‘Why not try to be the best in the world, just for the fun of it?’ Art Garfunkel on a rich, restless life – and reconciling with Paul Simon

As Art Garfunkel is keen to point out, “I am a singer – there, use that as the title of your article” – but he was never just a singer. “I’ve been an actor. I am a writer,” he continues. “I’ve walked across countries, taken freighters across oceans. I’ve read the dictionary. I’ve read two books a month for 60 years: Darwin, Herodotus, Balzac, Proust, Tolstoy. I’ve taught maths. I have two great kids and I’m a grandfather, but it always does seem to come back to the singing.” Which is understandable, given that in Simon and Garfunkel (with songwriter…