The Missing Sound Of Compliance

As long-time readers of our biweekly series know from our last Thanksgiving's compliance parody, Paul Simon originally planned to become a lawyer and even attended Brooklyn Law School for a semester. So, in honor of the career that might have been — Paul Simon's work as a leading lawyer and compliance specialist — we thought we would celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of Simon and Garfunkel's first album with some further musings on Simon's life as a compliance specialist. But first, here are a few little-known facts about Simon & Garfunkel's first hit song:

• "Wednesday Morning, 3 AM," which included a song you may have heard of, called "The Sounds of Silence," was released in October 1964 and was a flop, selling only 3,000 copies and receiving no airplay. This led to both musicians temporarily abandoning their hopes of becoming recording artists, with Art Garfunkel going back to school to pursue a teaching degree in math and Paul Simon leaving the