"The Only Living Boy in New York" is a song written by Paul Simon and performed by Simon & Garfunkel. It is the eighth track from the duo's fifth and final studio album, '' Bridge over Troubled Water''. The song was also issued as the B-side to the duo's "

Cecilia Cecilia is a personal name originating in the name of Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music. The name has been popularly used in Europe (particularly the United Kingdom and Italy, where in 2018 it was the 43rd most popular name for girls born ...

" single. The version recorded by Everything But The Girl was used to play at the end of Season 2/Episode 3 (“Original Sin”) of the TV series ''Designated Survivor'', starring Kiefer Sutherland.

Background

Simon wrote this as a thinly veiled message to

Art Garfunkel Arthur Ira Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) is an American singer, poet, and actor. He is best known for his partnership with Paul Simon in the folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Highlights of Garfunkel's solo music career include one top-10 h ...

, referencing in the first stanza a specific incident where Garfunkel went to Mexico to act in the film ''

Catch-22 ''Catch-22'' is a satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961. Often cited as one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century, it uses a distinctive non-ch ...

.'' Simon was left alone in New York writing songs for ''Bridge over Troubled Water,'' hence the very lonely feelings of "The Only Living Boy in New York." Simon refers to Garfunkel in the song as "Tom", alluding to their early days when they were called

Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series c ...

, and encourages him to "let your honesty shine . . . like it shines on me". The background vocals feature both Garfunkel and Simon recorded together in an

echo chamber Echo chamber of the Dresden University of Technology Hamilton Mausoleum has a long-lasting unplanned echo An echo chamber is a hollow enclosure used to produce reverberation, usually for recording purposes. For example, the producers of ...

, multi-tracked around eight times.

Personnel

* Paul Simon — lead vocals, background vocals, acoustic guitar *

— backup and harmony vocals * Joe Osborn — bass guitar *

Larry Knechtel Lawrence William Knechtel (August 4, 1940 – August 20, 2009) was an American keyboard player and bassist who was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a collection of Los Angeles-based session musicians who worked with such renowned artists as Simon & ...

— Hammond organ * Fred Carter Jr. — acoustic guitar *

Hal Blaine Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. ...

— drums,

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, any three points, when non- colline ...

Covers

*The reggae hit "Weather Report", by

the Tennors The Tennors were a Jamaican rocksteady and reggae vocal group in the 1960s and '70s. Among the band's hits was "Ride Yu Donkey" in 1968. The song was featured on the soundtrack to the 2005 film '' Broken Flowers''. History The group was for ...

, was adapted from this song. *This song was covered by

the Coolies The Coolies were an American alternative rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, active from 1986 to 1989. They derived the name from a dictionary definition of coolie, which defines the derogatory word as "one who does heavy work for little pay". ''di ...

on their 1986 album ''dig..?'', along with eight other tongue-in-cheek covers of Simon & Garfunkel classics. *In 1992, British indie band Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine parodied the title of the song for their biggest-selling single, " The Only Living Boy In New Cross". (

New Cross New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwic ...

is an area of south-east London.) *A

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

of the song was recorded by English musical duo

Everything but the Girl Everything but the Girl (occasionally referred to as EBTG) are an English musical duo formed in Kingston upon Hull in 1982, consisting of lead singer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, producer and singer Ben Wat ...

for their

greatest hits album A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

'' Home Movies''. It was released as a single on 12 April 1993 and spent five weeks on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, peaking at number 42. * Black 47 frontman

Larry Kirwan Larry Kirwan (born 1954, Wexford) is an expatriate Irish writer and musician, most noted as the lead singer for the rock band, Black 47, and conceiver/co-writer of Paradise Square, the Broadway Musical for which he received a Tony Award nomina ...

covered the song on his 2001 solo project ''Kilroy Was Here''. *

Marc Cohn Marc Craig Cohn (; born July 5, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1992. Cohn is best known for the song " Walking in Memphis" from his eponymous 1991 album, which was a Top 40 ...

released a cover version as part of his 2010 album of tribute songs, ''Listening Booth: 1970.'' * Passenger,

the Once The Once is a folk trio based in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. The group features Geraldine Hollett on lead vocals and vocalist-instrumentalists Phil Churchill and Andrew Dale playing a variety of instruments. The group performs a mix of ori ...

and Stu Larsen covered the song as part of their American Tour series. * Kishi Bashi covered the song as one of two singles released July 12, 2017, exclusively on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

, both songs having been recorded in the company's NYC studios in early April of the same year *

Buffalo Tom Buffalo Tom is an American alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1986. Its principal members are guitarist Bill Janovitz, bassist Chris Colbourn, and drummer Tom Maginnis. The band's name is derived from the band Buffalo Sp ...

released a cover version on their 2018 album ''

Quiet and Peace ''Quiet and Peace'' is the ninth studio album by American alternative rock band Buffalo Tom. It was released on March 2, 2018 under Schoolkids Records. It was their first album in seven years. Critical reception ''Quiet and Peace'' was met w ...

'', after guitarist

Bill Janovitz Bill Janovitz (born June 3, 1966) is an American musician and writer. He is the singer, guitarist, and songwriter of alternative rock band Buffalo Tom, and has also released three solo albums. Janovitz has written extensively for Allmusic, author ...

performed a live cover of the song with his daughter, Lucy. * David Mead covered the song on the soundtrack album for the television series ''

Everwood ''Everwood'' (known as ''Our New Life in Everwood'' in the United Kingdom) is an American drama television series created by Greg Berlanti. Berlanti, Mickey Liddell, Rina Mimoun, Andrew A. Ackerman and Michael Green served as executive produce ...

'' in 2004.

Use in film

's cover was featured in the 2002 film ''

Tadpole A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found ...

'' * The original recording is featured as part of the soundtrack for the 2004 film '' Garden State''. * Used as part of the soundtrack of the 2009 film ''

New York, I Love You ''New York, I Love You'' is a 2008 American romantic comedy-drama anthology film consisting of eleven short films, each by a different director. The shorts all relate in some way to the subject of love, and are set among the five boroughs of New ...

.'' *

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

has used sections of this song for their television commercials of the 2011 Accord. * The original recording is featured during the final scenes of the second-season finale of ''

Alphas ''Alphas'' is an American superhero drama television series created by Zak Penn and Michael Karnow. It follows a group of people with superhuman abilities, known as "Alphas", as they work to prevent crimes committed by other Alphas. The serie ...

.'' * The original recording is used in the credits of the film '' Koch'' * The original recording was used in the first-season finale of BBC3's comedy ''Uncle''. * Used in the final scene of the HBO film version of

Larry Kramer Laurence David Kramer (June 25, 1935May 27, 2020) was an American playwright, author, film producer, public health advocate, and gay rights activist. He began his career rewriting scripts while working for Columbia Pictures, which led him to Lo ...

's ''

The Normal Heart ''The Normal Heart'' is a largely autobiographical play by Larry Kramer. It focuses on the rise of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York City between 1981 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of writer/activist Ned Weeks, the gay founder of a pro ...

'' (2014). * Used in the film with the same name: '' The Only Living Boy in New York'' (2017).

Use in other media

David Gallaher David Matthew Gallaher (born June 5, 1975, in Honolulu) is an American video game writer, graphic novelist, podcaster and editor, known primarily for his work in comics and video games: ''Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint'', '' Vampire: The Mas ...

and Steve Ellis used the song as inspiration for their 2009 "The Only Living Boy" webcomic series. * ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'', May 13, 2017 in comedy sketch with

Melissa McCarthy Melissa Ann McCarthy (born August 26, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, producer, writer, and fashion designer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and nominations for two Academy Awards and tw ...

Sean Spicer Sean Michael Spicer (born September 23, 1971) is a former American political aide who served as the 30th White House Press Secretary and as White House Communications Director under President Donald Trump in 2017. Spicer was communications dire ...

and Alec Baldwin as

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

. * ''

Designated Survivor In the United States, a designated survivor (or designated successor) is a named individual in the presidential line of succession, chosen to stay at an undisclosed secure location, away from events such as State of the Union addresses and pre ...

'', S2E13 "Original Sin" March 14, 2018 used in the final scene. * ''

This is Us ''This Is Us'' is an American family drama television series that aired on NBC from September 20, 2016, to May 24, 2022. The series follows the lives and families of two parents, and their three children, in several different time frames. It s ...

'', S4E16 "New York New York New York" March 10, 2020 in street scene in New York City

Charts

Weekly charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Only Living Boy In New York Simon & Garfunkel songs Songs about New York City Songs written by Paul Simon 1969 songs Song recordings produced by Roy Halee Song recordings produced by Paul Simon Song recordings produced by Art Garfunkel Songs about loneliness