Released: 1969
Of all of Simon and Garfunkel’s shared and individual qualities, mystique surely wasn’t one of them. Well maybe that’s not true as both recorded under aliases in the earlier parts of their career, but it seemed that the biggest problem they faced after publicly beginning to use their respective names was getting out from under the shadow of Bob Dylan.
Whether acoustic or electric Dylan had the entire folk scene in the palm of his ego and there was barely space for anyone else to flourish; the pair’s debut 1964 album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. initially sank almost without a trace, as the year after did Simon’s first solo album.
Their response would eventually come via a beefed up Sound of Silence, but previous to that Simon had been unable to prevent himself indirectly referencing their would-be Kryptonite on A Simple Desultory Philippic. In the bitchy world of folk turned pop it was a swipe that did not go unnoticed.
By the time The Boxer was released in the wake of both their hugely successful album Bookends and the totemic Mrs. Robinson there was however no longer any need to be upset. A song of cautious beauty and introspection, the main character sifts an unhappy path through a soupy menu of pedal steel, harmonica, brass and church found reverb. But who was this lonely hero? Was it..? the answer was no, although Simon’s words were open to gossipy speculation, as many did. With everybody acting like grownups there was no mystery here, but mystery found it anyway.
The Voice Of Unreason 
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