Maps of Music

Lefty (1988)

Where the lyrics of Lefty take you, and where it was really made.

The album's title came from a childhood photo: a pre-teen Garfunkel holding a stickball bat in his Queens front yard proved he was left-handed.

Place unknown

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Lefty: seventh solo studio album by American singer Art Garfunkel, released in 1988
Features three songs by singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop
Ten tracks, with writers including David Foster, Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein
Title comes from the fact that Garfunkel is left-handed, which the cover photo established
Released April 1988, according to the Italian edition page

Garfunkel had become somewhat of a recluse after a personal tragedy
Liner notes contain a brief prose text he wrote in memory of partner Laurie Bird, who died by suicide in 1979
The album marked a new beginning in his professional life after that period
Production credits: Jay Graydon, Garfunkel, Geoff Emerick and Steve Gadd

Jay Graydon produced and engineered This Is the Moment and So Much in Love (tracks 1 and 3)
Garfunkel and Geoff Emerick produced most of the other tracks
Steve Gadd produced King of Tonga
Session players include Nicky Hopkins, Michael Brecker, Steve Gadd, Eddie Gomez, Steve Lukather and Hugh McCracken
Mastering by Doug Sax and Ron Lewter at The Mastering Lab in Hollywood, California

Cover photo shows a pre-teen Garfunkel holding a stickball bat in the front yard of his childhood home in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City
Photo taken by his brother Jules Garfunkel
Cover design credited to Christopher Austopchuk

Arthur Ira Garfunkel, born November 5, 1941 in Forest Hills, Queens, New York.
Met Paul Simon in sixth grade at PS 164, both cast in an elementary school play, Alice in Wonderland.
Performed as Tom & Jerry in the late 1950s, imitating the Everly Brothers' close two-part harmony; "Hey, Schoolgirl" reached number 49 on the pop charts in 1957.
Studied at Columbia University, earning a bachelor's in art history in 1965 and a master's in mathematics education in 1967.

Simon & Garfunkel reformed in 1963; "The Sound of Silence" reached number one on the Billboard pop charts in 1965 after producer Tom Wilson added electric backing.
Hits included "Mrs. Robinson" (written for The Graduate, 1967), "Scarborough Fair", "The Boxer" and "Bridge over Troubled Water".
The duo split after Bridge over Troubled Water (1970), then reunited occasionally, including for "My Little Town" (1975) and The Concert in Central Park (1981).
Solo: Angel Clare (1973), Breakaway (1975), Watermark (1977), and Fate for Breakfast (1979), which gave him his first UK number one with "Bright Eyes".
Acted in Mike Nichols films Catch-22 (1970) and Carnal Knowledge (1971); nominated for a Golden Globe for the latter.
Earned eight Grammy Awards in total, and he and Simon were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.
Reunited with Simon for a 2003 world tour, followed by a 2004 free concert at the Colosseum in Rome.
Released Father and Son with his son Art Garfunkel Jr. in 2024; on April 10, 2023 he cancelled his remaining concert dates.

The album failed to make the Top 100 in the US and charted at 134
In the UK it hit the bottom half of the UK Top 100
Despite these weak chart positions, it yielded three minor hit singles
The album marked a new beginning for Garfunkel after a period of seclusion
Its chart performance is the only commercial measure given for this release in the source

United States: charted at 134, outside the Top 100
United Kingdom: bottom half of the UK Top 100
Three minor hit singles were released from the album
Stephen Bishop wrote or co-wrote three of the ten songs
Other songs by outside writers include I Have a Love by Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein, and When a Man Loves a Woman by Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright
The liner notes include a memorial prose text to Laurie Bird
Discogs lists CBS Inc. as the record company and CBS Records Canada Ltd. as another company credit

Doug Sax and Ron Lewter mastered the album at The Mastering Lab in Hollywood, California
Stephen Bishop wrote Slow Breakup, King of Tonga and If Love Takes You Away
The cover photo was taken by Garfunkel's brother Jules
The title is a play on the cover photo, which established that Garfunkel is left-handed