Simon & Garfunkel / Sounds Of Silence / 1966
Anji
contemplative, intricate, restrained
Video: Simon & Garfunkel - Topic on YouTube
"Anji" is a solo acoustic guitar instrumental, not a Simon & Garfunkel composition but a cover of Davey Graham's folk-baroque guitar piece, here played by Paul Simon on Sounds of Silence. It functions as an interlude—a display of instrumental technique and a nod to the British folk-guitar scene that shaped Simon's playing during his time in England.
technical virtuosity folk-guitar tradition homage/influence interlude/pause transatlantic folk revival
Who's speaking
There is no vocal narrator; the piece is purely instrumental, so 'voice' here is the guitarist's touch and phrasing rather than a lyrical persona.
What happens
As an instrumental there is no story in words; instead the piece unfolds as a set of interlocking melodic and bass lines that develop through variation and repetition, moving from a plainer statement of the tune toward more ornamented restatements.
How it's built
Built on the fingerstyle guitar tradition of alternating thumb-picked bass with a melodic line played on top, the piece likely follows a theme-and-variation shape typical of the folk-baroque style, with the melody returning in slightly altered voicings rather than following verse-chorus form.
Section by section
Opening statement
The piece begins by laying out the central fingerpicked pattern plainly, establishing the alternating bass-and-melody texture that will recur throughout.
Development
Subsequent passages elaborate the initial pattern with fuller chord voicings and small melodic embellishments, giving a sense of intensification without any change in tempo or dynamics that a vocal arrangement might provide.
Closing return
The performance winds back toward the simpler opening figure, giving the piece a rounded, cyclical shape rather than a dramatic resolution.
Craft
- motif variation
- Since there is no text, the guitar's recurring melodic phrase functions like a refrain, repeating with small harmonic or rhythmic shifts to create the sense of development one would expect from lyrics.
- contrast/juxtaposition
- Placed among the album's dense, wordy folk-rock songs, the piece works as a structural contrast—its wordlessness becomes a kind of statement about restraint amid an otherwise lyric-heavy record.
Reading it
The most defensible reading treats "Anji" as a functional interlude and a tribute to the folk-guitar virtuosos (particularly Davey Graham, its composer) who influenced Paul Simon during his early-1960s stay in Britain. A secondary reading sees its placement on Sounds of Silence as a deliberate breathing space, letting the record's heavier thematic material (isolation, alienation) settle before the next song, though this is more inference from sequencing than something the piece itself argues.
Context
"Anji" (sometimes spelled "Angie") was written by British folk guitarist Davey Graham and became a rite-of-passage piece for acoustic guitarists in the 1960s folk revival; Paul Simon learned it while performing in England's folk clubs before Simon & Garfunkel's success, and it appears here as an instrumental showcase rather than an original composition.
Listen for
- the interplay between the picked bass line and the melody on top
- subtle changes in voicing each time the main phrase returns
- the contrast in texture between this track and the surrounding vocal songs on the album
- the influence of British folk-baroque guitar style on Simon's technique
About Simon & Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel was an American musical duo comprising the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling musical acts of the 1960s.
1963 - 1970 / United States
Full biography and catalogue