Simon & Garfunkel “Bookends” released on this date, April 3rd, 1968, the duo’s breakthrough concept album that catapulted them to superstardom: Bookends debuted #1 on the US charts where it remained for 7 non-consecutive weeks (it also went to #1 in the UK). The single “Mrs. Robinson” (#1 on the Hot 100, also included in the 1967 movie The Graduate) became the first rock song to win a Grammy for Record of the Year. Bookends also won in the Best Contemporary Pop Performance category. Other singles from Bookends include “A Hazy Shade of Winter” (one of my all-time favorites, made even better by the Bangles in ‘87), which was first released as a single in 1966 (#13 US Hot 100); “At the Zoo” (#16 US Hot 100), which Paul Simon wrote for The Graduate but the song was not used in the film; “Fakin’ It” (originally released in ‘67, #23 Hot 100); and the epic ode to hitchhiking track “America” which wasn’t released until 1972 as part of the promotion for Simon & Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits album (my parents had that album on super-heavy rotation throughout my 70′s childhood).

Ours is a used original copy; while the album cover has seen a bit of wear, the poster that was included is in surprisingly pristine condition. The inclusion of the poster at the time of Bookends release did cause some internal controversy: Columbia Records exec Clive Davis wanted to increase the album price by a dollar above the standard (from $4.79 to $5.79) to cover the cost of the poster. Simon in particular pushed back, predicting the album would become Columbia’s biggest seller of the year (it was). Davis felt the duo was being ungrateful to him (he saw himself as the vehicle to their superstar status). As somewhat of a compromise, Simon and Garfunkel signed a contract extension with the label, but got a higher royalty guarantee in the bargain.

Despite being over 50 years old, Bookends remains just as relevant for today’s America. As Allmusic writes, “Bookends’ problematic, disillusioned themes, sometimes disguised in wry humor, striking arrangements, and augmented orchestral instrumentation, portray the sounds of people in an American life that they no longer understand, or understands them. Simon & Garfunkel never overstate; instead they observe, almost journalistically, enormous life and cultural questions in the process of them being asked. In just over 29 minutes, Bookends is stunning in its vision of a bewildered America in search of itself.”