights we used to linger in the hall?
When we used to talk and spend time with each other, despite the displeasure of your father?
Your father didn't like me at all.
Your father did not approve of our relationship at all.
Do you remember
Do you also remember
The reason why we married in the fall?
The true reason we decided to get married during the autumn season?
To rent this little nest
To have a place of our own for some peace and quiet,
And get a bit of rest, well.
To rest and recharge our batteries in the best way possible.
Here we are
Now we are here,
Just about the same
We have not changed much,
Foggy little fella,
I am still a bit groggy and dazed,
Drowsy little dame.
And you are still sleepy and tired.
Two Sleepy People
We are still two people who are extremely tired and in love.
By dawn's early light,
As morning approaches and the sun begins to rise,
And too much in love
We are still so deeply in love,
To say, "Good night."
That we cannot bring ourselves to say goodnight to each other.
Two Sleepy People
We are still two people who are extremely tired and in love.
With nothing to say,
Despite being together, we do not have much to talk about.
And too much in love to break away.
However, we are still so in love with each other that we cannot bear to separate for just a moment.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Frank Loesser, Hoagy Carmichael
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind