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| Simon traveled to Europe in the early 1960s and became
familiar with the music of Martin Carthy---music that would influence his
compositions on the second album he made with Art Garfunkel; Parsley,Sage,
Rosemary, and Thyme. With Garfunkel, Simon enjoyed huge success with Sounds of Silence (1966), Bookends (1968), and Bridge Over
Troubled Waters (1970). The film The Graduate (1967)
featured four of the duos songs and helped catapult them to national
prominence. After their duo broke up in 1970 Simon struck out on his own
and enjoyed some success with several solo albums and a movie (One Trick
Pony) about a musician on the decline both in his personal life and
professionally. In the early 1980s Simon's career rebounded after he became
familiar with the music of South African Townships and he produced the album
Graceland (1986) that combined so-called "township jive" with his own
revitalized lyrical style to create a new sound. A representative song from
this era would be "Under African Skies."
In 1990 Simon continued his explorations into world music with the
release of Rhythm of the Saints . This album included rhythm tracks
recorded in Brazil combined with studio musicians from previous albums as
well as African musicians used on Graceland. Consequently, it sounds similar
to Graceland. The lyrics contain themes about love, environmental
concerns, and alienation.
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