Art Garfunkel reunites with Paul Simon ‘for the first time in years’

Paul Simon And Art Garfunkel have shared a notoriously rocky relationship, but the legendary folk-rock duo are trying to build their own bridge over troubled waters.

Simon and Garfunkel, both 83, recently met for dinner, marking the first time the two spent time together in years. Garfunkel opened up about that evening on the Wednesday, December 11 episode of Live with Kelly and Mark.

“I know we met recently for the first time in years,” Garfunkel said. “We had a period of estrangement for a number of years until – he has a son who moved to where I live and I knew I would run into Harper [Simon] and Harper arranged a dinner and Paul and I hung out for the first time in years. And it was very moving.”

Simon and Garfunkel split in 1970 after releasing five studio albums together and writing such hits as “The Sound of Silence,” “Mrs. Robinson” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” which are still popular today.

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The pair reunited several times in the years that followed, including a reunion concert in Central Park in 1981 that drew more than 500,000 people. They tried to tour together afterward, but their controversial relationship kept them from speaking for most of their run.

Their most recent performance together took place in 2010 in honor of the American Film Institute Mike Nicholswhere she called “Mrs. Robinson.”

Garfunkel also talked about their recent dinner reunion in a Nov. 17 story The timeswhere he acknowledged part of the reason for the gap.

“First time we’ve been together in many years,” he said. “I looked at Paul and said, ‘What happened? Why haven’t we seen each other?’ Paul mentioned an old interview where I said some things. I cried when he told me how much I had hurt him.”

Simon shared his thoughts in the 2023 documentary In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon. He pointed to Garfunkel’s role in the 1970 film Catch-22 as the turning point in their relationship.

“Artie said, ‘Yeah, the way it’s going to happen is I’ll make movies for six months, then I’ll come back, you’ll write the songs and we’ll make the album,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah? Actually, no .That’s not going to happen. I’m not going to do that,'” Simon recalled.

While Garfunkel was telling it The times he’s not sure if the duo would ever perform together again. He did reveal that they have made plans to meet again. For him, he said it was about “making amends before it’s too late.”

“When I think about it now, tears are rolling down my cheeks,” he said. “I can still feel his hug.”