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Art Garfunkel

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What Is It All but Luminous: Notes from an Underground Man Hardcover – Sept. 26 2017

by Art Garfunkel (Author)

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"Poetic musings on a life well-lived—one that is still moving forward, always creating, always luminous. This isn't your typical autobiography. Garfunkel's history is told in flowing prose, bounding from present to past, far from a linear rags-to-riches story."
—Bookreporter

"It's hard to imagine any single word that would accurately describe this book . . . an entertaining volume that's more fun to read than a conventional memoir might have been."
—The Wall Street Journal

"A charming book of prose and poetry printed in a digitalized version of his handwriting . . . witty, candid, and wildly imaginative . . . A highly intelligent man trying to make sense of his extraordinary life."
—Associated Press

From the golden-haired, curly-headed half of Simon & Garfunkel, a memoir (of sorts)—moving, lyrical impressions, interspersed throughout a narrative, punctuated by poetry, musings, lists of resonant books loved and admired, revealing a life and the making of a musician, that show us, as well, the evolution of a man, a portrait of a life-long friendship and of a collaboration that became the most successful singing duo in the roiling age that embraced, and was defined by, their pathfinding folk-rock music.

In What Is It All but Luminous, Art Garfunkel writes about growing up in the 1940s and ‘50s (son of a traveling salesman, listening as his father played Enrico Caruso records), a middle-class Jewish boy, living in a redbrick semi-attached house on Jewel Avenue in Kew Gardens, Queens.

He writes of meeting Paul Simon, the kid who made Art laugh (they met at their graduation play, Alice in Wonderland; Paul was the White Rabbit; Art, the Cheshire Cat). Of their being twelve at the birth of rock’n’roll (“it was rhythm and blues. It was black. I was captured and so was Paul”), of a demo of their song, Hey Schoolgirl for seven dollars and the actual record (with Paul’s father on bass) going to #40 on the charts.

He writes about their becoming Simon & Garfunkel, ruling the pop charts from the age of sixteen, about not being a natural performer but more a thinker, an underground man.

He writes of the hit songs; touring; about being an actor working with directors Mike Nichols (“the greatest of them all”), about choosing music over a PhD in mathematics.

And he writes about his long-unfolding split with Paul, and how and why it evolved, and after; learning to perform on his own . . . and about being a husband, a father and much more.

Print length

256 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Knopf
Publication date

Sept. 26 2017
Dimensions

13.97 x 3.18 x 21.59 cm
ISBN-10

0385352476
ISBN-13

978-0385352475
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Review

Acclaim for Art Garfunkel’s
WHAT IS IT ALL BUT LUMINOUS

"Captivating . . . Even before he met Simon, he found his voice, and not just any voice. It is perhaps one of the most magical, alluring voices in music history . . ."

--Michael Granberry, Dallas Morning News

"Charming and poetic; uniquely written and unconventional . . . Garfunkel can now add memoirist to his resume of singer/actor/pop culture icon."

--David Chiu, Huffington Post

"I was quite blown away with what a strong, beautiful and intimate memoir What Is It All But Luminous turns out to be. It is so well written and has so many wonderful little scenes and insights, delicious quirks of Art Garfunkel. I loved it; it's a very special pleasure."

--Jann Wenner

“Garfunkel reveals flashes of real insight about the transcendent power of music and the inner workings of a singer’s life.”

—Publishers Weekly

About the Author

ART GARFUNKEL attended Columbia University, where he earned a master's degree in mathematics. He performed with Paul Simon as Simon & Garfunkel from 1963 to 1970. Garfunkel, with Paul Simon, has been the recipient of six Grammys, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 1990 was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Garfunkel lives in New York with his wife and two children. He continues to travel around the world giving concert performances, and since 1973 has produced twelve solo albums.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

On Saturday mornings, in 1953, in Keds sneakers, white on white, I took my basketball to P.S. 164. We played half-court ball, three on three. Or else I listened to Martin Block’s Make-Believe Ballroom on the radio. I loved to chart the top thirty songs. It was the numbers that got me. I kept meticulous lists — when a new singer like Tony Bennett came onto the charts with “Rags to Riches.” I watched the record jump from, say, #23 to #14 in a week. The mathematics of the jumps went to my sense of fun. I was commercially aware through the Hit Parade, as well as involved in the music. Johnny Ray’s “Cry,” the Crewcuts’ “Sha-boom,” Roy Hamilton ballads, “Unchained Melody” reached me. Soon the Everly Brothers would take me for The Big Ride.

As I entered Parsons Junior High where the tough kids are, Paul Simon became my one and only friend. We saw each other’s uniqueness. We smoked our first cigarettes. We had retreated from all other kids. And we laughed. I opened my school desk one day in 1954 and saw a note from Ira Green to a friend: “Listen to the radio tonight, I have a dedication to you.” I became aware that Alan Freed had taken this subversive music from Cleveland to New York City. He read dedications from teenage overs before playing “Earth Angel,” “Sincerely.” When he played Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally,” he left the studio mic open enough to hear him pounding a stack of telephone books to the backbeat. This was no Martin Block.

Maybe I was in the land of payola, of “back alley enterprise” and pill-head disc jockeying, but what I felt was that Alan Freed loved us kids to dance, romance, and fall in love, and the music would send us. It sent me for life. It was rhythm and blues. It was black. It was from New Orleans, Chicago, Philadelphia. It was dirty music (read sexual). One night Alan Freed called it “rock ’n’ roll.” Hip was born for me. Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis. Bobby Freeman asked, “Do you wanna dance, squeeze and hug me all through the night?” and you knew she did.
I was captured. So was Paul. We followed WINS radio. Paul bought a guitar. We used my father’s wire recorder, then Paul’s Webcor tape machine. Holding rehearsals in our basements, we were little perfectionists. We put sound on sound (stacking two layers of our singing). With the courage to listen and cringe about how not right it was yet, we began to record.

We were guitar-based little rockers. Paul had the guitar. We wrote streamlined harmonies whose intervals were thirds, as I learned it from the Andrews Sisters to Don and Phil and floated it over Paul’s chugging hammering-on-guitar technique. It was bluesy, it was rockabilly, it was rock ’n’ roll. We took “woo-bop-a-loo-chi-ba” from Gene Vincent’s “Be-bop-a-lula.” We stole Buddy Holly’s country flavor (“Oh Boy”), the Everlys’ harmony (“Wake Up Little Susie”). Paul took Elvis’s everything (“Mystery Train”). As Paul drove the rhythm, I brought us into a vocal blend. We were the closest of chums, making out with our girls across the basement floor. We showed each other our versions of masturbation (mine used a hand). “The Girl for Me” was the first song we wrote — innocent, a pathetic “Earth Angel.” In junior high we added Stu Kutcher and Angel and Ida Pellagrini.

All the while, I did a lot of homework, the shy kid’s retreat. My geometry page was a model of perfection. Anything worth doing is worth doing extraordinarily well — why not best in the world?

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Knopf (Sept. 26 2017)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385352476
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385352475
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 517 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.97 x 3.18 x 21.59 cm

Best Sellers Rank: #709,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #827 in Pop Music (Books)
- #849 in Pop Culture Music
- #4,257 in Musician Biographies

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4.0 267 ratings

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Jeannette LeBlanc

The book is written half prose half poetry like one would write a long song

Reviewed in Canada on October 22, 2017

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The book is written half prose half poetry like one would write a long song. I guess I expected a clearly defined biography. It took a while before my interest was sparked to continue reading.

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JillB

A surreal journey through times and places in Art's memories

Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2017

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Art's book is bound to be a let-down to people, and that's a shame. This book is interesting, thoughtfully written and bravely presented. Much of it is really beautiful. It's not a bad book. Unfortunately, it's not what most people were probably hoping to get from someone with the experience and famously turbulent personal history of someone like Art Garfunkel.

The public was mostly likely hoping for a blow-by-blow account of Art's life, music career and relationship with Paul Simon. And who can blame them? Both Art and Paul are fascinating people, and there is almost certainly an extraordinary story behind their very loving but very troubled relationship. But this is not that, and it shouldn't be surprising. We forget that these are two human beings that have been unable to escape each other's orbits for 60+ years. For decades, they've answered the same overly-intrusive questions about each other over and over. Their individual work has constantly been compared to each other's and to the work they did as a duo. Maybe worst of all, whatever personal damage they've done to each other is never allowed to heal, as the public and press are continually picking at the scabs of memory and reopening old wounds. The world continually tries to force two people together who probably don't want to be together. It's kind of sad when you think about it.

It's not a shock that this little book of life bits, poetry, lists and observations is not being as well-received as it could have been. It's no literary masterpiece, don't get me wrong--but I don't know that it was ever meant to be. This book is Art finding his voice and expressing his inner thoughts. As someone who has beautifully sung someone else's words for most of his life, can you blame him for wanting to put his own thoughts out there for once?

There's a lot going on in this book. It's without any real order--it generally moves chronologically through time, but not always. It's true that it's confusing in many places. You often don't know when or where the scene is set that you're reading. Much of the time, you don't even know who or what he's writing about--a passage might be pure inner thoughts or feelings (I was grateful when he used an asterisk at one point which he referenced at the bottom of the page with "This is Paul Simon." It made me smile and wish he'd done this throughout the book, as messy as it would have been). And yes, some of it is indeed written in a stream-of-consciousness style. Don't expect a true memoir, but rather a surreal journey that bounces through times and places in Art's memory--a journey riddled with riddles, references that probably only he gets and intense feelings poured from the heart onto the page. It is, in more than one sense, a work of Art.

If you've read his previous poetry or paid attention to some of the interviews he's given, it wouldn't come as a surprise to you that he's a very sexually-minded person. But in this book, he hints at attraction to both sexes, which was something of a surprise. Again, it was nothing I hadn't already observed, but it was startling to see these thoughts and words in print. It's still really subtle--he never uses the word bisexuality, and he only alludes to intimacy in relationships with men. That said, I was proud of Art for being as open as he was. I wish more people had picked up on this part of the book, because I think it took bravery to include it, and positive representation of same-sex relationships is so important--especially from Art's generation. It might be interesting to hear him be more open about it--mind you, not about specific experiences, which this book is full of (often with probably too much detail), but maybe he could share his experiences, struggles and lessons learned with regard to same-sex relationships.

For each story that borders on "too much information," there's relatively tame tributes to his wife and children, cherished platonic relationships and his love of travelling, walking and seeing the world. Much is said about music's impact on his life and his career as a singer. He reflects on loss, grief and mortality. As I said before, there's a lot going on in this book. Perhaps it doesn't help that it's typeset in a strange font based on his handwriting--sometimes all caps, sometimes not. Sometimes bold. Sometimes italics. Sometimes both. It's charming at first, but this only adds to the confusion and scattered nature of the book.

Parts of the book are maddingly specific and you wonder what you could possibly ever need certain information for (dear God, Art, did you have to include the part about teenage Paul and Artie's "techniques?") and in some places it's maddeningly vague. You know there is something interesting there, but it's obscured...like a picture that has been purposefully blurred (there's a photo captioned "The hidden 'g' in 'benign'" --the hell does that mean!?).

Finally, yes, there is some self-absorbed navel gazing and self-praise. Perhaps it comes from feelings of being repressed, under-respected, overshadowed and misunderstood for so many years. It's hard to blame him for wanting to be assertive in claiming and naming his legitimately great work. "Everything waits to be noticed," and all that. Whether this is understood or not, this can leave the reader with a bad impression and that's unfortunate.

I hope Art writes more and publishes again. He doesn't owe it to anyone, but It might be in his best interest to get his story out there, told in a straightforward manner. But if this is his last published writing, it is a not a bad one to go out on. It's poetic. It's quirky. It's chaotic. It's not easily understood. It's pure Art.

56 people found this helpful

Atlantic252

A curate's egg

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 26, 2022

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Good in parts, like the curate's egg.
Handwritten, this felt like the notes Art Garfunkel wrote for himself or his family rather than a true autobiography. Roughly in chronological order of events, the book is punctuated by examples of the author's poetry and is somewhat inclined to stop abruptly and leap from event or topic unexpectedly. We learn a little of the pain Art suffered when his adored girlfriend Laurie Bird took her life whilst he was away, yet this seems to have played a massive part in his post-Paul-Simon era.
Ah, Paul Simon. Hanging over the entire book is the shadow of Art's friend and former partner. We learn but a little of their split, clearly Paul was a perfectionist to the point of obsession whilst Art felt his contribution to the duo was not given the credit it deserved. Perhaps more could have been told, but maybe not, as there is much bitterness here despite the praise for Simon's talent and insistence of their continuing friendship.
What I liked was learning that Art is an avid reader, devouring books which he lists on his website once read. However in places it is little more than a list of titles, an aide memoire perhaps. Some comment on his listed favourite works might have helped.
I liked too learning that Art has undertaken several long distance walks, including one across Europe from west to east, but only brief events from them are give. The reasons for the walks and detail might make interesting reading...?
Interesting, but only in parts, and ultimately dis-satisfying as there was too little detail. And two much antagonism towards Simon for my personal liking.

Danny Morrison

Quite an honest account of his difficulties with fame and love and friendship

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 24, 2020

Verified Purchase

Extracted from the raw material of notebooks kept over years, there are a lot of esoteric allusions but what comes across is his insecurity over his partnership with Paul Simon. As if he could never measure up to Simon. But for me it was Garfunkel’s voice that was the hallmark of their music. Notes from the book
“But I never forget and I never really forgive - ”
Paul Simon’s father told Art when he was twelve: “Not everybody likes everybody, and I just don’t like you.”
Says that while in Paris he got caught “for shoplifting underwear at Prix Unique.”
There are hints of bisexuality.

He walked across the USA –
I walked across the Appalachians,
Perfect undulations, ambler’s waves of joy;
Ridge to ridge – four and a half miles,
terrestrial corduroy.

Beginning in May 1998 he began walking across Europe, beginning in Ireland and finishing in Istanbul. “The mind is glued to the people we know, but the walker’ home is the sky.”
“I walk because I’m fiercely in love with being alive… I walk to relax, a word that means the world to me.”

2 people found this helpful

Computer_Geek

WARNING: 80% of this book is poetry and stream-of-consciousness ("stoned") prose.

Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2017

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WARNING: 80% of this book is poetry and stream-of-consciousness ("stoned") prose. For those who decide whether they want to buy a book by reading the first chapter, be forewarned that the opening pages are nothing like the rest of the book.

Artie is a big fan of James Joyce (stream-of-consciousness); to enjoy 25 of the 27 chapters, you must have great patience with vagueness, haziness, and mood (rather than detail). There are paragraphs (and pages) where you will feel lost about who/what/when/where/why.

Most readers know that Artie WALKED across America; I was unaware that he also walked across Europe and Japan. He keeps track of his pace (53 steps per minute, seventeen miles per day). A "numbers guy," he also keeps track of the number of books he's read (1,219) as well as the total number of pages. (He ALMOST pursued a PhD in mathematics.)

Artie has studied every word (275,000 words) of the Random House Dictionary (1,664 pages), which he read from Z to A. He makes lists of words that enchant him (syrinx, sciamachy) and uses these words in his poetry. (Page 58: "Eyes wet and radiant with a shehecheyanu.") Depending on your perspective (and tolerance of poetry), you'll either find such wordplay to be pretentious or profound. (Page 121: "I walk alone in Burgundian wonder: to Byzantium still.")

The author's deep love of his wife and two sons in obvious in every chapter and in the many photos. Little of the book deals with his Simon and Garfunkel days; even less of it describes the time he spent in the studio working on S-and-G albums or his solo albums.

For those of you who want to read about the Simon and Garfunkel days and for those who want to DEEPLY understand both Paul and Artie, I strongly recommend 'HOMEWARD BOUND' by Peter Ames Carlin (copyright 2016). To say that Carlin did his homework is an extraordinary understatement.

114 people found this helpful

Timothy Haugh

Why Punish Your Fans?

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2018

Verified Purchase

Let it be noted that I am a huge fan of Simon & Garfunkel’s music. Let it also be noted that I often favor the underdog; in this case, Art Garfunkel, who, I believe, often doesn’t get enough credit for the success of the duo. That said, it must be noted that this book is only slightly better than mediocre.

Though marketed as a memoir, the casual reader will struggle to find out much about Mr. Garfunkel here. What information there is ranges from occasional comments on the well-known to vague, incomprehensible musings about unknown events. I don’t much follow the personal lives of even people I admire but this book gives almost no insight into the things about which a fan would care—his relationship with Mr. Simon and the creation of their music. What you will find here are numerous passages of rather unimpressive poetry and philosophical flights of fancy.

To be fair, I enjoyed the pictures in the book, which appear to be mainly the author’s own. I liked his lists of the best books he read over various periods, though I wouldn’t have minded hearing why he chose some of these titles. I also learned a few things about his family relationships but not with any depth.

Like most underdogs who carry grudges (acknowledged or not) against a more successful partner, Mr. Garfunkel takes it out on his fans by spending a lot of time on his pursuits outside of Simon & Garfunkel—acting and later musical work—and, in this case, in the unique way of putting a layer of “art” between himself and his readers. I like Mr. Garfunkel enough to support his work here, and there are certainly things to like, but I would have liked something less luminous and more enlightening.

8 people found this helpful

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