If you thought all the big musical SNL50 moments had already happened at the Radio City Music Hall Homecoming Concert on Friday, were you wrong. The proper Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary special kicked off with the iconic Paul Simon duetting with Sabrina Carpenter on Simon & Garfunkel’s “Homeward Bound.” Watch the performance below.
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Simon noted he’d last song the song on SNL with George Harrison in 1976. “I was not born then,” joked Carpenter. “And neither were my parents.”
Simon may largely be retired from live performances, but it makes sense that he’d pick up the guitar for SNL50. He’s a close friend of creator Lorne Michaels, and has served as musical guest 13 times in addition to hosting on four occasions. Pairing him with a Carpenter, who performed on SNL last spring, shows how the 50th anniversary special seeks to celebrate the entire breadth of the series’ legacy.
For more great SNL50 musical moments, check out sets from the Homecoming Concert, Nirvana with Post Malone, Miley Cyrus, Eddie Vedder, Jack White, Robyn and David Byrne, Fugees, The B-52s and Devo, plus Lady Gaga sang “Dick in the Box.”
Carpenter, meanwhile, is set to bring her “The Short n’ Sweet Tour” to Europe and the UK this spring. Grab tickets here.
Paul Simon and Sabrina Carpenter open #SNL50 with Homeward Bound by Simon and Garfunkel pic.twitter.com/my8UfcpkXm
— ASTHTC (@theASTHTC) February 17, 2025
Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon just opened SNL’s 50th special by singing “Homeward Bound”
Paul: “I sang this song with George Harrison on SNL in 1976.”
Sabrina: “I was not born then…and neither were my parents.” pic.twitter.com/5qCRU8ZQZU
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) February 17, 2025