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TL;DR:

  • John Lennon and Paul McCartney often fought after The Beatles broke up.
  • John Lennon asked Art Garfunkel for advice on his relationship with Paul McCartney.
  • Paul Simon and George Harrison also spoke about a reunion.
A black and white picture of Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon, Yoko Ono, John Lennon, and Roberta Flack. Simon and Garfunkel hold Grammy awards.
Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon, Yoko Ono, John Lennon, and Roberta Flack | Tim Boxer/Getty Images

When The Beatles broke up, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were not on good terms. The former bandmates traded insults through songs and scathing letters. While they were frequently at odds, they had a familial bond, and neither wanted to hold a grudge forever. Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon had a similarly fraught relationship, and Lennon turned to the former for advice on a reunion with his bandmate. 

John Lennon and Paul McCartney had a fraught relationship, much like Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon

Toward the end of the 1960s, relations between all members of The Beatles started to deteriorate. They fought over creative control, finances, and personal relationships. After the group broke up, Lennon shared that he was so angry with McCartney and George Harrison that he wasn’t sure if he could ever forgive them.

“Ringo was all right, so was Maureen, but the other two really gave it to us,” Lennon told Rolling Stone in 1971. “I’ll never forgive them, I don’t care what f***in’ s*** about Hare Krishna and God and Paul with his ‘Well, I’ve changed me mind.’ I can’t forgive ’em for that, really. Although I can’t help still loving them either.”

Similarly, Simon and Garfunkel’s relationship was often rocky. They broke up after their final studio album, Bridge Over Troubled Water, and rarely spoke due to the tensions between them. Though they reunited several times over the years, Simon is confident that will never happen again.

“You know, the music essentially stopped in 1970,” he told NPR in 2016. “And, you know, I mean, quite honestly, we don’t get along. So it’s not like it’s fun. If it was fun, I’d say, OK, sometimes we’ll go out and sing old songs in harmony. That’s cool. But when it’s not fun, you know, and you’re going to be in a tense situation, well, then I have a lot of musical areas that I like to play in. So that’ll never happen again. That’s that.”

John Lennon asked Art Garfunkel for advice

Simon and Garfunkel had an on-and-off relationship, but Lennon saw them as a good example of how to reunite with a former partner. He turned to Garfunkel for advice.

“I have my great memory of John Lennon when I met him that one night with Yoko Ono and David Bowie,” Garfunkel said in Beatles Stories, per Express. “It was the mid-70s, and we were coming back from some show we mutually did. So, we go back to the Dakota [John’s apartment], Bowie was with us. And John pulls me to the bedroom.”

Simon & Garfunkel had reunited, and Lennon was considering a reunion with McCartney.

“Arty, you worked with your Paul [Simon] recently, I’m getting calls from New Orleans that my Paul [McCartney] wants to work with me,” Lennon said. “I’m thinking about it and I don’t know. How did it go when you worked with Paul [Simon]?”

Garfunkel was shocked that he was asking him for advice, but he offered what he could.

“Remember that there was a music blend that was a great kick,” he said. “If you can, return to the fun of that sound and the musical happenings with your old buddy and ignore the strands of the complications and history. What I found with my Paul was the harmony and the sounds happening on a full agenda. They’ll keep you busy, and you’ll have fun.”

A different Beatle inspired a Simon & Garfunkel reunion

Years later, Simon got reunion advice from a different Beatle. While speaking with Harrison, he realized it wasn’t worth it to hold a grudge against his former collaborator. Harrison spoke about reconnecting with McCartney after years of tension. Simon found this inspiring.

“The way I looked at it was, how long are we going to live? Am I going to die without making up with this guy who I’ve known since I was eleven?” Simon said, per the book Paul Simon: The Life by Robert Hilburn. “I finally called Artie and said, ‘Let’s fix it.’”

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