Paul Simon was only 22 when he wrote it. Most people think of the big hits—the shimmering harmonies of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" or the clinical detachment of "The Sound of Silence"—when they picture the duo's legacy. But if you go back to 1964, to a sparse recording studio in Manhattan, you'll find a song that feels raw in a way their later polished pop never quite mimicked. Simon and Garfunkel He Was My Brother isn't just a folk track; it’s a eulogy for a friend murdered by the state and the Klan.
It hits different.
The song appeared on their debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. At the time, they were still billed as "Simon & Garfunkel," moving away from their "Tom & Jerry" teenage persona. This wasn't some abstract protest song about general injustice. It was specific. It was about Andrew Goodman.
The Tragedy That Inspired He Was My Brother
Andrew Goodman was a classmate of Paul Simon’s at Queens College. Imagine being a young kid in New York, hanging out on campus, and then one of your peers just... disappears. Goodman had joined the Freedom Summer of 1964. He went down to Mississippi to register Black voters, a task that, at the time, was essentially a death sentence in the eyes of the local white supremacist power structures.
On June 21, 1964, Goodman, along with James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, was abducted and murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan.
Paul Simon wrote the song before the bodies were even found. He used the pseudonym "Paul Kane" for the writing credit initially. It’s a haunting detail because it shows how close to the bone the subject matter was. Simon wasn't looking for a "civil rights hit." He was grieving a guy he knew.
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The lyrics don't hold back. When Simon sings about his brother being "shot down by a killer's gun," he isn't speaking metaphorically. He’s talking about a specific act of violence that radicalized a generation of New York students. The song mentions the "Freedom Rider" spirit without using the term as a cliché. It’s grounded in the dirt of the South and the idealism of the North.
Why the Harmony Matters
Art Garfunkel’s voice provides a strange, ethereal contrast to the grim lyrics. That’s the Simon & Garfunkel secret sauce, right? You have these incredibly dark, often cynical or heartbroken lyrics being delivered by voices that sound like they belong in a cathedral. In "He Was My Brother," the harmony acts as a blanket. It makes the horror of the lyrics more palatable while simultaneously making them feel more tragic.
If it were just a solo acoustic performance, it might feel like a standard protest dirge. With the two of them, it becomes a universal lament.
A Song Caught Between Eras
The 1964 folk scene was crowded. Dylan was already the king, and everyone was trying to write the next "Blowin' in the Wind." Honestly, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. was a bit of a flop when it first dropped. It was too "polite" for the hardcore folkies and too "folky" for the pop crowd.
But Simon and Garfunkel He Was My Brother stands out because it lacks the cryptic metaphors Dylan was starting to favor. It’s direct. It says: my friend went to a place to do something good, and they killed him for it.
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- The Recording: Recorded at Columbia Studios in New York.
- The Sound: Pure acoustic. No drums. No electric guitars. Just the breath of two young men.
- The Impact: It helped establish Simon as a writer who could tackle "serious" themes, even if he later pivoted toward more internal, psychological songwriting.
I’ve always felt that this song is the bridge between the 1950s "innocence" of their youth and the 1970s complexity of Simon's solo career. You can hear the transition happening in real-time. He’s grappling with the fact that the world is a much meaner place than the Brill Building pop songs suggested.
The Legacy of Andrew Goodman in the Music
If you look into the history of the Civil Rights movement, the "Mississippi Burning" murders (as they became known) changed everything. They forced the federal government's hand. Paul Simon’s tribute ensured that, at least in the folk-rock canon, the name of the fallen wouldn't be forgotten.
Interestingly, Simon didn't perform the song much in later years. Some critics suggest it’s because the song is very "of its time," rooted in the specific folk revival style that Simon eventually outgrew. Others think it might just be too heavy. When you write a song about a murdered classmate, it’s not exactly a "sing-along" for a stadium tour in 1982.
However, for collectors and fans of the duo's early work, it remains a pillar. It’s the rawest Simon ever got about a political event. In later songs like "The Sound of Silence," he talked about people "talking without speaking," but in "He Was My Brother," he talked about a man dying in the mud. There’s no ambiguity there.
What Most People Get Wrong
People often mistake this song for being about a literal sibling. Simon didn't have a brother who was murdered. The "brotherhood" he’s singing about is the brotherhood of the movement. It’s a common trope in 1960s folk, but Simon’s personal connection to Goodman gives it a level of authenticity that other protest singers lacked.
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He wasn't an outsider looking in. He was a peer looking at an empty chair in a classroom.
How to Truly Appreciate the Track Today
To get the most out of this song, you have to listen to it in the context of the 1964 album. Don't skip straight to the hits. Listen to the way the album opens with "You Can Tell the World" and then moves into the somber tones of the Goodman tribute.
It’s also worth comparing it to other songs of the era, like Phil Ochs' "Here's to the State of Mississippi." While Ochs was angry and biting, Simon was mournful. That distinction defines the entire Simon & Garfunkel discography. They were the poets of the inner life, even when the "inner life" was reacting to a national tragedy.
The song is a time capsule. It captures the exact moment when the optimism of the early 60s hit the brick wall of reality.
If you want to dive deeper into the history, here is what you should do next:
- Listen to the 1964 version: Pay attention to the phrasing in the second verse. Simon’s voice is slightly thinner than it would be on Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, which adds to the vulnerability.
- Read about the Freedom Summer: Look up the work of the Andrew Goodman Foundation. They’ve turned a tragedy into a long-standing legacy of voter engagement.
- Compare the "Paul Kane" demo: If you can find the early demos, you can hear how Simon originally conceptualized the melody before Garfunkel’s harmonies were added.
- Watch the film "Mississippi Burning": While it’s a fictionalized account, it provides the visceral atmosphere of the environment Goodman stepped into when he left New York.
The song serves as a reminder that the music we love often has roots in very real, very painful history. Simon and Garfunkel He Was My Brother isn't just a track on a debut album; it's a piece of the American story, recorded by two kids from Queens who were just trying to make sense of a friend’s death.
It’s honest. It’s sad. It’s essential.