Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (album)

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (album)
Name	Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Type	studio
Artist	Simon & Garfunkel
Released	October 1966
Recorded	1965–1966
Studio	Columbia Studios, New York City
Genre	Folk rock
Length	36:53
Label	Columbia Records
Producer	Bob Johnston

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (album) is the third studio album by the American duo Simon & Garfunkel, released in October 1966 on Columbia Records. The album followed the breakthrough success of the duo's single "The Sound of Silence" and bridged folk music traditions with contemporary rock music production, further establishing Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel as prominent figures in 1960s popular music. Recorded amid shifts in the New York and London music scenes, the record features a mix of original compositions and reworkings that influenced contemporaries and later songwriters.

Background and Recording

Sessions for the album took place at Columbia's studios in New York City, with producer Bob Johnston overseeing sessions as he had for artists on the same label such as Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. The project followed Paul Simon's songwriting collaborations within the Greenwich Village folk circuit, and the recording timeline overlapped with Simon's explorations in London and encounters with figures from the British Invasion like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Studio musicians recruited for the album included members associated with sessions for Van Morrison and Denny Laine, and orchestral arrangements drew on arrangers who had worked with Burt Bacharach and George Martin. Tensions between Simon and Art Garfunkel mirrored broader musical partnerships in the era, recalling dynamics similar to those of Lennon–McCartney and Jagger–Richards.

Composition and Lyrics

Paul Simon penned the majority of the songs, blending narrative storytelling with pastoral imagery reminiscent of Walt Whitman and the lyricism of Bob Dylan's mid-1960s work. Tracks employ first-person vignettes, allegory, and stream-of-consciousness techniques akin to compositions by Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. The title track reinterprets traditional herb symbolism through tight vocal harmonies that recall arrangements by The Everly Brothers and choral textures favored by Phil Spector. Themes of urban alienation, interpersonal estrangement, and moral ambiguity connect to contemporary novels and films of the 1960s, including works by James Baldwin and films produced by United Artists. Instrumentation ranges from acoustic guitar and twelve-string textures to baroque-pop touches associated with The Left Banke.

Release and Commercial Performance

Columbia issued the album in October 1966, marketing it to both folk and pop audiences amid the commercial momentum generated by the chart success of "The Sound of Silence" earlier that year. The album entered the Billboard 200 albums chart and peaked within the top 10, while singles from the record received airplay on stations aligned with FM broadcasting and AM radio formats. Internationally, the release reached markets in the United Kingdom and Canada, and influenced touring and television appearances on programs such as The Ed Sullivan Show and Shindig!. Sales contributed to Simon & Garfunkel's growing concert draw at venues like Carnegie Hall and festivals that showcased artists including Joan Baez and Pete Seeger.

Critical Reception and Legacy

Upon release, contemporary reviews in outlets like Rolling Stone and Billboard praised the duo's vocal blend and Simon's songwriting craft, while some critics debated the record's production choices in the context of evolving studio experimentation by Brian Wilson and George Martin. Over ensuing decades the album has been cited in retrospective lists alongside landmark records by The Beatles and Bob Dylan, and has been studied in scholarship on 1960s popular culture and musicology at institutions such as Columbia University and New York University. Songs from the album have been covered by artists from Johnny Cash to Cher, and have appeared in film and television soundtracks alongside works by Ennio Morricone and Bernard Herrmann, underscoring the record's enduring influence on singer-songwriters and arrangers.

Track Listing

1. "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" – Paul Simon; traditional arrangement (duet) 2. "Patterns" – Paul Simon 3. "Cloudy" – Paul Simon 4. "The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine" – Paul Simon 5. "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" – Paul Simon 6. "The Dangling Conversation" – Paul Simon 7. "Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall" – Paul Simon 8. "A Poem on the Underground Wall" – Paul Simon 9. "A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)" – Paul Simon 10. "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her" – Paul Simon 11. "7 O'Clock News/Silent Night" – Paul Simon / traditional carol medley

Personnel and Production

- Paul Simon – vocals, acoustic guitar - Art Garfunkel – vocals, harmony arrangements - Bob Johnston – producer - Session musicians – electric guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, orchestral players (uncredited session roster included New York-based studio musicians associated with Columbia sessions) - Arrangements – orchestra and choral arrangements executed by arrangers active in 1960s pop and folk recordings, paralleling collaborators of Phil Spector and Burt Bacharach - Engineering – Columbia studio engineers who also worked on recordings by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash

Artwork and Packaging

The album's cover photography and sleeve design reflected 1960s visual aesthetics employed by Richard Avedon and art directors at Columbia Records, pairing portraiture with typographic treatment consistent with contemporaneous releases by The Beatles and Bob Dylan. Inside, liner notes contextualized the songs in language similar to promotional copy appearing in Rolling Stone and Melody Maker, and packaging decisions influenced collector interest tracked by auction houses such as Sotheby's.

Category:1966 albums Category:Simon & Garfunkel albums Category:Columbia Records albums