The 500 - #234 - Bookends - Simon & Garfunkel

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #234
Album Title: Bookends
Artist: Simon & Garfunkel
Genre: Folk Rock
Recorded: Columbia - 52 Street Studios, New York, New York

Released: April, 1968
My age at release: 2
How familiar was I with it before this week: Most of it

Is it on the 2020 list? No
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Mrs. Robinson

In September, 1980, my dad took me out of school for one week for a surprise trip to California and Nevada. This recently minted 15-year-old saw all the Hollywood sites, made famous in movies and television shows I had loved as a kid. I climbed Bell Mountain and spent a night sleeping under the stars on Coyote Dry Bed Lake in the desert. I saw a Mojave Green Rattlesnake and a Californian Scorpion in the wild. We visited the Hoover Dam and spent two nights in Las Vegas where I played video games in the Circus Circus casino that wouldn't make it to Canada for months.

A vintage postcard from the Circus Circus Casino (1980)

Our host for the trip was Jean Tierney who, despite not being related to me, I called “Aunt Jean”. She and my father met when they both worked at the Kingston Whig Standard in 1968. He was the assistant wire editor and Jean was a reporter. They only worked together for seven months. My dad moved to the Hamilton Spectator as a copy editor. Adventurous Jean headed for a kibbutz in Israel, giving my dad her guitar for safe-keeping. It was the first guitar I used to teach myself how to play. Years later, in 1980, the guitar was returned to its rightful owner when, by pure chance, she reconnected with my dad at The London Free Press, where he became a senior reporter, and she was visiting her brother, and to check out the newspaper's new-fangled computer system. When Jean left for home in Victorville, famous for exhibiting cowboy movie star Roy Rogers’ stuffed horse, Trigger, the California visit was hatched.

The London Free Press Building in London, Ontario.

Jean was the coolest adult I had ever met. Not only did she live in an inviting adobe-style home on the edge of the desert in Victorville, she drove an early-’70s white Dodge Valiant she called "Prince" -- aka Prince Valiant. She knew volumes about the flora and fauna of the Mojave and took us hiking. We spent one night camping out on the Coyote Dry Bed Lake, where dad let me drive Jean’s car. My first time behind the wheel and I was grinning. Jean’s concern about her beloved Prince was assuaged when dad reassured her: “There’s nothing to run into out there.” It was later when my turn came to be reassured when Jean said: "Snakes won't cross a dry lake because there is nothing out there for them. But, be sure to shake out your boots in the morning before you put your feet in." I trusted her, but still had a fitful night's sleep worrying about venomous reptiles and arachnids. Eventually, I moved from the hard ground to the backseat of "Prince" to finish my slumber. The campfire of scrounged dead twigs and vegetation gathered from the salt lake “shore” was still burning in the morning.

An early-70s white Valiant - similar to "Prince".

This memorable trip came when my 15-year-old self was cultivating a taste in music. I loved flipping through the record collections of the adults in my world. Jean didn't have many discs, but one stood out --  Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits. Paul Simon's song, Late In The Evening, from his upcoming film One Trick Pony, was a hit on the radio at the time and I liked it. I asked Jean if she would play the record and she readily obliged, telling me that The Boxer was one of her favourites. That disc got many spins that week and I became a fan of the duo.

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel met in elementary school in Queens, New York, in 1953. It was there that they learned to harmonize and write songs. Initially performing in New York coffee houses as Tom & Jerry, the pair had a modest hit in 1957 with the song Hey Schoolgirl, which was written in the same style as their musical idols, the Everly Brothers. In 1963, they signed with Columbia Records and rebranded with their own last names. They enjoyed commercial and critical success throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, with three number one songs and multiple charting hits. They have three records on The 500 list, with Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme checking in at #202 and Bridge Over Troubled Waters appearing at #51. Paul Simon also has two records on the list, including his self-titled debut (#268) which I wrote about in April, 2023. Graceland is at #71. Not only is it a crackin' album, its release coincided with one of the best times in my life. I look forward to writing about Graceland in two years. It is a record that is likely in my Top Ten.

Bookends is the fourth studio record from Simon & Garfunkel, released after their eight-song contribution to the soundtrack for the film The Graduate. Side one is a concept record, which means that the individual tracks interrelate to tell a larger narrative, exploring the journey from childhood to old age. Side Two is comprised of previously released singles and additional tracks intended, but not used, in the The Graduate,

Aunt Jean and I reconnected through Facebook about four years ago and she became a loyal reader -- often sharing positive feedback or additional commentary on the records I wrote about. At one point, I mentioned the Simon & Garfunkel records on the list and reminded her of the impact her record had on my teenage fandom. I planned on asking her to guest blog on this record and I’m sure she would have agreed. However, she passed away on September 22, 2022, at the age of 80. Her obituary can be found here. Thanks Aunt Jean for that epic adventure in the autumn of 1980. You were a wonderful host and I am so glad that I got to share a little time in your universe. Simon & Garfunkel's The Boxer will always remind me of you.