All I Know

"All I Know" was written by the perennial hit songwriter Jimmy Webb, who also wrote such hits as "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman" and "MacArthur Park." Webb was smitten with the Welsh beauty Rosemarie Frankland, who was Miss World in 1961. She wasn't interested, but Webb took his best shot, writing a song about her that he played for her in a romantic setting at the Dorchester Hotel in London. After he played the song, Frankland declared it "silly," leaving him crestfallen. On his flight back to the United States, Webb read the latest issue of Rolling Stone, which revealed that Simon & Garfunkel were splitting up. His spirits lifted as he realized Garfunkel would need songs for his first solo album. Webb finagled a meeting with Garfunkel, where he played him a version of the song he wrote for the beauty queen, "All I Know." Garfunkel loved it and released it as his first single post-Simon.

The music is based on the hymns Webb grew up listening to. His father was a Baptist preacher.

With this track, Art Garfunkel proved he could be successful sans Simon, especially among more mature listeners. "All I Know" was his only Top 10 solo hit on the Hot 100, but it was the first of three songs that hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart on his own, followed by "Break Away" and "I Only Have Eyes For You." The Angel Clare sold over 500,000 copies in America; his next one, Breakaway (1975), topped a million. Paul Simon was not out of the picture entirely: He showed up for backing vocal and guitar duty on the second track of Angel Clare, a cover of "Down in the Willow Garden." Oh, and you know who else showed up for lead guitar on that track? Jerry Garcia.