All I Know Lyrics Art Garfunkel: Complete Guide

When you type “All I Know lyrics Art Garfunkel” into a search bar, you’re probably not just after the words. In practice, you’re chasing the feeling. That quiet, ache-y warmth that washes over you around the two-minute mark. Practically speaking, the part where his voice, so clean it almost hurts, lands on the line “All I know is what I feel. ” It’s a song that feels like a memory you didn’t know you had.

So let’s talk about it. Plus, not just what the words say, but why they stick. Why, fifty years after it was written, this little folk-rock ballad still feels like a secret we’re all in on.

What Is “All I Know” (The Song, Not Just the Lyrics)

It’s easy to mistake “All I Know” for a simple love song. Written by the legendary songwriter Jimmy Webb, it appeared on Garfunkel’s 1973 solo album Angel Clare. And on the surface, it is. But it’s really a masterclass in emotional minimalism. Because of that, a sweet, acoustic tune from Art Garfunkel’s solo era. This wasn’t a Simon & Garfunkel cut; this was Art, alone with his voice and a gorgeous, patient arrangement.

The lyrics present a philosophy of love built on stark, humble admission. That's why it’s a song about the limits of language and the sovereignty of direct experience. It’s about loving someone not because of a checklist of reasons, but because the feeling itself is the only truth that matters. Not what I think, not what I’ve been told, not what I hope. Plus, there’s no grand declaration, no list of virtues. Just a series of gentle negations and quiet affirmations. That said, What I feel. “All I know is what I feel,” he sings. The song’s power lies in its profound simplicity, which, as we’ll see, is its most commonly misunderstood feature.

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The Jimmy Webb Factor

You can’t talk about this song without talking about Jimmy Webb. He’s the architect behind some of the 70s’ most elegant, melancholic pop—MacArthur Park, Wichita Lineman. Webb has a gift for taking a specific, almost cinematic image and using it to reach a universal emotion. In “All I Know,” that image is the “little girl” who “dances in the street.” It’s not a literal person; it’s a symbol of unguarded, spontaneous joy. Even so, the narrator isn’t describing his lover; he’s describing the effect she has on the world, and by extension, on him. Webb’s writing gives Garfunkel a vessel—a lyric that’s both concrete enough to hold and vague enough to become your own.

Why It Matters (Or Why This Song Isn’t Just Background Music)

This song matters because it lives in a specific, powerful emotional niche. It’s the quiet moment after the argument, the soft certainty in the middle of uncertainty. And it’s not the fiery passion of a rock anthem or the narrative sweep of a folk epic. It captures a type of love that’s less about fireworks and more about a steady, warm light.

For Garfunkel, it was a important solo statement