Revealed: The photographs that tell the story of Paul Simon’s 1965 Norfolk gig

Paul Simon at the Jacquard Club, Mischief Tavern, Fye Bridge Street, Norwich, on August 24 1965. (Image: Archant)

It was easy to miss the ad. Quite frankly, it was a wonder that anyone spotted it, tucked away as it was the bottom of the page of the Eastern Evening News for Tuesday August 24 1965.

And then there were the rival advertisement attractions – The Birds (sadly, not The Byrds) at the Gala Ballroom included. Even the advert for the AGM of the St Giles Norwich District Darts League (Keir Hardie Hall, 8pm for 8.30pm) was twice the size.

Paul Simon at the Jacquard Club, Mischief Tavern, Fye Bridge Street, Norwich, on August 24 1965. (Image: Archant)

But for those in the know, this small ad was tempting enough.

It read: 'Jacquard Folk Club, Mischief Tavern, Fye Bridge StreetTONIGHT! TONIGHT! TONIGHT! Paul Simon, Folk poet and CBS Recording Star'

Paul Simon at the Jacquard Club, Mischief Tavern, Fye Bridge Street, Norwich, on August 24 1965. (Image: Archant)

Yes, THAT Paul Simon. It seems almost incredible now that one of the most famous names in popular music, the man who wrote The Sound of Silence, Mrs Robinson, Homeward Bound, a string of solo hits, and, towering above all of those, Bridge Over Troubled Water, should have been playing the cellar in a Norwich pub.

But he did, and we have the pictures in our archive to prove it. Against a backdrop of posters of some of the other acts that played the Jacquard, there is Paul, then aged 23. Even with the passage of more than half a century he is instantly recognisable: a slight and intense figure, with that fringe, the neat dark hair, the black pullover.

Paul Simon at the Jacquard Club, Mischief Tavern, Fye Bridge Street, Norwich, on August 24 1965. (Image: Archant)

Behind him in one of the pictures is a small poster with the words 'ALBERT SINGS'. And today I am talking to the Albert in question: Albert Cooper, one of Norfolk's best-loved singers and musicians, who has been a feature of the local music scene since 1954.

'What happened was that my brother Tony and I ran the Jacquard from 1960 to 1965 in the basement at the Mischief,' he recalled.

Paul Simon at the Jacquard Club, Mischief Tavern, Fye Bridge Street, Norwich, on August 24 1965. (Image: Archant)

'Tony used to do the bookings and I led the resident group. We used to get offered folk singers by promoters – Paul Simon was very much on the circuit in those days.'

'I'd heard him on the 'God slot' Five to Ten on the BBC [radio] – you used to get artists with songs which had a bit of a churchy theme – like the Sound of Silence.

Paul Simon at the Jacquard Club, Mischief Tavern, Fye Bridge Street, Norwich, on August 24 1965. (Image: Archant)

'Tony made inquiries, or we were offered him. I think we paid him something like £25-£30.'

Simon was a regular performer on the British folk circuit by then, and in his new book*, US author Peter Ames Carlin outlines the sometimes convoluted path which took a one-time Brooklyn law student to the smoke-filled cellar clubs.

Paul Simon at the Jacquard Club, Mischief Tavern, Fye Bridge Street, Norwich, on August 24 1965. (Image: Archant)

Paul Frederic Simon was born on October 23 1941 in Queens, New York, the elder son of Louis and Belle Simon. Louis had been a former professional musician but had not been able to make a go of it, and remained sceptical that his music-loving son could make it a proper career either.

His suspicions seemed to be confirmed when Paul and his pal Art 'Artie' Garfunkel had a blink-and-it's-over taste of stardom while still at senior school in 1957 when scored a Billboard Top 100 success with Hey, Schoolgirl, recording as the duo 'Tom and Jerry'.

Paul Simon at the Jacquard Club, Mischief Tavern, Fye Bridge Street, Norwich, on August 24 1965. (Image: Archant)

They were brought together by a love of music, a kooky sense of humour, a hunger for stardom… and an awareness that it would be a great way of impressing the girls. The short, dark-eyed and fun-loving Paul had been friends with 'Artie' Garfunkel - tall, blue-eyed and blonde-curly haired - since before they were teenagers. With the sublime harmonies of the Everly Brothers setting the gold standard for every aspiring duo, the pair spent hour after hour perfecting their vocal blend.

Hey, Schoolgirl's follow-ups flopped, and the pals drifted apart, but Paul soon found himself submerged into the intense New York production scene, honing his musical and studio skills with a string of $25-a-session demo recordings for hopeful songwriters.

Paul Simon at the Jacquard Club, Mischief Tavern, Fye Bridge Street, Norwich, on August 24 1965. (Image: Archant)

Fast-forward a few years, and Paul – now an unwilling student at law school – was reunited with his childhood pal in the spring of 1963, both delighted to discover they now shared an interest in the new wave of politically-aware folk produced by the likes of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.

That summer, Paul set off a long-arranged trip to Europe (Artie was hitchhiking instead in California) and arrived in London with – as Carlin has it – 'his guitar, limited cash, and no contacts'. After moving on to Paris, Paul met student David McCausland, who ran a folk club in Brentwood. That winter, Paul began a residency at the club night, which led to other dates on the London, then the national circuit. He also discovered love, with Kathy Chitty.

Back home in the States, Paul finally took the plunge and left law school. He teamed up with Artie and the pair recorded their first album, Wednesday Morning, 3 AM in early 1964. While waiting for its release, Paul returned to England, and Kathy. He was soon gigging hard, travelling from town to town, polishing his stagecraft and spreading the word-of-mouth about his songs. It was while waiting on the railway station in Widnes that this 'poet and one-man band' wrote the classic Homeward Bound.

After the flop of their debut album, finally released in October 1964, Paul came back to England in January 1965 – a de-facto solo artist once again. By June he was recording his first solo album, Songbook, and it was this record that he was promoting when he played Norwich.

Intriguingly, his friend Artie was also in England at this time, and Paul sometimes took him along to his gigs so they could perform as a duo. But, sadly, not to Norwich on that August evening, Albert said.

'Paul on stage was not very conversational at all – he was very quiet,' he recalled.

It was all about the songs. The 60-70 people there – a good turnout for the Jacquard – would have heard the likes of The Sound of Silence, He Was My Brother, Bleecker Street, April Come She Will, Homeward Bound, Kathy's Song - composed for his girlfriend – Leaves That Are Green, and I Am A Rock. Not a bad set list, then.

'He was at the little stage in the corner that I'd built. He went down immensely well. I remember that he sounded then like he sounds today.'

The best-known of the photographs from his appearance shows Paul in mid-flow, half-drunk pints of beer incongruously just in front of him. The attentive audience is thoughtful, especially the man in front of Paul. He stands, finger on cheek, looking exactly like he is studying a rare exhibit. Which, in a way, he is.

After the gig there was a time for a brief chat – Albert's brother Tony had a pint of Guinness with the young singer - and then it was back on the train to London, homeward bound.

This photograph appeared on page six of the next day's paper, with a brief caption saying a 'good crowd' had seen Simon the night before. As a news item it was easily outgunned by the likes of 'No light leads to £8 in fines' on the same page.

Albert and Tony realised they wanted more of this unusual and talented performer. 'We did book him a second time. There was this agent called Peter Walsh [who ran Starlite Artistes in London] who was running a tour for the American group The Womenfolk. He asked if we would help promote it, so we did.

'Peter knew Norwich well – he used to come here to get his cars, because the local numberplates were 'PW'.

'We booked St Andrew's Hall with them as top of the bill [for October 14], with Diz Disley, Paul Simon, and me and my band the Jacquards.'

But then Norfolk's famous remoteness intervened. 'Well, Adge Cutler [later of Wurzels fame] was driving him down from London. A lot of people got the distance wrong – it was always happening. The gig had already started – Diz had been on, I'd played my set, and then Paul turned up. Peter Walsh was there and told him he was too late, that he'd missed his slot.'

The gig was the most ambitious put on by the Jacquard Club to date, and attracted around 300 people – respectable enough, but rather lost in a venue the size of St Andrew's. Paul Simon was actually booked to play a third time at Norwich, with another appearance scheduled at the Jacquard on October 26. Sadly, illness meant the gig had to be cancelled - or, rather, postponed. But Paul Simon was never to fit in that return appearance.

Still, there were alternatives. On that October night you could have nipped over to the Gala Ballroom instead to see Long John Baldry, Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger and the Trinity. Oh, and what was the other performer's name? Ah yes - Rod Stewart. And all for 5/- (25p).

So if Paul Simon had have played that night, it would have been meant a choice between two performers who would eventually go on to sell more than 200 million records (so far) between them. And both could have been seen for just a handful of change.

But that was how it was in those days. You really could see the likes of Jimi Hendrix (famously playing the Orford Cellar), Eric Clapton and many, many more in their formative years, and the Jacquard too had its share of performers who would go on great things.

'It seems remarkable now, but we were very blasé about it,' Albert said. 'We had so many famous names at the Jacquard – we gave Ralph McTell his first professional engagement with a blues outfit called Hickory Nuts. And then there was Tom Paxton – we had all sorts.'

The Jacquard later moved into its own premises in the former White Lion pub in Magdalen Street and continued for several years.

As for Paul, his record company famously added a punchier backing to The Sound of Silence, and Simon and Garfunkel were finally ready for take-off.

Back in 2016, Paul Simon has just finished a string of triumphant UK dates. The 75-year-old elder statesman of pop is now a lifetime away from the young man with the black sweater who thrilled an audience of a few dozen in a Norwich pub: just a man, a guitar, and some songs – but what songs. And what a special privilege to have shared them.

*Homeward Bound: The Life of Paul Simon, by Peter Ames Carlin, published by Constable, £20

My thanks to Kingsley Harris, of the East Anglian Music Archive.