Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
On this episode, we take a deep dive into a “Listener Pick” - the fifth and final studio album by the Simon and Garfunkel, 1970's Bridge Over Trouble Water.
While the partnership between Simon and Garfunkel was under immense strain that elementally led to its demise, the duo went out with a bang. Bridge Over Trouble Water was a commercial smash, and is regarded by many as Simon and Garfunkel's masterpiece.
The album was their most ambitious and showed Simon had become a master song writer. In addition to folk music, the album incorporate elements of rock, gospel, R&B, Jazz, and world music . Known for its stirring title track (what Paul Simon called his "Yesterday") as well as its enduring singles, "The Boxer", "Cecelia", and "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)", the album won the Grammy for best album in 1971, while the title track won an additional three awards, including for record and song of the year, and has sold over 25,000,000 copies worldwide.
No Recommendation for this episode.
THINGS WE DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE
Because their names were deemed “too ethnic” when they first stared out, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel recorded under the name “Tom And Jerry.”
An add for Tom and Jerry’s big (and only) hit “Hey Schoolgirl,” released on Big Records.
Simon and Garfunkel’s first album Wednesday, 3 A.M. was a commercial disappointment. As a result, Simon went to Europe. He eventually became part of the English folk scene.
While in England, Simon recorded a collection of originals that was released as Paul Simon Song Book.
“The Sound of Silence” off of Wednesday, 3 A.M began getting some airplay In 1965, The led the album’s producer, Tom Wilson to remix the track and adding electric instruments and drums. This version was released as a single but Simon & Garfunkel were not informed of the song's remix until after its release. The remix eventually gave them their 1st No. 1 hit on the Billboard Charts.
Here is a clip of Simon and Garfunkel performing “The Sound of Silence” at the Monterey Pop Festival.
One of the areas on conflict between Simon and Garfunkel was Garfunkel’s aspiring movie career and Simon’s belief that it was taking time away form the music.
Picture: Art Garfunkel and Alan Arkin on the set of Catch 22.
Below you can here the story of the making of the song “Bridge Over Trouble Water” all of those involved in its recording.
Simon was inspired to write “Bridge Over Troubled Water” while listening the the gospel group the Swan Silvertones and their sing “Oh Mary Don’t You Weep” which contained the lyric "I'll be your bridge over deep water." -
Here is an early demo version of Bridge Over Trouble Water” without the orchestration and Simon’s harmony.
Paul Simon heard “El Condor Pasa” for the first time in 1965. It was performed by e group Los Incas at Théâtre de l'Est in Paris where both Simon and the group were on the bill. For the Simon and Garfunkel version, Simon used the Los Incas music and added his own English lyrics.
Here is a clip of Los Incas perform El Condor Pasa) on French television in 1965.
Bridge Over Troubled Water” won a Grammy for record and one for album of the year at the 1971 Grammy Awards.
Simon won a third Grammy for songwriting.
Here is a Columbia Records ad touting the success of the album.
“The Boxer" was originally written with a verse that is not included on the version recorded for Bridge over Troubled Water. Simon and Garfunkel have included that verse when performing the song live, including in the video below when the reunited in 1975 for the second episode of Saturday Night Live.
