How tall is Paul Simon

Paul Simon's Height

5ft 2 (157.5 cm)

American singer-songwriter from Simon and Garfunkel.

How tall is Paul Simon
Photo Β© s_bukley / DepositPhotos.com
Being short had the most single effect on my existence, aside from my brain. In fact, it's part of an inferior-superior syndrome. I think I have a superior brain and an inferior stature, if you really want to get brutal about it.
-- Paul Simon: A life (Marc Eliot)

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Add a Comment75 comments

Average Guess (14 Votes)
5ft 1.64in (156.6cm)
sf said on 5/Jun/23
After watching an old episode of the Dick Cavett Show, don't believe Paul Simon could be taller than 5'1" or 5'0". When Dick Cavett towers over you by 3 or 4 inches, you are short...
Shortcel said on 11/May/22
Ian C. Dude, you seem obsessed with putting down short guys for no apparent reason. You are just perpetuating lookism and the suffering of people who are not born tall and good looking.
Ian C. said on 26/Mar/22
There is a biography of Simon, "Paul Simon: The Life," which I have not read, but in it Simon complains angrily and at length about how unfairly he has been treated because of his height. What was the basis of his complaint? He wanted to dominate people, who were not, in accordance with his wishes, suitably dominated.

I find it difficult to believe that a man who sold millions of records, and who wrote some of the finest popular songs in American music history, was not treated courteously by everyone he worked with, and yet somehow he feels that he has been victimized. He describes himself as an alpha male. Sorry, pal, but you cant just assign yourself alpha status, and put it on your resume. Other people have to acknowledge it of their own volition. You have to win the election, so to speak.

Simon has a history of getting into quarrels with other people. He was rich, famous and widely admired and yet was angry that he wasn't also regarded as a masculine sex symbol, like Elvis? Well, you have to be who God made you, and it does no good trying to get people to pretend that you're somebody you're not.

Willie Nelson is short too, but there are endless stories about what a friendly, likable guy he is. Willie Nelson, I'm pretty sure, does not have fantasies about dominating people.
Ian C. said on 25/Mar/22
Check out the cover of Simon and Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence album and Paul and Artie seem to be the same height. It is not possible that that photo is real. It had to be the then-equivalent of a photoshop.
Miss Sandy Cowell said on 25/Aug/21
That's more like it! Even Paul Simon churned out hits in the 80s and here he is on my TV with 'You Can Call Me Al'.

This time, I did sing along! πŸŽΆπŸ˜„πŸŽ΅

5ft2.
Miss Sandy Cowell said on 13/Oct/20
πŸŽΆπŸŽ‚πŸŽπŸŽŠ Happy Birthday Paul! πŸŽŠπŸŽπŸŽ‚πŸŽΆ

Wishing Paul Simon a fantastic 79th Birthday today. I remember listening to Simon and Garfunkel at 7....

5ft2, always making Art look so TALL! πŸ˜„

πŸŽΆπŸŽ‚πŸŽπŸŽŠπŸŽΆπŸŽ‚πŸŽπŸŽŠπŸŽΆπŸŽ‚πŸŽπŸŽŠπŸŽΆπŸŽ‚πŸŽπŸŽŠ
Leonari said on 10/Aug/20
He has never seen 5’3 in his life. Not even in the morning.
5feet3onehalf said on 12/Dec/19
Peak height for Paul Simon?
Ian C. said on 28/Nov/19
There is a story on the 'net about Paul and Art Garfunkel's rocky relationship that says that Paul was troubled by depression when he was young. When asked why he had been depressed, the first item on the list was "being short." And in fact, Paul was worried that Art (who was taller and a much more gifted singer than Paul) was seen as the star of the act, and that some people even thought that Art had written the songs. Of course, Art knew that Paul was the songwriting genius, and that Art could be replaced and Paul could not. So they resented each other, sometimes to the point of hatred.

If you're not short, this kind of thing seems just plain silly. I'll take Paul Simon's wealth and extraordinary musical talent and be five foot two, and he can be six foot four and have my economic status (which is, uh, lowly). I would not be depressed with the new order, and Paul's depression would be banished.

And listen, if you're a multimillionaire and wildly successful in show business, you should be able to get chicks no matter how tall you are. (Mickey Rooney married Ava Gardner, for example.) Paul couldn't figure that out?
Miss Sandy Cowell said on 13/Oct/19
πŸŽ‰πŸŽˆπŸŽπŸŽ‚ Happy Birthday Paul! πŸŽ‚πŸŽπŸŽˆπŸŽ‰

Wishing Paul Simon a Very Happy 78th Birthday!

5ft2. πŸ˜πŸ‘

πŸŽ‰πŸŽˆπŸŽπŸŽ‚πŸŽ‰πŸŽˆπŸŽπŸŽ‚πŸŽ‰πŸŽˆπŸŽπŸŽ‚πŸŽ‰πŸŽˆπŸŽπŸŽ‚
Mighty D said on 23/Dec/18
I’m shocked that he’s 5’3”.
Ian C. said on 10/Jan/18
Okay, Joey, you may have me there about Subterranean Homesick Blues. But let's see you make sense of Farewell Angelina. Because I say, those clever, cryptic lyrics are a con. (Which is also what I think about T.S. Eliot, so I've got a bias going here about poetry that can't be understood on the first reading.)

I'm pretty sure that Paul Simon has never lied about his height. As soon as Simon and Garfunkel became popular enough that Paul had a say in how he was presented to the public, he started appearing on his album covers as the short guy. I suspect that this was out of a basic sense of integrity. Dylan, on the other hand, has lied about his height. And just about everything else. He has claimed to have one been a heroin addict, for example, but Dylan has made up so much of his own backstory that even his fans aren't sure if the heroin period story is true.

Returning, however briefly, to the subject of height (which is the defining theme of this site), you can extrapolate quite a bit about a man, not just from his height, but whether or not he lies about it. Maybe Rob should have a page for most outrageous height liars.
Joey said on 3/Jan/18
Bob Dylan is 5'6 or 5'6 1/2. I think Paul is about 5", after seeing him live. He was much shorter than 5'6" Woody Allen when they appeared in one of Woody's films together. To the people who knock Dylan: Paul would be the first to tell you that his lyrics don't compare to Dylan's. He has said so, saying that he is in awe of Bob's work. I'm not knocking Paul. His songs are great, and his music is much more interesting and intricate than Bob's. Subterranean Homesick blues makes perfect sense . Verse 2 is a masterpiece in itself...."Maggie comes fleet foot (running), face full of black soot ( you guess why) talkin' that the heat (the cops) put plants (listening devices) in the bed, but the phones tapped (bugged) anyway. Maggie say that many say they (the cops) must bust (arrest) in early May (there's an order out to bring in revolutionaries on drug charges) . Orders form the DA (District Attorney) Dylan takes street language and paints a picture of the people of the underground (that's why he uses the term "subterranean"), the underground consisted of war resisters, drug users, leftist intellectuals of the time. It's one of his most ingenious songs. If you don't get it, don't knock it.
Heightist said on 19/Nov/17
He's 5 feet or just a hair above, like 5'.05". In the concert in NYC in 1981, he looked about 5" shorter than Art Garfunkel, but he might have been wearing lifts. Art looked about 5'10". He never seemed that tall to me - he just seemed tall compared to Paul, and he had the lanky, skinny build we associate with people who are 6'. The bio Homeward Bound said Paul grew just over 5' in high school and was disqualified from the baseball team. He might not have grown since then.
Ian C. said on 13/Nov/17
Paul Simon was short, and this may have disqualified him from the sort of erotic success that we associate with Elvis Presley or Robert Plant. Nevertheless, he refused to fake sexual experience that he may not have had. None of his songs when he sang with Art Garfunkel are about erotic love, and in fact he never acted out a public persona that was at odds with his real nature. He never presented himself as anything but a sensitive, intelligent man who felt a little lonely in the world. None of his lyrics affected bad grammar either. None of this ain't no use to wonder why because the times they are a-changin' and you ain't goin' nowhere nonsense for Paul. Unlike his Nobel-winning folksinging precursor, who must have been at least six foot four and never lost a fistfight.
Poetry lover said on 4/Nov/17
How could they give a Nobel Prize in Literature to Bob Dylan when most of his songs don’t even make any sense. If Paul is 5’2” who cares. He is a giant in all other aspects. A true poetic genius!
martygtr said on 15/Jul/17
What a nasty side Lennon must have had given his name-calling. I guess since he couldn't write songs as good as Paul Simon does, he resorted to insults.
Brad said on 22/Jun/17
John Lennon never liked him, he called him "that dwarf". Maybe under 5' 2" by now.
SonnyboySlim said on 17/Mar/17
I've run into Garfunkel a few times and in his mid-70s he's still around 5'9". I doubt he was ever much taller than 5'10" though.
Berynice said on 30/Dec/16
Paul Simon probably wore lifts most the time. He was barely taller than Carrie Fisher who he married and she's 5'1"
Major Tom said on 20/Dec/16
Paul Simon appears 5'8" in many publicity photos of himself and Art Garfunkel together that date back between 1964 and 1970.
Tom of Finland said on 19/Jul/15
Check out the video for "Call me Al". There you can really see how short Paul is when he jams next to Chevy Chase.
MajorB said on 24/Jun/15
I stood next to him while he signed a guitar for a fan: i would say that he is 1m55.
Charles said on 25/May/15
Can we get an entry on Garfunkel too? I saw him listed as 6 feet tall on Google, but I really don't buy that. If he was 6 feet tall then he'd tower over Simon by nearly a full head, and he just doesn't. In most shots Simon seems to come up to the bottom of his nose, so I think he's no more than 5'10".
Weemus said on 23/Feb/15
I met him in Atlanta. I'm five one and three-quarters and he is shorter than me by a couple inches.
Sam said on 23/Sep/14
Saw him live once a long time ago, double-headlining with Bob Dylan and I believe he was about 5 inches shorter than Dylan. Dylan was 5'7" tops, listed at 5'6.5".
Ian C. said on 10/Jul/13
On the cover of the album Sounds of Silence (Simon and Garfunkel's first?) Paul and Art are shown walking away from the camera down a country road. It is impossible to tell from that photograph that Art is so much taller than Paul. Also, in their early television performances, one of them was always sitting down, which looks suspiciously like a ploy to disguise Paul's height. By the time Simon and Garfunkel released their Bridge Over Troubled Water album, the cover makes it defiantly clear that Paul is much shorter than Artie. So my guess is that, early in their career, some agent or other told them that they would have to keep people from finding out that Paul was short, but after they became wildly successful, Paul demanded an end to the silly nonsense of trying to kid people that he was taller than he was. And good for him too.
avi said on 11/Jun/13
could be 5'3
Jenny said on 25/Feb/13
@verticallyinclined:
Art Garfunkel is 1.83 m 6ft tall
verticallyinclined said on 25/Sep/11
well how tall is garfunkle,rob? rob,do you think pauls max height in his mid twenties may have been 5'3"?
april ramage said on 4/Sep/11
height is no measure of a persons abilities and talents. many talented people have been and are short.
Gigi said on 5/Feb/11
I am 5'2" and I was taller than Paul Simon when I saw him last week
lisa said on 26/Dec/10
you may have been wearing similar sneakers but you don't know if there was a definite difference or not a difference at all I think people are best measured without shoes
E Boy said on 2/Dec/10
Paul Simon is exactly the same height as me - 5'2" - my wife actually once measured us back to back - both wearing similar sneakers!
Elise said on 21/Jun/09
Well I've been a fan for years and everything I have read says that Artie is 5'10". My Dads 5'10" and I am about 5'2" and where I come on him is about the same as it is with Paul and Art. And like Art, my Dad has a terrible habbit of slouching when stood near me! lol
fanzappa said on 12/Mar/09
stevie wonder towered over hih at the library of congress tribute.
Sam said on 2/Mar/09
5'10" looks accurate for Garfunkel these days based on his recent "Flight of the Conchords" cameo. Jemaine Clement (previously described on the show as 6'1"-6'2") was easily 3 inches taller than Garfunkel. When Darryl Hall cameoed, he was much closer to Clement in height.
Manitobaboy said on 30/Jan/09
On a Letterman clip, he goes to shake hands with Garfunkel and there's a good three inch difference. I know Garfunkel loves his boots but I couldn't see what he was wearing. I agree with Glenn's 5'10".
glenn said on 19/Dec/08
art is 5-10.keep bumping into him lately.couldve sworn he was 6ft in the 90s with his afro and boots.his afro is gone now.
Larie said on 18/Dec/08
You're surprised? Teehee, I was expecting him to be this short!
So how tall's Garfunkel? I think he's...about 20 centimetres taller. Could be the hair though. ;)
Billy Wiz said on 8/Jul/08
Saw him on Saturday at Cornbury. If he's as tall as 5'2" I'll eat my hat!
(
glenn said on 6/Apr/08
i see this guy every couple of months.and will be seeing him any day again.he lives here.he looks 5-2 min.couldve sworn he was 5-4 back in the day.
Anna said on 3/Apr/08
He may have been 5f1 or 5f2, but now he barely looks 5 feet tall. He seems to have shrunken with age.
Lebensdorf said on 2/Oct/07
Paul Simon is indeed 5'1'' or 5'2''. But make no mistake: Garfunkel is not at all 6 feet tall. He never was. I watched an early 1980s film recently called "Bad Timing" in which he stars opposite Harvey Keitel. If Keitel is as short as they say he is, Garfunkel is no more than 5'9'' or 5'10''. Period.
Stan said on 16/Jun/07
The guy is even shorter now that he's gotten really old, I'd say 5f1.
Glenn said on 3/Dec/06
Bumped into Simon again 2 weeks ago.yeah,he was 5-2.shorter than I remembered.
mike g said on 2/Dec/06
5'2" seems right to me. I'm 5'4" and when I meet him he was just a little bit shorter than me. When I met paul he was very nice to me.
Anthony said on 5/Nov/06
If Art's 6', then Paul probably wears lifts. I never saw more of a 6-7 inch difference between them. Not 10 inches, which is what you'd see between 6'0 and 5'2.

That clip from the Grammys is a classic. Great find.
Chris said on 2/Nov/06
I have this clip on dvd but found it on youtube. Paul Simon, John Lennon and Art Garfunkel. John is wearing a 2 inch heel boot (I think) which makes him about 6ft. Paul looks 5'2-'' and when Art is coming up on stage with normal shoes, he stands 6 feet, although with a bad posture. Art I think is 5'11'' Paul 5'2''-5'3''and John a a solid 5'10''.

Click Here
Glenn said on 2/Nov/06
Finally someone that agrees on that 6ft Art.
Brad said on 2/Nov/06
5' 2". He used to wear wigs that pushed his height up an inch. Art is taller than one expects. He's 6'. The tale of Paul seeing Art real early on shaking Good N Plenty boxes to find the one with the most in it is a classic. They go waaaay back!!!
Glenn said on 18/Oct/06
So 5-2 it is.maybe he wears lifts when I see him.
TJ said on 17/Oct/06
He's considerably shorter than Woody Allen in Annie Hall, so 5'2 seems quite believable.
Glenn said on 16/Oct/06
Chevy is for sure 6-4.but can look 6-2.Simon could be anywhere between 5-2 and 5-4.again I think 5-2 is too low.I have the rare photo with him.almost no one has that.
leonari said on 16/Oct/06
No 5'2" is perfect for this guy. No way is he 5'3". Look at pics with his ex-wife "Princess Leia"...he is 2 inches taller.period.
George H said on 16/Oct/06
Glenn, did you meet Chevy Chase? He did a video with Paul Simon and he looked HUGE in it. Great fun. Click Here Click Here According to this site Chevy's 6ft 3.5in
D. Ray Morton said on 15/Oct/06
Sorry, previous post was me.
Anonymous said on 15/Oct/06
"Maybe Simon is more 5'3" / 5'4"?"

I don't think so.

"They are both asses.Simon worse."

I'm surprised that Artie is an ass. Something definitely does seem to be up Paul's, though.
Anthony said on 15/Oct/06
Even if Simon's 5'3 to 5'4, that would still piut Art at5'9 - 5'10. That being said, Paul doesn't look that much to me. 5'2 is bang on.

Glenn said on 15/Oct/06
5-2 seems a little low.
THE *TRUE* ANONYMOUS said on 15/Oct/06
Maybe Simon is more 5'3" / 5'4"?
Andy said on 13/Oct/06
I can't see more than a 6inch height difference in any of the pics.If Simon's 5'2 then Art's 5'8 ,5'9 at a stretch.
THE *TRUE* ANONYMOUS said on 12/Oct/06
A good full-body frontal shot of S+G:
Click Here
I agree with Anthony, Art looks more 5'9" / 5'10".

In many album shots they often put Paul in front to lessen the height difference:
Click Here
Click Here
Click Here
Glenn said on 12/Oct/06
They are both asses.Simon worse.
Glenn said on 11/Oct/06
Art seemed 6ft to me.maybe the footwear.
Anthony said on 10/Oct/06
5'2 is about right. I honestly have to me Art is more 5'9-5'10. He was a slim guy who wore boots, plus when you're consistently being seen next to a man as small as Simon, you'd naturally appear taller. There alway seemed to be more of a 6-7 inch difference between them rather than the 9-10 inch difference that would normally be seen between a 6'0 man and and 5'2 man.

Click Here!!999.jpg

Click Here

Okay, maybe these pics aren't the best, but I have seen pics of both of them standing next to each other in flat footwear, and the difference really isn't what you'd see between a 6' man and a 5'2 man. Plus, yes, Jack Nicholson (roughly 5'10 in his youth) was about as tall as Art in "Carnal Knowledge".

And I know someone who met Garfunkel. He said he was an ass.



Brad said on 26/Aug/06
He's gonna have a million selling album this Fall. Paul is gonna be jealous. Nah, Artie is a legit 6'. I loved Hush Puppies or "Desert Boots" as they were called.
Laura said on 23/Aug/06
In Carnal Knowledge Art Garfunkel is consistently shorter than Jack Nicholson. I doubt Garfunkel is taller than 5'9" but looks taller by comparison with Simon.
D. Ray Morton said on 7/Aug/06
He was humorless, sullen even - never cracked a smile. From what I've heard, he was even worse in the 70s. Never met Art, but he does seem like he'd be a nice guy. I've always loved his voice, too.

My mother used to live next door to Paul in the 60s. She said he was quiet, serious, and tiny. The more things change...
Brad said on 6/Aug/06
About 5' 1" when I met him in '78. Weird hair, couldn't tell if it was a wig or weave. Correct: not a friendly guy. Art is about 6' 2" in boots. He was much taller than James Taylor's daughter Sally who is tall like her momma. Art is a nice guy.
ForensicNYC said on 15/Apr/06
Paul Simon is 5'3" and Art Garfunkel (who is yet to be listed here) is 6'0". In their Simon and Garfunkel "Old Friends" tour, Paul always wore flat mocassins or Hush Puppies while Art inspite of his tall stature always had boots with Cuban Heels which made both of them look really very extreme in stature. During high school Paul experienced a "growth spurt" which eliminated him from playing his Queen's team of "Five Feet and Under" category on the eve of the championships. I think Staten Island won in that match...
Brett said on 14/Apr/06
Ive met him Rob, I honestly think he less then this nowadays, he was well below my shoulder line Rob, Id say he probably was 5'2", but he isnt exactly a spring chicken anymore, hes closer to 5ft or at best 5'1".
D. Ray Morton said on 7/Feb/06

Yeah, huge gap between them. Great video.

I met Paul in '00 at a rehearsal for the Your The One tour. 5'2" is right. Not a friendly guy, either.
JS said on 10/Jan/06
Bob Dylan towered over him in concert, at least 7 inches difference (looked more like 9-10 inches but I think Bob was wearing cowboy boots). I would say Simon is 5'1", Dylan is 5'8" (when he stands up straight; he has lost an inch compared to his younger days).
Anonymous said on 30/Oct/05
I heard that he was 5'2".

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