In 1970, after their biggest selling album Bridge over Troubled Water, Simon and Garfunkel went their separate ways.
And 45 years later, Art Garfunkel has thrown some highly inflammatory fuel to the flames, saying Simon’s 160cm (5’2″) stature could be to blame.
The 73-year-old singer spoke to UK newspaper The Telegraph and opened up about his relationship with Paul Simon, also 73, saying that treating Simon as special in the early years of their friendship “created a monster”.
When pressed about whether Simon might have a Napoleon complex (a colloquial term that suggests people who are short make up for it by being aggressive and attention-seeking), Garfunkel agrees. “I think you’re on to something. I would say so, yes.”
Garfunkel, for the record is 180cm (5'11").
Bridge Over Troubled Water , released in 1970, was the last studio album the pair recorded. It became the best-selling album of 1970, 1971 and 1972, and was the best-selling album of all time until Michael Jackson's Thriller in 1982. After that, things between the duo became complicated.
“It was very strange." Garfunkel told The Telegraph . "I want to open up about this. I don’t want to say any anti-Paul Simon things, but it seems very perverse to not enjoy the glory and walk away from it instead. Crazy. What I would have done is take a rest from Paul, because he was getting on my nerves. The jokes had run dry."
They went their separate ways, but reunited repeatedly to do a string of concerts, including the Concert in Central Park in 1981. But when The Telegraph asked Art Garfunkel now whether he would reunite with his other half, the reaction was mixed.