Tracklist front / back album covers
Side one
1. "You Can Tell the World" 2:47
2. "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" 2:11
3. "Bleecker Street" 2:44
4. "Sparrow" 2:49
5. "Benedictus" 2:38
6. "The Sound of Silence" 3:08
Side two
1. "He Was My Brother" 2:48
2. "Peggy-O" 2:26
3. "Go Tell It on the Mountain" 2:06
4. "The Sun Is Burning" 2:49
5. "The Times They Are a-Changin'" 2:52
6. "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M." 2:13
Total length: 31:38
Bonus tracks (2001 CD reissue)
13. "Bleecker Street" (demo) 2:46
14. "He Was My Brother" (alt. take 1, previously unreleased) 2:52
15. "The Sun Is Burning" (alt. take 12, previously unreleased) 2:47
Simon and Garfunkel Band Members / Musicians
Paul Simon – acoustic guitar, banjo on "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream", vocals
Art Garfunkel – vocals
Barry Kornfeld – acoustic guitar
Bill Lee – double bass
Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. is the debut studio album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Following their early gig as "Tom and Jerry", Columbia Records signed the two in late 1963. 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. Recorded in March 1964, the album was released on October 19.
The album was initially unsuccessful, so Paul Simon moved to London, England and finished his first solo album The Paul Simon Songbook. Art Garfunkel continued his studies at Columbia University in his native New York City, before reuniting with Simon in late 1965. Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. was re-released in January 1966 (to capitalize on their newly found radio success because of the overdubbing of the song "The Sound of Silence" in June 1965, adding electric guitars, bass guitar and a drum kit), and reached No. 30 on the Billboard 200. It was belatedly released in the UK two years later (in 1968) in both mono and stereo formats.
The song "He Was My Brother" was dedicated to Andrew Goodman, who was their friend and a classmate of Simon at Queens College. Andrew Goodman volunteered in Freedom Summer during 1964 and was abducted and killed in the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner.
The album is included in its entirety as part of the Simon & Garfunkel box sets Collected Works and The Columbia Studio Recordings (1964–1970).
Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including "The Sound of Silence" (1965), "Mrs. Robinson" (1968), "The Boxer" (1969), and "Bridge over Troubled Water" (1970)—reached number one on singles charts worldwide.
Simon and Garfunkel met in elementary school in Queens, New York, in 1953, where they learned to harmonize and began writing songs. As teenagers, under the name Tom & Jerry, they had minor success with "Hey Schoolgirl" (1957), a song imitating their idols, the Everly Brothers. In 1963, aware of a growing public interest in folk music, they regrouped and were signed to Columbia Records as Simon & Garfunkel. Their debut, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., sold poorly; Simon returned to a solo career, this time in England. In June 1965, a new version of "The Sound of Silence" overdubbed with electric guitar and drums became a US AM radio hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The duo reunited to release a second studio album, Sounds of Silence, and tour colleges nationwide. On their third release, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966), they assumed more creative control. Their music was featured in the 1967 film The Graduate, giving them further exposure. Their next album Bookends (1968) topped the Billboard 200 chart and included the number-one single "Mrs. Robinson" from the film.
Simon and Garfunkel Band Members / Musicians
1964 Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.
1966 Sounds of Silence
1966 Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
1968 Bookends
1970 Bridge over Troubled Water
Live albums
1982 The Concert in Central Park
2002 Live from New York City, 1967
2004 Old Friends: Live on Stage
2008 Live 1969
Soundtracks
1968 The Graduate (with Dave Grusin)
Compilation albums
1972 Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits
1981 The Simon and Garfunkel Collection: 17 of Their All-Time Greatest Recordings
2000 Tales from New York: The Very Best of Simon & Garfunkel
2003 The Essential Simon and Garfunkel
Box sets
1981 Collected Works
1997 Old Friends
2001 The Columbia Studio Recordings (1964–1970)
2007 The Collection: Simon & Garfunkel (2007)
2014 Simon & Garfunkel: The Complete Albums Collection
