After The Beatles released their final album, Let It Be, in 1970, they split up. Paul McCartney and John Lennon were particularly unhappy with one another, writing vicious songs aimed at each other and being wrapped up in legal battles. But by 1975, it sounds like things were about to change. Enter Art Garfunkel, who today turns 80-years-old on November 5, 2021.

Garfunkel is one half of the iconic folk duo Simon & Garfunkel.

The pair split up in 1971, but embarked on a number of reunion tours and recording sessions throughout the mid-1970s.

In 1975 Garfunkel and Lennon both attended an after-party which eventually went back to the Beatle’s apartment at The Dakota in New York City.

Speaking for The Beatles Stories documentary, Garfunkel recalled: “I have my great memory of John Lennon when I met him that one night with Yoko Ono and David Bowie. It was the mid-70s, and we were coming back from some show we mutually did. So, we go back to the Dakota [John’s apartment], Bowie was with us. And John pulls me to the bedroom.”

The star gushed about the late singer: “John Lennon’s bedroom! And we’d never met each other before!”

READ MORE: Paul McCartney’s vicious response to ‘nasty’ John Lennon after split

As it happens, Lennon wanted to pick Garfunkel’s brains about reuniting with a long-lost writing partner – much like he had done in recent years.

Lennon reportedly asked the American star: “Arty you worked with your Paul [Simon] recently, I’m getting calls from New Orleans that my Paul [McCartney] wants to work with me.

“I’m thinking about it and I don’t know. How did it go when you worked with Paul [Simon]?”

Garfunkel added: “The subject seemed very straightforward and uncomplicated. It really was a musical question and not a heavy personal question.”

Of course, The Beatles never got back together, and that may have had something to do with some of the pointed lyrics Lennon wrote about the band.

McCartney later explained: “John was firing missiles at me with his songs, and one or two of them were quite cruel. I don’t know what he hoped to gain, other than punching me in the face. The whole thing really annoyed me.”

McCartney went on to add: “John would say things like: ‘It was rubbish. The Beatles were crap.’

“Also: ‘I don’t believe in The Beatles, I don’t believe in Jesus, I don’t believe in God.'”

By 1980 Lennon and McCartney had rekindled their friendship.

But on December 8, 1980, Lennon was assassinated outside his home, The Dakota.

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