Bridge Over Troubled Water

Genius ^ | 1970 | Simon & Garfunkel

[DallasBiff]

“Bridge over Troubled Water” is the titular song of Simon & Garfunkel’s album of the same name. The single was released on January 26, 1970, though it also appears on the live album Live 1969, which was released in 2008. This song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on February 28, 1970, and reigned at the top chart for six continuous weeks. “Bridge over Troubled Water” also topped the adult contemporary chart in the U.S. for six weeks. The single has sold 6 million copies worldwide

[discostu]

You said flame away, I told why I wasn’t. The world of music right now is AMAZING, life altering wonderful. But you think everything sucks, so you’re deliberately avoiding WONDER. Sucks for you. No flames.

Meanwhile Bridge is ALWAYS relevant.

[mairdie]

Simon and Garfunkel write story songs, which is why I’ve done so many of their songs as literary music videos. Adore them. Adore Holmes.

[heavy metal]

depressing and outdated... check out linkin park’s new song “emptiness machine”... new lead singer is awesome...

[DallasBiff]

depressing and outdated...

Actually I think the song is very spiritual in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

[Steely Tom]

I also amuse myself wondering if someone dare Laura Nyro [RIP] to write a song about someone named “Bill,” and she went at it head-on.

Paul Simon wrote So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright on a challenge from Art Garfunkel. He (who majored in architecture at Columbia before quitting for music) asked Simon "why don't you write a song about an architect?"

[MV=PY]

This song inspired “the Long and Winding Road.”

I think McCartney was jealous and wanted to write an epic ballad too.

[heavy metal]

i agree... but it’s a song my mom listened to... it’s outdated... today’s times are referenced in today’s music...

[Dr. Sivana]

Bridge over Troubled Water has always seemed a little sappy to me.

It is, but it works. It works better than the Beatles' attempt with "The Long and Winding Road", which has an overdone arrangement, and lyrics that don't support the sap.

"MacArthur Park" is best of breed. Totally over-the-top, and Richard Harris isn't a top tier singer, but no one else sells the lyric better.

[Dr. Sivana]

When I played Chicago's 25 or 6 to 4 for my kids, my son said "so they're sort of an oom-pah band?"

Have you seen the Leonid and Friends version? Watching them play it made me appreciate the song more, and they are not a cover band. They replicate the Chicago sound live (not layering tracks). I am taking my wife to see them next month.

25 or 6 to 4 – Chicago (Leonid & Friends сover)

[Steely Tom]

I've watched a lot of Leonid and Friends. They're excellent. Obviously they have a special love for the jazzier-side music of the 70s. Their taste is similar to mine, and perhaps yours too.

Interesting that they don't try Steely Dan, which is even farther to the "jazz side" of the spectrum.

[Steely Tom]

"MacArthur Park" is best of breed. Totally over-the-top, and Richard Harris isn't a top tier singer, but no one else sells the lyric better.

MacArthur Park was very influential for me, growing up. I listened to the Maynard Ferguson version of it many times, and loved the original when it came out. In fact, the album from which it was taken (A Tramp Shining) was one of the few albums I ever owned as a young teenager, when an LP album was something I bought maybe once a year.

I also played the bridge as a solo in my high school jazz band, in an arrangement done by another member of the band.

[Dr. Sivana]

it’s outdated... today’s times are referenced in today’s music...

What makes a song "outdated"? Songs about love, life, death, suffering, frustration, joy, don't get outdated. Maybe novelty songs like "The Streak" do. Still, while "Fun, Fun, Fun" is technically "outdated", people can enjoy it for what it is, fun music.

Connie Francis took the 1920s oldie "Who's Sorry Now" and it sounded contemporary in the early '60s and went to #1. Fats Domino did similar with "Blueberry Hill". "Tangerine" and "Baby Face" scored in numerous decades spanning half a century. "Puttin on the Ritz" was revived by Taco, but the original still plays well.

I can listen to the beautiful Glenn Miller "Moonlight Serenade" or Vera Lynn's touching "We'll Meet Again", and feel like I have a touch of the underlying melancholy accompanying World War II. Anachronistic (I was born in '63) but certainly not dated.

[Charles Martel]

Mark Knopfler has a very nice cover of The Boxer; I think it was an appearance on some BBC broadcast a few years ago, maybe a birthday tribute to Paul Simon. Mark's gravelly voice suits the song perfectly.

[Dr. Sivana]

“Interesting that they don’t try Steely Dan, which is even farther to the “jazz side” of the spectrum.”

My Old School:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_8aZZ9d_EA

[ncalburt]

Garfunkel’s amazing vocals .

[Mr Rogers]

Thank you. For some time now, when I re-read a Sherlock Holmes story, I see Jeremy Brett’s face and motion. AFAIC, he became Sherlock Holmes.

[heavy metal]

the listening audience makes a song outdated... the people that listen to fats domino and glen miller are dying off...

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“Today’s modern music is crap”

It takes maybe five minutes to write a song these days and another 5 minutes to crank it out on the computer. I believe that there is only ONE modern song and every piece of crap derives from that one song. There’s no talent, creativity, artistry, or musicianship in modern popular music.

I do find lots of interesting and talented young groups on Spotify, but they are often today’s equivalent of the earlier “One Hit Wonder.”

[dfwgator]

“MacArthur Park” is best of breed. Totally over-the-top, and Richard Harris isn’t a top tier singer, but no one else sells the lyric better.

---

IMHO the best performance of The Wrecking Crew.

[snerdly]

Wow, well done!