September 19th 1981. The day of one of the greatest reunion concerts in music history – Simon and Garfunkel’s Concert in Central Park.

I wasn’t there. But being a huge fan of the duo I have a copy of the live album that was subsequently released, as well as a DVD of the concert in its entirety.

The reason the show is so memorable is that it reunited two long time friends who produced tremendously successful music together. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel met in elementary school and stayed friends throughout high school in New York City. Their musical collaboration began at an early age and they produced their first single in 1957. Their first album, Wednesday Morning, 3A.M., was released in 1964 but it wasn’t until 1966 that they rocketed to stardom when one of the songs from the album “The Sound of Silence” hit number 1 on the pop charts.

The duo had split up at this point but, fueled by the success of “The Sound of Silence,” reunited to work on more folk style recordings. One of the later highlights of their career together was their substantial contribution to the soundtrack of Mike Nichol’s film The Graduate. However, by 1970 success had taken its toll on the duo and they agreed to split again to pursue independent careers and gain status as solo performers.

They had 2 reunions, in 1972 and again in 1975, which were considered small scale in terms of their third reunion – a free concert in New York City’s Central Park on the 19th of September, 1981. Over 500,000 people attended. They sang old favorites such as “Scarborough Fair,” “Bridge Over Troubled Waters,” “Homeward Bound,” “Mrs. Robinson,” and, of course, “The Sound of Silence.”  Their rendition of “Old Friends” was especially poignant. What’s special about this concert is seeing these friends reuniting to give their audience a night of fabulous music and memories.

Their harmony is effortless and flawless – a perfect match. I have never seen two other musicians so in tune (literally and metaphorically) with each other. It’s unfortunate that two of the world’s most gifted musicians who performed so well together had such a troubled personal relationship with long periods of estrangement that impacted their careers and their success. They worked great independently, true, but they will always be remembered not so much as “Paul Simon” and “Art Garfunkel,” but as “Simon and Garfunkel”.