"America" is a song performed by American music duo
Simon & Garfunkel, which they included on their fourth studio album, ''
Bookends,'' in 1968. It was produced by the duo and
Roy Halee. The song was later issued as the
B-side of the single "
For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her
"For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her" is a song written by Paul Simon and recorded by American music duo Simon & Garfunkel on their third studio album, ''Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme'' (1966). It is sung solely by Art Garfunkel, and consist ...
(live version)" in 1972 to promote the release of the
compilation album ''
Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits
''Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits'' is the first compilation album from Simon & Garfunkel, which was released on June 14, 1972, two years after Simon & Garfunkel had parted ways.
The album is currently available on CD under Legacy's Playl ...
''. After peaking in the charts in July 1972, the song was switched to the
A-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...
of the single and re-entered the charts in November 1972.
The song was written and composed by
Paul Simon, and concerns young lovers
hitchhiking their way across the United States, in search of "America", in both a literal and figurative sense. It was inspired by a 1964
road trip that Simon took with his then-girlfriend Kathy Chitty. The song has been regarded as one of Simon's strongest songwriting efforts and one of the duo's best songs. A 2014 ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' reader's poll ranked it the group's fourth-best song.
Background
"America" was inspired by a five-day road excursion Simon undertook in September 1964 with Chitty. Producer
Tom Wilson had called Simon, living in London at the time, back to the United States to finalize mixes and artwork for their debut studio album, ''
Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.
''Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.'' is the debut studio album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Following their early gig as "Tom and Jerry", Columbia Records signed the two in late 1963. It was produced by Tom Wilson and engineered by Roy ...
'' Simon, reluctant to leave Chitty, invited her to come with him; they spent five days driving the country together. Several years later, "America" was among the last songs recorded for ''Bookends'', when production assistant
John Simon left
Columbia Records, forcing Simon, Garfunkel, and producer
Roy Halee to complete the record themselves. In 2004, Bob Dyer, a former disc jockey from
Saginaw, Michigan
Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...
, explained the song's genesis in an interview with ''The Saginaw News''. According to Dyer, Simon wrote the song while visiting the town in 1966 after Dyer had booked him for Y-A-Go-Go, a concert series hosted by the Saginaw
YMCA
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...
.
Composition
"America" is a song that "creates a cinematic vista that tells of the singer's search for a literal and physical America that seems to have disappeared, along with the country's beauty and ideals." Art Garfunkel once described the song as "young lovers with their adventure and optimism". The song has been described as a "folk song with a lilting soprano saxophone in its refrain as a small pipe organ paints acoustic guitars, framed by the ghostly traces of classic American Songbook pop structures."
"America" is composed in the key of
D major
D major (or the key of D) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor.
The D major scale is:
:
Ch ...
and set in a 6/8 time signature, and has a moderately fast
groove
Groove or Grooves may refer to:
Music
* Groove (music)
* Groove (drumming)
* The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s
* The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station
* Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station
...
of 172
beats per minute
Beat, beats or beating may refer to:
Common uses
* Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area
** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols
** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men
* Battery ...
. The duo's vocals span from the low note of
A2 to the high note of
E4. Drummer
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. ...
, keyboardist
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 & ...
, and bassist
Joe Osborn provide additional instrumentation on the track.
The lyrics do not follow any formal rhyme scheme.
The song opens, on ''Bookends'', with a
crossfade from "
Save the Life of My Child
"Save the Life of My Child" is a song by American music duo Simon & Garfunkel from their fourth studio album, '' Bookends'' (1968).
Background
"Save the Life of My Child" was one of many songs on ''Bookends'' recorded with production assistant Joh ...
". (This effect is not present on the single versions, which begin with a "clean" open.) The song follows two young lovers – "an apparently impromptu romantic traveling alliance" – who set out "to look for America." The lyrics mention
Saginaw, Michigan
Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...
, with the narrator seemingly having left the town to seek "his fortunes elsewhere".
The narrator's companion, Kathy, is a reference to Chitty, linking the song autobiographically to the earlier Simon and Garfunkel hit "
Homeward Bound", and to "Kathy's Song", a love song from a previous album, ''
Sounds of Silence
''Sounds of Silence'' is the second studio album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, released on January 17, 1966. The album's title is a slight modification of the title of the duo's first major hit, " The Sound of Silence", which orig ...
''.
The narrator spends four days hitchhiking from Saginaw to join Kathy in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...
, where together they board a
Greyhound
The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurgenc ...
bus to continue the journey.
The narrator begins with a lighthearted and optimistic outlook ("Let us be lovers, we'll marry our fortunes together") that fades over the course of the song. To pass time, he and Kathy play games and try to guess the backgrounds of their fellow passengers. Over the course of their journey, they smoke all their cigarettes. Kathy reads a magazine before falling asleep, leaving the narrator awake to reflect on the meaning of the journey alone.
In the final verse, the narrator is able to speak his true emotions to Kathy, now that she is sleeping and cannot hear or answer. "I'm empty and aching and I don't know why" captures the longing and angst of the 1960s in nine simple words. The narrator then stares out the window "counting the cars on the
New Jersey Turnpike". Many other empty, aching, and lost souls are on the highway, each on their own journey alone even if someone is traveling with them. The soaring harmony lines and crashing cymbals create a powerful and poignant end to the song's final verse: "They've all come to look for America."
Pete Fornatale
Peter Salvatore Fornatale (August 23, 1945 – April 26, 2012) was a New York City disc jockey and author of numerous books on rock and roll. He is considered a "pioneer of FM rock", who played an important role in the progressive rock era of FM ...
interprets this lyric as a "metaphor to remind us all of the lost souls wandering the highways and byways of mid-sixties America, struggling to navigate the rapids of despair and hope, optimism and disillusionment."
Reception
Stephen Holden, in reviewing ''
Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits'' in 1972, wrote, "'America' ... was Simon's next major step forward. It is three and a half minutes of sheer brilliance, whose unforced narrative, alternating precise detail with sweeping observation evokes the panorama of restless, paved America and simultaneously illuminates a drama of shared loneliness on a bus trip with cosmic implications."
Thom Jurek of
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
described the song's central question as an "ellipsis, a cipher, an unanswerable question", a song in which "sophisticated harmonic invention is toppled by its message".
David Nichols, in ''
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...
'', called the song "a splendid vignette of a road trip by young lovers; both intimate and epic in scale, it traces an inner journey from naive optimism to more mature understanding."
[Dimery, Robert (ed.) (2005). '']1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...
.'' Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
: Universe Publishing
Rizzoli Libri, formerly Rizzoli Libri S.p.A. and RCS Libri S.p.A. is an Italian book publisher and a division of Mondadori Libri, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore. RCS Libri was a former subsidiary of RCS MediaGroup, but in ...
, p. 147. First edition, 2005. ''
American Songwriter
''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee.
History
The ''American Songwri ...
'' deemed the song "essentially a road-trip song, but like all road trips, it tends to reveal as much about the participants as it does about the lands being traversed."
Disc jockey and author
Pete Fornatale
Peter Salvatore Fornatale (August 23, 1945 – April 26, 2012) was a New York City disc jockey and author of numerous books on rock and roll. He is considered a "pioneer of FM rock", who played an important role in the progressive rock era of FM ...
describes "America" as one of Paul Simon's "greatest writing achievements in this phase of his career". In 2014, a ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' readers poll ranked it fourth among the duo's best compositions, with the magazine writing, "it captured America's sense of restlessness and confusion during the year that saw the
assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...
, as well as the escalation of the
war in Vietnam
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
", declaring it one of their most "beloved" songs.
Legacy
The song enjoyed a resurgence in popularity – and was introduced to a new generation – after being featured in
Cameron Crowe
Cameron Bruce Crowe (born July 13, 1957) is an American journalist, author, writer, producer, director, actor, lyricist, and playwright. Before moving into the film industry, Crowe was a contributing editor at '' Rolling Stone'' magazine, for w ...
's critically acclaimed film ''
Almost Famous
''Almost Famous'' is a 2000 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe, and starring Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, and Patrick Fugit. It tells the story of a teenage journalist writing for ''Rolling Stone ...
'' in 2000. An early scene in the film, set in 1968, finds the free-spirited character "Anita" (
Zooey Deschanel
Zooey Claire Deschanel (; born January 17, 1980) is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She made her film debut in '' Mumford'' (1999) and had a supporting role in Cameron Crowe's film '' Almost Famous'' (2000). Deschanel is known for h ...
) playing the song for her mother (
Frances McDormand
Frances Louise McDormand (born Cynthia Ann Smith; June 23, 1957) is an American actress and producer. Throughout her career spanning over four decades, McDormand has received numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards, two Primetime Emm ...
) to "...explain why
heis leaving home to become a stewardess". The financial services company
American Express also used the song in a series of popular television advertisements in the late 2010s.
In 2010, lyrics from the song began appearing spray-painted on vacant buildings and abandoned factories in the town of Saginaw, Michigan, which is mentioned in the song.
The group of artists, Paint Saginaw, decided to paint the phrases after the population had dwindled vastly, noting that the song became rather "homesick" for the town's residents.
The song's entire lyrics are painted on 28 buildings in the city, including railroad tracks and bridge supports.
The song was featured in "
America", a television advertisement for the
presidential campaign
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese fu ...
of
Bernie Sanders during the
2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries
Presidential primaries and caucuses were organized by the Democratic Party to select the 4,051 delegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention held July 25–28 and determine the nominee for president in the 2016 United States presidential ...
. The campaign sought permission to use it from Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel themselves, who both agreed. Garfunkel stated that he was a supporter of Sanders and his campaign, and that the usage of "America" did not take away from the song's original premise.
The song appears in a 2017 TV commercial for the
Volkswagen Atlas
The Volkswagen Atlas is a mid-size crossover SUV manufactured by the German automaker Volkswagen since 2017. Developed mainly for the North American and Chinese market, the vehicle is based on the Volkswagen Group MQB platform. Outside the US and ...
.
Cover versions
1-2-3/Clouds
The earliest known performances of "America" came from the band
Clouds. In their earlier incarnation as 1-2-3, they had performed a re-written version of the song that included elements similar to those later used by Yes; changes in time signature, classical interludes, newly written segments, etc. A live tape exists of this being performed at the Marquee in April 1967, prior to the release of any known recording by any artist, including Paul Simon, himself. Simon had recorded demos at Levy studios in London in 1965, and tapes of these were passed to the band by a studio engineer (Stu Francis of Radio Luxembourg). In 1966, 1-2-3 also performed "
Sounds of Silence
''Sounds of Silence'' is the second studio album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, released on January 17, 1966. The album's title is a slight modification of the title of the duo's first major hit, " The Sound of Silence", which orig ...
" from this same tape.
Yes
The song was rearranged by the
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...
band
Yes in 1970, performing it in concert on the first tour after Steve Howe replaced Peter Banks. Yes added elements typical to progressive rock, such as changes in time signature and long instrumental segments, while dropping the song's original
repeat and fade ending. At one point bassist
Chris Squire
Christopher Russell Edward Squire (4March 1948 – 27June 2015) was an English musician, singer and songwriter best known as the bassist and backing vocalist of the progressive rock band Yes. He was the longest-serving original member, having r ...
quotes "
America" from ''
West Side Story
''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents.
Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...
'' in the intro. The Yes studio version clocks in at ten and a half minutes, with live versions on the 1970–1971 tour extended to more than fifteen minutes. The studio recording first appeared in 1972 on the
sampler album
A sampler or promotional compilation is a type of compilation album generally offered at a reduced price to showcase an artist or a selection of artists signed to a particular record label. The format became popular in the late 1960s as record lab ...
''
The New Age of Atlantic
''The New Age of Atlantic'', released in 1972, was the third in a series of rock music samplers released by the Atlantic label in the UK. The collection is notable for its inclusion of two tracks, those by Yes and Led Zeppelin, unavailable in the ...
'' and was later included on the compilation album ''
Yesterdays'' in 1975, the box set ''
In a Word: Yes (1969–)'' in 2002, and on the 2003 re-issue of their album ''
Fragile
Fragile or The Fragile may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Fragile'' (film), a 2005 film by Jaume Balagueró
* "Fragile" (''Smallville''), a television episode
Literature
* ''Fragile'' (manga), a 2016 Japanese series by Bin Kusamizu and Sab ...
''. An edited version of this recording lasting 4 minutes was released as a single and hit No. 46 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It also reached No. 20 in New Zealand. It also appeared on the ''
Yesyears
''Yesyears'' is the first box set by English progressive rock band Yes, released in August 1991 on Atco Records. After the group left Atco for Arista Records when they became an eight-man formation in 1990, the deal gave Atco the right to the ...
'' boxed set and its condensed version ''
Yesstory
''Yesstory'' is a double CD and triple LP career-spanning distillation of music by progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes that had originally appeared on the 1991 box set ''Yesyears''. ''Yesstory'' was issued in 1992 lacking the rarity material ...
,'' along with ''
The Ultimate Yes: 35th Anniversary Collection.'' The edited version was also included as a bonus track on the 2003 re-issue of ''
Close to the Edge
''Close to the Edge'' is the fifth studio album by English progressive rock band Yes. It was released on 13 September 1972 by Atlantic Records, and is their last album of the 1970s to feature their original drummer Bill Bruford. After scoring ...
'', while the unedited studio version appears on
Steven Wilson
Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosi ...
's 2013 remix of the same album. A live version of the song was included on 1996's ''
Keys to Ascension
''Keys to Ascension'' is the fourth live and fifteenth studio album by English progressive rock band Yes, released as a double album in October 1996 on Essential Records. In 1995, guitarist Trevor Rabin and keyboardist Tony Kaye left the group ...
'' as well as a performance from the final show of the 1970–1971 tour (which preceded the studio recording) on 2005's ''
The Word Is Live
''The Word is Live'' is a box set by the English progressive rock band Yes, released in August 2005 by Rhino Records. A triple album, the set is compiled of live recordings from radio broadcasts and concert tours between 1970 and 1988, mostly f ...
''.
Guitarist
Steve Howe
Stephen James Howe (born 8 April 1947) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist in the progressive rock band Yes across three stints since 1970. Born in Holloway, North London, Howe developed an interest in the guitar and began to le ...
considers Yes's version to be "a kind of lost recording" among the band's work, since it has rarely been included on their compilations, and when it is it is usually a shortened version. When he had the chance to meet Simon in person at a disaster-relief concert in 1992, Howe asked him if he liked Yes's version, and Simon said he did.
; Personnel :
* Jon Anderson : Vocals
* Steve Howe : Guitar
* Chris Squire : Bass
* Rick Wakeman ; Hammond organ, piano
* Bill Bruford : Drum kit
Charts
Bert Sommer version
Folk singer
Bert Sommer, a member of the group
the Left Banke
The Left Banke was an American baroque pop band, formed in New York City in 1965. They are best remembered for their two U.S. hit singles, " Walk Away Renée" and "Pretty Ballerina". The band often used what the music press referred to as "baroq ...
, covered the song in the late 1960s, and he also performed the song at
Woodstock
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...
in 1969.
David Bowie performance
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
performed a minimalist version of the song to open
The Concert for New York City
The Concert for New York City was a benefit concert, featuring many famous musicians, that took place on October 20, 2001 at Madison Square Garden in New York City in response to the September 11 attacks. Aside from performing for charity, the co ...
in October 2001. Bowie performed seated on the floor, center stage, with a microphone and a Suzuki
Omnichord
The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument introduced in 1981 by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It typically features a touch plate known as "Sonic Strings", preset rhythms, auto-bass line functionality, and buttons for ...
.
Other versions
American singer-songwriter
Josh Groban
Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. His first four solo albums have been certified multi-platinum, and he was charted in 2007 as the number-one best selling artist in the United States, wi ...
recorded it on his live album ''Live at the Greek'' (2003), and has performed the song live on multiple occasions, including a Howard Gilman Opera House for
Brooklyn Academy of Music's celebration of Simon's music in 2008, and at the
A Capitol Fourth
''A Capitol Fourth'' is an annual Independence Day concert special broadcast by PBS. It is presented from the west lawn of the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., and is also simulcast by NPR and the American Forces Network.
The ...
concert in 2011. "Paul Simon is one of my favorite artists and 'America' has always been a song I've loved," he once remarked.
Lucy Wainwright Roche
Lucy Wainwright Roche (born December 16, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter. Preceded by two EPs, ''8 Songs'' and ''8 More'', Roche released her debut album, ''Lucy'' in October 2010. In 2013, she starred as Jeri in the ''Stuff You Should Kno ...
performs it, together with
The Roches
The Roches were an American vocal trio of sisters Maggie, Terre and Suzzy Roche, from Park Ridge, New Jersey.
Career
In the late 1960s, eldest sister Maggie (October 26, 1951 – January 21, 2017) and middle sister Terre (pronounced "Terry" ...
, on her 2010 album ''
Lucy
Lucy is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings are Luci, Luce, Lu ...
.''
The band
America also released a recording of the song on their 2011 album ''
Back Pages.''
The Swedish sister duo
First Aid Kit
A first aid kit or medical kit is a collection of supplies and equipment used to give immediate medical treatment, primarily to treat injuries and other mild or moderate medical conditions. There is a wide variation in the contents of first aid ...
performed the song in honor of Paul Simon at the 2012
Polar Music Prize
The Polar Music Prize is a Swedish international award founded in 1989 by Stig Anderson, best known as the manager of the Swedish band ABBA, with a donation to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. The award is annually given to one contemporar ...
award ceremony, which earned them a standing ovation from Paul Simon himself. On
Black Friday of 2014, First Aid Kit released a 10" single containing the song as the title track. They performed a live version on the
Marc Riley
Marc Riley (born 10 July 1961 in Manchester) is an English radio DJ, alternative rock critic, musician, and former music businessman. He currently presents on BBC Radio 6 Music.
Formerly a member of the Fall, he co-owned a record label, In-Ta ...
show for
BBC Radio 6 Music
BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...
on September 4, 2012.
Sting performs the song on a quarter size acoustic guitar live on stage on the Paul Simon with Sting tour.
U2 has snippeted the song on multiple occasions during their 2015 and 2017 world tours.
Taylor Bloom and Benjamin Cooley performed a rendition of America in November 2020.
Chart performance
Weekly charts
Personnel
Simon & Garfunkel
*
Paul Simon – lead vocals, acoustic guitars,
producer
*
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 ...
– harmony vocals, producer
Additional musicians
*
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
*
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
*
Joe Osborn – bass
* Uncredited –
soprano saxophone
Production
*
Roy Halee – producer,
recording engineer
*
Bob Johnston
Donald William 'Bob' Johnston (May 14, 1932 – August 14, 2015) was an American record producer, best known for his work with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, and Simon & Garfunkel.
Early days
Johnston was born into a professional mus ...
– production assistant
Notes
References
Sources
*
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:America (Simon and Garfunkel Song)
Simon & Garfunkel songs
1968 songs
Songs about the United States
Songs written by Paul Simon
Song recordings produced by Roy Halee
Song recordings produced by Paul Simon
Song recordings produced by Art Garfunkel
Columbia Records singles
1972 singles
Yes (band) songs
Hitchhiking