Bookends is the fourth studio album by American music duo Simon & Garfunkel. Produced by Paul Simon, Roy Halee and Art Garfunkel, the album was released on April 3, 1968 in the United States by Columbia Records. The duo had risen to fame two years prior with hit albums such as Sounds of Silence and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, radio singles, and touring colleges. In 1967, Simon was approached by director Mike Nichols to write songs for his next film, The Graduate. Released several weeks prior to Bookends, the soundtrack album propelled the band further into stardom.

Bookends, in contrast to the soundtrack album, follows a unified concept, exploring a life journey from childhood to old age. Side one of the album marks successive stages in life, the theme serving as literal bookends to the life cycle. Side two largely consists of unused material for The Graduate soundtrack. Simon's lyrics largely revolve around youth, disillusionment, relationships, old age, and mortality. Much of the material was crafted alongside producer John Simon, who joined the recording process when Paul Simon suffered from writer's block. As a result, the album was recorded gradually over the period of a year, with production speeding up around the later months of 1967.

Initial sales for Bookends were substantial in the US, and the album produced the number one hit single, "Mrs. Robinson". The album was mainly a hit in the duo's native country as well as the United Kingdom, where in both countries it peaked at number one. Bookends was considered a breakthrough for the group, placing them on the same level as artists such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones at the forefront of the cultural movement in the 1960s. The album has continued to receive critical acclaim in recent years as one of the duo's finest efforts.

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