Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. is the debut studio album by the American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, released on October 19, 1964. It was produced by Tom Wilson and engineered by Roy Halee. The cover and the label include the subtitle exciting new sounds in the folk tradition. The album was initially unsuccessful, having been released in the shadow of the Beatles' arrival on the scene. This resulted in Paul Simon's move to England and Art Garfunkel's resumption of his university studies at Columbia University in New York City. Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. was re-released in January 1966 (to capitalize on their newly found radio success with a later re-mixed electric/acoustic version of the song "The Sound of Silence"), reaching number 30 on the Billboard album chart. (More from Wikipedia)
Meanwhile, during March 1964, Tom Wilson was the producer for the first album by Simon and Garfunkel, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. Like Bob Dylan's first album, it was a fairly conventional folk album with numerous traditional folk songs and cover songs, including "The Times They Are A-Changin'"; there were only four songs that had been written by Paul Simon.
The first song on Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. is "You Can Tell the World", a gospel song that had been written and performed by Gibson & Camp.
Anyway, in its initial release in October 1964, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. was unsuccessful, possibly overshadowed by the Beatles. Of one song on the album, "The Sounds of Silence" – performed acoustically, like all the rest – Art Garfunkel wrote in the liner notes: "'The Sounds of Silence' is a major work. We were looking for a song on a larger scale, but this is more than either of us expected."
(June 2013/2)
* * *
Major and minor artists alike often have spiritually themed songs or overtly Christian songs on their albums. The first cut on Simon and Garfunkel's debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. is a gospel song called "You Can Tell the World" that was written by Gibson & Camp (Bob Gibson and Bob Camp – later known as Hamilton Camp). Peter, Paul and Mary had numerous gospel songs on their albums, including "This Train" on their first album, Peter, Paul and Mary. Also on this album, under the name "If I Had My Way", is a traditional song also called "Samson and Delilah" that is based on the Biblical account. Many other rock musicians have recorded this song, notably the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Ike and Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, and Garbage front woman Shirley Manson.
(July 2014)
