"So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright" is a song written by Paul Simon that was originally released on

Simon & Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including the electric remix of ...

's 1970 album '' Bridge over Troubled Water''. It has since been released on several Simon & Garfunkel compilation albums. It has also been recorded by the London Pops Orchestra and Joe Chindamo trio.

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 ...

, who had studied architecture, requested that Simon write a song about the architect

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

. Simon knew little about Wright, so just used his name as a substitute and instead wrote a nostalgic song about Garfunkel. Garfunkel sings lead on the majority of the song while Simon sings on the bridge.

Background

The lyrics of "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright" reference the architect,

, who died in 1959. Art Garfunkel had studied to become an architect. While Garfunkel sings the song's fadeout to the words "so long," producer and engineer

Roy Halee Roy Decker Halee (born 1934) is an American record producer and engineer, best known for working with Simon & Garfunkel, both as a group and for their solo projects. Early life He grew up on Long Island, New York. His father, also named Roy H ...

is heard on the recording calling out "So long already Artie!" Other lines in the song refer to the author having "barely learned the tune", and to the nights when an unspecified "we" would "harmonize 'til dawn". The author comments that "When I run dry I'll stop awhile and think of you". The accompaniment includes congas, strings, a flute uncredited on the liner notes,

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gu ...

and a classical guitar part played in

bossa nova Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...

style, primarily using

seventh chords A seventh chord is a chord consisting of a triad plus a note forming an interval of a seventh above the chord's root. When not otherwise specified, a "seventh chord" usually means a dominant seventh chord: a major triad together with a minor s ...

. The song has a stately melody and the tune incorporates varied

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed ...

s and

syncopation In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "plac ...

s. The song's key modulates at the end of the first bridge from

G-flat major G-flat major (or the key of G-flat) is a major scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has six flats. Its relative minor is E-flat minor (or enharmonically D-sharp minor), and its par ...

G major G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative minor is E minor and its parallel minor is G minor. The G major scale is: Notable com ...

. Simon has recalled that he had been listening to Brazilian music, probably

Antônio Carlos Jobim Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim (25 January 1927 – 8 December 1994), also known as Tom Jobim (), was a Brazilian composer, pianist, guitarist, songwriter, arranger, and singer. Considered one of the great exponents of Brazilian mu ...

, when he wrote the tune for "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright." Author Walter Everett suggests that the repeating note section of the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

about one minute into the song effectively suggests the ordinariness of other architects, and also suggests some of Wright's architectural signatures. Garfunkel did not realise that Simon had intended the song to refer to their partnership until many years after the album had been released. In an interview he remarked that Simon "never let me in on that" secret. He added that "I find that a secretive and unpleasant thing to have done to you." However, he has come to terms with the song, as he states in the liner notes to his 2012 compilation ''The Singer'', in which "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright" was included, that he can ignore this subtext, since the song is "just so much fun to sing", and writes about Paul Simon that "one loves the giver of a beautiful gift".

References

{{Authority control Songs written by Paul Simon Simon & Garfunkel songs 1970 songs Song recordings produced by Roy Halee Song recordings produced by Paul Simon Song recordings produced by Art Garfunkel Commemoration songs