Editing Bookends (album) (section)

==Legacy==
The album, alongside ''The Graduate'' soundtrack, propelled Simon & Garfunkel to become the biggest rock duo in the world.{{sfn|Eliot|2010|p=93}} Simon was approached by numerous film producers who wished him to write music for their films or license a track; he turned down [[Franco Zeffirelli]], who was preparing to film ''[[Brother Sun, Sister Moon]]'', and [[John Schlesinger]], who likewise was readying to shoot ''[[Midnight Cowboy]]''.{{sfn|Eliot|2010|p=93}} In addition to [[Hollywood (film industry)|Hollywood]] proposals, producers from the [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] show ''[[Jimmy Shine]]'' (starring Simon's friend [[Dustin Hoffman]], also the lead in ''Midnight Cowboy'') asked for two original songs and Simon declined.{{sfn|Eliot|2010|p=94}} He eventually paired with [[Leonard Bernstein]], with whom he collaborated for a short time on a sacred mass (he eventually withdrew from [[Mass (Bernstein)|the project]], "finding it perhaps too far afield from his comfort zone").{{sfn|Eliot|2010|p=94}}

Disc jockey and author [[Pete Fornatale]] writes that ''Bookends'' represents "a once-in-a-career convergence of musical, personal, and societal forces that placed Simon & Garfunkel squarely at the center of the cultural zeitgeist of the sixties".{{sfn|Fornatale|2007|p=10}} ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' credited the record with striking a chord among lonely, adrift young adults near the end of the decade, writing that a lyric in "A Hazy Shade of Winter"—"Time, time, time, see what’s become of me..."—"defined the moment for a generation on the edge of adulthood".<ref name="RollingStone1990"/> Many viewed ''Bookends'' as the band's most accomplished work at the time, a breakthrough in production and songwriting. "''Bookends'' was our first serious piece of work, I'd say", said Simon in a 1984 interview with ''[[Playboy]]''.{{sfn|Eliot|2010|p=96}}

In 2010, "All gone to look for America"—a reference to a line from the song "America"—began appearing spray-painted on vacant buildings and abandoned factories in the town of [[Saginaw, Michigan|Saginaw]], [[Michigan]], which is mentioned in the song. A loose group of artists, who eventually became known as "Paint Saginaw", began duplicating the phrase after the city{{'s}} population had dwindled vastly, noting that the song now encapsulated a sense of nostalgia for a bygone era among the city{{'s}} residents.<ref name=NPR>{{cite web| date =December 19, 2010| title =Finding Simon And Garfunkel's 'America' In Saginaw, Mich.| website =[[NPR]] | publisher =National Public Radio, Inc.| url =https://www.npr.org/2010/12/19/132168299/finding-simon-garfunkels-america-in-saginaw-mich| access-date =January 14, 2014}}</ref>

"America" was also featured in an [[America (advertisement)|eponymously-titled]] television advertisement for the [[Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, 2016|presidential campaign]] of [[Bernie Sanders]] during the [[Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016|2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/new-sanders-ad-uses-simon-garfunkel-classic-america-n501061|title=New Sanders Ad Uses Simon & Garfunkel Classic 'America'|date=January 21, 2016|work=[[NBC News]]|access-date=January 21, 2016}}</ref> The campaign sought permission to use it from Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel themselves, who both agreed. Garfunkel stated that he was a supporter of Sanders and his campaign, and that the usage of "America" did not take away from the song's original premise.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Corasaniti|first1=Nick|title=No Split Between Simon and Garfunkel Over Bernie Sanders's Use of Their Song|url=https://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/01/23/no-split-between-simon-and-garfunkel-over-bernie-sanderss-use-of-their-song/|website=[[The New York Times]] |date=23 January 2016 |access-date=26 January 2016}}</ref>

''Bookends'' was the last Simon & Garfunkel album to be mixed in separate mono and stereo mixes, as manufacturing of mono LP's alongside concurrent stereo issues was in the final stages of being discontinued in 1968.  The mono mix was released as a promo issue to radio stations and given a very limited run for commercial sale.  It was out-of-print very soon after release, and {{As of|2017|January|lc=y}}, it has yet to see a digital re-release.