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| Genre = Folk rock | Length = 29:51 | Label = Columbia | Producer = | Last album = ''The Graduate'' (1968) | This album = ''Bookends'' (1968) | Next album = ''Bridge over Troubled Water'' (1970) | Misc = }} ''Bookends'' is the fourth studio album by American music duo Simon & Garfunkel. Produced by Paul Simon, Roy Halee and Art Garfunkel, the album was released on April 3, 1968 in the United States by Columbia Records. The duo had risen to fame two years prior with hit albums such as ''Sounds of Silence'' and ''Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme'', radio singles, and touring colleges. In 1967, Simon was approached by director Mike Nichols to write songs for his next film, ''The Graduate''. Released several weeks prior to ''Bookends'', the soundtrack album propelled the band further into stardom. ''Bookends'', in contrast to the soundtrack album, follows a unified concept, exploring a life journey from childhood to old age. Side one of the album marks successive stages in life, the theme serving as literal bookends to the life cycle. Side two largely consists of unused material for ''The Graduate'' soundtrack. Simon's lyrics largely revolve around youth, disillusionment, relationships, old age, and mortality. Much of the material was crafted alongside producer John Simon, who joined the recording process when Paul Simon suffered from writer's block. As a result, the album was recorded gradually over the period of a year, with production speeding up around the later months of 1967. Initial sales for ''Bookends'' were substantial in the US, and the album produced the number one hit single, "Mrs. Robinson". The album was mainly a hit in the duo's native country as well as the United Kingdom, where in both countries it peaked at number one. ''Bookends'' was considered a breakthrough for the group, placing them on the same level as artists such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones at the forefront of the cultural movement in the 1960s. The album has continued to receive critical acclaim in recent years as one of the duo's finest efforts. ==Background== Simon & Garfunkel first burst onto the national scene when their hit single "The Sound of Silence" made waves on radio in 1965, during a period in which the duo had broken up due to the failure of their debut release, ''Wednesday Morning, 3 AM'' (1964). Following another release, ''Sounds of Silence'' (1965), the duo recorded and released ''Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme'' (1966), which brought new critical and commercial success to the duo. Simon, then 27, felt he had finally "made it" into an upper echelon of rock and roll, while most importantly retaining artistic integrity ("making him spiritually closer to Bob Dylan than to, say, Bobby Darin", wrote biographer Marc Eliot). The duo chose William Morris as their booking agency after a recommendation from Wally Amos, a mutual friend through their producer, Tom Wilson. During the sessions for ''Parsley'', the duo cut "A Hazy Shade of Winter" and decided to release it as a single then, where it peaked at number 13 on the national charts. Similarly, they recorded "At the Zoo" for single release in early 1967 (it charted lower, at number 16). Simon began work for ''Bookends'' around this time, noting to a writer at ''High Fidelity'' that "I'm not interested in singles anymore". He had hit a dry spell in his writing, which led to no Simon & Garfunkel album on the horizon for 1967. Artists at the time were expected to release two, perhaps three albums each year and the lack of productivity from the duo worried executives at Columbia Records. Amid concerns for Simon's idleness, Columbia Records chairman Clive Davis arranged for up-and-coming record producer John Simon to kick-start the recording. Simon was distrustful of "suits" at the label; on one occasion, he and Garfunkel brought a tape recorder into a meeting with Davis, who was giving a "fatherly talk" on speeding up production, in order to laugh at it later. Meanwhile, director Mike Nichols, then filming ''The Graduate'', had become fascinated with the duo's past two efforts, listening to them nonstop before and after filming. After two weeks of this obsession, he met with Clive Davis to ask for permission to license Simon & Garfunkel music for his film. Davis viewed it as a perfect fit and envisioned a best-selling soundtrack album. Simon was not as immediately receptive, viewing movies akin to "selling out", creating a damper on his artistic integrity. However, after meeting Nichols and becoming impressed by his wit and the script, he agreed to write at least one or two new songs for the film. Leonard Hirshan, a powerful agent at William Morris, negotiated a deal that paid Simon $25,000 to submit three songs to Nichols and producer Lawrence Turman. Several weeks later, Simon re-emerged with two new tracks, "Punky's Dilemma" and "Overs", neither of which Nichols was particularly taken with. The duo offered another new song, which later became "Mrs. Robinson", that was not as developed. Nichols loved it. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bookends (album)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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