Onetime film noir tough guy Robert Ryan wore a tense expression above his cheesy mustache during his terse introduction to CBS' 1969 special, "Songs of America." Past his rime and out of his element, Ryan grudgingly noted that the show's subject, Simon & Garfunkel, had a "tremendous following among the youth of America." Indeed, at that moment, the Everly Brothers' fans-turned-folkies were top of the pops with literate hit songs that somehow spoke across the dangerous divisions of '60s America.
"Songs of America" is on the DVD disc of the Bridge Over Troubled Water: 40th Anniversary Edition (released by Columbia Legacy with a remastered CD of the music) along with a recent commentary documentary on "Songs" and its time, "The Harmony Game." Looking back, "Songs of America" seems a template for wandering documentaries about musicians who feel important, the difference being that Simon & Garfunkel actually were important. Shots of the duo in the studio and at rehearsal are juxtaposed with footage of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King along with home movies from someone's road trip and interviews with the two singers who look (and sound) incredibly young. Their music achieved the profundity they otherwise strained to reach.
"The Harmony Game" finds the duo today, older and wiser in their reflections. What's revealing in the interviews is the crucial role of their recording engineer, the masterful Roy Halee, who wrapped their songs and aching harmonies in sonic cathedrals through adept use of echo and the nascent technology of multi-tracking. Unlike much of what was to come, Halee understood that technology was in service to the songsand the songs he worked with were beautiful, meaningful and memorable.
