He had fallen in love with a local woman, who he put on the cover of his first solo album, “The Paul Simon Songbook,” and immortalized in “Kathy’s Song,” where he sang about ...

So many of those occur when sifting through the songbook of Paul Simon. You’re floating along, enraptured in the beauty of a whimsical ballad, and suddenly some words snap you to total attention.

So Simon moved to England and recorded The Paul Simon Songbook, a U.K.-only album. Garfunkel joined him in the summer of 1965 and they played a few gigs. “I just wrote my best song,” Paul ...