Miami Beach Auditorium/Convention Hall

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

CBS TV

Songs Of America

1. Context and intent
   The program is designed as a music-documentary: it combines Simon & Garfunkel performances with on-the-road footage (backstage moments, travel, conversations) and edited news/social imagery. The goal is to portray the duo within an America marked by intense social and political tension at the end of the 1960s (Vietnam, protests, violence, poverty, and broader unrest).
2. Overall structure (how it’s built)
   The special constantly alternates between three kinds of sequences:

• Musical performances: songs filmed in concert during the 1969 tour, plus rehearsal/studio moments tied to the Bridge Over Troubled Water era.
• Behind-the-scenes / daily life: hotels, dressing rooms, travel shots, and exchanges between Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, showing fatigue, pressure, and reflection on their public role.
• “America in the late 1960s” (documentary montage): news and social footage showing demonstrations, war, injustice, and key figures/events of the period. The editing repeatedly contrasts an “idealized America” with a harsher reality.

3. A striking opening
   The program is introduced by actor Robert Ryan, then quickly shifts into a more serious tone. The contrast between a “TV special” format and a documentary feel is immediate, setting up the idea that this is an artistic portrait in a troubled time.
4. The main thread: the artist’s role
   A central theme is the implicit question: “What is a song worth when the country feels like it’s burning?”
   Through direct moments and the overall editing, the film raises:

• what it means to be an artist in a political crisis,
• the boundary between entertainment and engagement,
• how songs can function as commentary on their era.

5. Why the special remains notable
   This is not just a filmed concert. The songs are placed in dialogue with current-events imagery, giving the program a strong documentary and political dimension. That approach also helps explain its “controversial” reputation: the project was originally conceived as a sponsor-backed special (often linked in accounts to Bell/AT&T), but the sponsor reportedly withdrew before airing, and the program ultimately ran on CBS.