"The Only Living Boy in New York" is a song written by

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Sim ...

and performed by

Simon & Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo comprising the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music acts of the 1960s. Their most famous recordings include three US number-one sing ...

. It is the eighth track from the duo's fifth and final studio album, ''

Bridge over Troubled Water ''Bridge Over Troubled Water'' is the fifth and final studio album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, released on January 26, 1970, by Columbia Records. Following the duo's soundtrack for ''The Graduate'', Art Garfunkel took an acting ...

''. The song was also issued as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

of the duo's "

Cecilia Cecilia is a personal name originating in the name of Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music. History 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 g ...

" single.

Background

Paul Simon wrote the song as a thinly veiled message to

Art Garfunkel Arthur Ira Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) is an American singer, actor and poet who is best known for his partnership with Paul Simon in the folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, Garfunkel became acquainte ...

, referencing in the first stanza the time when Garfunkel went to Mexico to act in the film ''

Catch-22 ''Catch-22'' is a satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller. It was his debut novel. 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 ...

''. Simon was left alone in New York writing songs for ''

''; hence the feeling of great loneliness expressed in "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 ...

, 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. A traditional echo chamber is cove ...

, multi-tracked around eight times.

Personnel

— lead vocals, background vocals, acoustic guitar *

— backup and harmony vocals *

Joe Osborn Joe Osborn (August 28, 1937 – December 14, 2018Larry 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 Sim ...

—

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

* 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 corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...

Covers

*The 1973 reggae hit "Weather Report", by

the Tennors The Tennors is 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 in film, 2005 film ''Broken Flowers''. History The Tenno ...

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

the Coolies The Coolies were an American alternative rock band from Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, active from 1986 to 1989. They derived their name from a dictionary definition of coolie, which defines the word as a derogatory term for "one who does ...

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 Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine (also known as Carter USM or simply Carter) were an English indie rock band formed in 1987 by singer Jim "Jim Bob" Morrison and guitarist Les " Fruitbat" Carter. They made their name with a distinctive style ...

parodied the title of the song in that of their biggest-selling single, " The Only Living Boy In New Cross", which was included on their album ''

1992 – The Love Album ''1992 – The Love Album'' is an album by English band Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine. Released on Chrysalis Records, following the demise of Rough Trade Records, the album achieved commercial success and became the band's first and onl ...

''. (

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 London_postal_district#List_of_London_postal_districts, SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, London, St Jo ...

is an area of south-east London.) *English musical duo

Everything but the Girl Everything but the Girl are an English musical duo formed in Kingston upon Hull in 1982, consisting of lead singer, songwriter, composer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer, producer and sing ...

recorded 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 c ...

of the song 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 A home movie is a short amateur film or video typically made just to preserve a visual record of family activities, a vacation, or a special event, and intended for viewing at home by family and friends. Originally, home movies were made on ph ...

''. It was released as a single on 12 April 1993 and spent five weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 42. * Black 47 frontman

Larry Kirwan Larry Kirwan (born 1948 in Wexford) is an Irish-American 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 nominat ...

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 1991 album '' Marc Cohn'', which was a To ...

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

Passenger A passenger is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The vehicles may be bicycles, ...

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 Kaoru Dill-Ishibashi (born November 4, 1975), who performs as Kishi Bashi, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and Emmy-nominated award winning filmmaker currently based in Athens, Georgia. He was a founding member of Jupit ...

covered the song as one of two singles released on July 12, 2017, exclusively on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

, both songs having been recorded in the company's New York City 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 who also sings the majority of lead vocals, bassist and singer Chris Colbourn, and drummer Tom Maginn ...

released a cover version on their 2018 album '' Quiet and Peace'', 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'' is an American drama television series created by Greg Berlanti. Berlanti, Mickey Liddell, Rina Mimoun, Andrew A. Ackerman and Michael Green served as executive producers. The series aired on the WB from September 16, 2002, to Jun ...

'' in 2004. *Racoon Racoon, a

chamber folk Folk baroque or baroque guitar is a distinctive and influential guitar fingerstyle developed in Britain in the 1960s, which combined elements of American folk, blues, jazz and ragtime with British folk music to produce a new and elaborate form ...

duo from France, featuring The Duke of Norfolk, released a version as a single in February 2021 (during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

) that begins with a haunting

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

of part of the chorus. *

Matt Nathanson Matt Nathanson (born March 28, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter whose work is a blend of folk and rock and roll music. In addition to singing, he plays acoustic (sometimes a 12-string) and electric guitar, and has played both solo and with ...

released a cover of the song on his album ''Lexington EP'' in 2023.

Use in film

's cover was featured in the 2002 film ''

Tadpole A tadpole or polliwog (also spelled pollywog) is the Larva, larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully Aquatic animal, aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial animal, ...

''. * Featured as part of the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

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 Ne ...

.'' * Used in the credits of the 2012 film ''

Koch Koch may refer to: People * Koch (surname), people with this surname * Koch dynasty, a dynasty in Assam and Bengal, north east India * Koch family * Koch people (or Koche), an ethnic group originally from the ancient Koch kingdom in north east In ...

'' * Used in the final scene of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

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 promi ...

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

Use in other media

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

has used sections of this song for their television commercials of the 2011

Accord Accord may refer to: Businesses and products * Honda Accord, a car manufactured by the Honda Motor Company * Accord (cigarette), a brand of Rothmans, Benson & Hedges * Accord (company), a former public services provider in south England * Accord ...

. *

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

and Steve Ellis used the song as inspiration for their 2009 ''The Only Living Boy'' webcomic series. * The original recording was featured during the final scenes of the 2012 second-season finale, "God's Eye", 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 was used in the 2014 first-season finale, "Nephew", of

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

's comedy ''

Uncle An uncle is usually defined as a male relative who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent, as well as the parent of the cousins. Uncles who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. The female counterpart of an un ...

''. * ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' in the May 13, 2017 episode, featured the song in a comedy sketch with

Melissa McCarthy Melissa Ann McCarthy (born August 26, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Melissa McCarthy, numerous accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Award ...

Sean Spicer Sean Michael Spicer (born September 23, 1971) is an American former 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 Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor and film producer. He is known for his leading and supporting roles in a variety of genres, from comedy to drama. He has received List of awards and nominations received by A ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. * Everything but the Girl's cover was featured on ''

Designated Survivor In the United States, a designated survivor (or designated successor) is a person in the presidential line of succession who is kept distant from others in the line when they are gathered together, to reduce the chance that everyone in the line ...

'' season 2 episode 13, "Original Sin" on March 14, 2018, used in the final scene. * ''

This is Us ''This Is Us'' is an American drama television series created by Dan Fogelman 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 ti ...

'' season 4 episode 16 "New York New York New York" on March 10, 2020, used the song in a street scene in New York City.

Charts

Certifications

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