Simon and Garfunkle Day

Yesterday I heard a brief story on Bob Dylan, who released an album earlier in the month which went to the top 40, which made him the first artist to have a top 40 new album every decade since the 60's.  And then, they went through the number of top 40 albums in each decade: " Going into the 21st century, Dylan had seven Top 40 albums in the aughts. . . . And nine in the 2010s."     Seven and nine albums?  I was aware of one or two recent ones, but clearly there were more. 

I feel inadequate now.

My dad, sister, and I have not been listening to Bob Dylan's new album.  On Saturday, my dad called to ask if I had any of his Simon and Garfunkle albums; it's a fair question, since I used to take his albums and not return them quickly.  I mentioned that I thought he had gotten rid of all of those albums when he got the CD collection of the complete works of the duo.  He had forgotten that he had that CD.

I realize that you may be thinking my dad suffers from dementia, but he doesn't.  He's just had a lot of music over these past decades, and to make it more complicated, it's been music stored in a variety of ways:  vinyl LP record album, reel to reel tape, cassette tape, CDs, and now electronically.

I'm the same way; in fact, I've bought Simon and Garfunkle's The Concert in Central Park three times (twice on vinyl, once on CD).  Right now, I couldn't tell you which record albums I've kept and which I've gotten rid of.

Yesterday, my dad sent my sister and me a play list of sorts, complete with links to find the songs online.  I don't know that my sister listened to Simon and Garfunkle, and later Paul Simon, as obsessively as my dad and I did, but she wrote my dad an e-mail thanking him for the playlist that he sent, saying that she had listened during lunch and while she was cooking dinner.

I wish I could say that my nephew loves Simon and Garfunkle, that we're passing the songs onto the next generation.  It hasn't happened yet--but there's still time!