In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon is a compelling look at one of the America’s greatest songwriters. Directed by Oscar winner Alex Gibney, the two part documentary, which premieres March 17 on MGM +, follows Simon as he makes his latest album, 2023’s Grammy nominated Seven Psalms, while chronicling the 16-time Grammy winner’s seven-decade career as a solo artist and as half of Simon & Garfunkel.
The concept for the latest album came to him in a dream and during the process of making the set, he lost hearing in his left ear, which affected his ability to hear himself sing.
Gibney follows him through that ordeal, but also goes back to Simon’s school boy days when he and Garfunkel met in grade school when they were 11. By the time they were 16, they had a record deal as Tom & Jerry in 1957 with the hit “Hey Schoolgirl.” Their first album under Simon & Garfunkel, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., came out on Columbia in 1964.
After the first album tanked, Simon dropped out of law school and moved to London to pursue a solo career. It was only after producer Tom Wilson remixed the album’s “Sounds of Silence” as a rock song that it became a hit and the pair reunited and went on to have a tremendously successful partnership, despite personal conflicts.
While making their fifth (and last) album, 1970’s landmark Bridge Over Troubled Water, the duo, with producer Roy Halee, recorded “Cecilia,” a chugging, clapping tale of love gone wrong that included a taped loop long before they were common in songs.
In this exclusive clip above, Simon marvels at the original tapes, which he thought were lost, as he listens to them today and looks back on the recording.
“Roy, he really was an innovator” he says of Halee. “We kept tumbling into adventures and discoveries.”
Halee continued working with Simon into his solo career, producing the groundbreaking Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints.
