They Had Barely Sung Together in 11 Years. Then Hundreds of Thousands Filled Central Park, and Art Garfunkel Sang “Bridge Over Troubled Water”

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel grew up in the same neighborhood in Queens, New York. Together they made some of the most beautiful songs of the 1960s.

Then, in 1970, they went their separate ways.

By the early 1980s, New York’s Central Park was in bad shape, and the city didn’t have the money to fix it. So the parks commissioner and a concert promoter came up with an idea: a free benefit concert. The two old friends agreed to come back together for it.

On September 19, 1981, it rained most of the day. People came anyway. Estimates ran from 400,000 to half a million, one of the biggest concert crowds in American history, spread across the Great Lawn on a sea of blankets and thermoses.

After a short introduction by Mayor Ed Koch, Garfunkel walked out raising his fists in the air, and Simon was smiling. They shook hands in the middle of the stage.

They opened with “Mrs. Robinson,” but Garfunkel’s microphone wasn’t working, so the crowd had to wait one more song for those famous harmonies. Then Simon looked out and said, “Well, it’s great to do a neighborhood concert.”

And then came “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Paul Simon wrote it, but it was always Art’s song to sing. In the clip above, he stands under the lights and sings it to the city where they grew up.

The concert was broadcast on HBO and became the album “The Concert in Central Park.” The money went toward bringing the park back to life.

Where were you when you first heard “Bridge Over Troubled Water”? Tell us in the comments.