New Paul Simon doc reveals the ‘white noise’ that inspired ‘The Sound of Silence’
nypost.com“The Sound of Silence” — the chart-topping classic that had Simon & Garfunkel making all kinds of noise after their 1964 debut.“I used to go into the bathroom of my parents’ house.
There was tile on the wall, and I’d turn the water on,” recalls Paul Simon — who wrote the duo’s first hit — in the two-part documentary “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon,” which premieres on MGM+ Sunday and continues on March 24.“And the tile made the echo, and the water was like a white noise sound.
It was going to a space that was a zone.”For Simon, 82, sitting in the john of his parent’s home in Flushing, Queens, made him flush with creativity.“There was a very easy flow of creating energy,” he explains. “One second ago, that thought wasn’t here — and now I’m weeping.
How’d that happen? And how can I do it again?”However, on the first demo of “The Sound of Silence” that was recorded in 1964, Art Garfunkel was on mute. “It was just me, it wasn’t with Artie,” says Simon of his solo vocal without his childhood buddy in harmony.But after playing the song — which was originally titled “The Sounds of Silence” — for Bob Dylan’s Columbia Records producer Tom Wilson, Simon felt as if it was missing something: Garfunkel.“And I said, ‘I sang this song with a friend of mine.
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