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Bridge Over Troubled Water
Steyn On-line ^ | March 1, 2020 | Mark Steyn

Posted on 03/01/2020 4:47:58 PM PST by Twotone

When you're weary

Feeling small

When tears are in your eyes

I will dry them all...

When you're weary of songs that feel small, it's nice to have a song that feels big - seems to be about something more than just boy-meets-girl, goes on twice as long as your run-of-the-mill pop record, has a sense of its own importance but not to the point of self-parody ("Bohemian Rhapsody"). For a long time "Bridge Over Troubled Water" fulfilled that role. In 1973, when Capital Radio became the first ever (legal) commercial music-format radio station in the United Kingdom, Richard Attenborough launched the station by welcoming listeners and then playing, as the very first record, Simon & Garfunkel. Until well into the Eighties, whenever Capital and many other stations polled listeners on their all-time Top 100, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" would invariably be voted Number One. It had a broad appeal. Back in the Sixties, Simon & Garfunkel were the rockers your parents liked. Not just put up with, but really liked: Nestling among the Ray Conniff LPs and Fiddler on the Roof cast album, you could usually find a Bookends or Sounds of Silence, and well played, too. I once made Paul Simon visibly bristle when I said airily that a lot of suburban couples with two on the aisle for Hello, Dolly! listened to their eight-tracks of Bridge Over Troubled Water while driving to the theatre. But he conceded the essential truth of the observation. The Bridge album became one of the biggest sellers of the rock era, and its title track hit Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 exactly fifty years ago - February 28th 1970. It marked the high point of the Simon & Garfunkel collaboration - and also the end.

(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...


TOPICS: History; Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: marksteyn; paulsimon; simongarfunkel
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1 posted on 03/01/2020 4:47:58 PM PST by Twotone
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To: Twotone

Just drop off the key Lee, and get yourself free.

Unless it’s an Italian girl.

Then you have to change SS number and legal name and go into witness protection :)


2 posted on 03/01/2020 4:57:00 PM PST by dp0622 (Radicals, racists Don't but w finger at me I'm a small town white boy Just tryin' to makne ends meet)
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To: Twotone

The Boxer is one of the greatest songs ever written IMHO.


3 posted on 03/01/2020 4:57:21 PM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Twotone

Lovely song and an amazing vocal by Garfunkle.


4 posted on 03/01/2020 4:57:43 PM PST by LouieFisk
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To: dfwgator

“The Boxer is one of the greatest songs ever written IMHO.”

I have a soft spot for some of their lesser known tunes, like At The Zoo and Fakin It.


5 posted on 03/01/2020 4:59:19 PM PST by LouieFisk
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To: Twotone

Art singing Bridge solo at their NY Central Park concert is my favorite YouTube video. He’s such a much better singer than Simon.


6 posted on 03/01/2020 5:00:08 PM PST by Veggie Todd (Voltaire: "Religion began when the first scoundrel met the first fool".)
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To: LouieFisk

and Patterns ...


7 posted on 03/01/2020 5:02:01 PM PST by bankwalker (Immigration without assimilation is an invasion.)
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To: Twotone

I don’t care for them personally but they were extremely talented.

In 1970 I dated a little cutie whose favorite song was “Bridge”. I never heard her say why but I am sure she had a reason to like it. Something in her past.

“Kodachrome” by Simon is one swinging song.


8 posted on 03/01/2020 5:02:09 PM PST by yarddog ( For I am persuaded.)
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To: Veggie Todd
Art singing Bridge solo at their NY Central Park concert is my favorite YouTube video. He’s such a much better singer than Simon.

That's what made their collaboration so great. Paul wrote 'em and Art sang 'em. And their voices did work well together.

9 posted on 03/01/2020 5:02:28 PM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator

The only living boy in New York


10 posted on 03/01/2020 5:03:59 PM PST by Uncle Miltie (OKSnowflake!)
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To: LouieFisk

“I have a soft spot for some of their lesser known tunes, like At The Zoo and Fakin It.”

Likewise...So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright.


11 posted on 03/01/2020 5:05:29 PM PST by Magic Fingers (Political correctness mutates in order to remain virulent.)
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To: LouieFisk

Kathy’s Song
April Come She Will
For Emily Whenever I May Find Her

They don’t write ‘em like that anymore.


12 posted on 03/01/2020 5:07:12 PM PST by bwest
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To: LouieFisk

My favorite short tune...”Old Friends” as I get older, it has more meaning to me now than before.


13 posted on 03/01/2020 5:08:57 PM PST by offduty
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To: bankwalker

Yeah, that’s kinda obscure. I think it’s not well known because it’s not really radio friendly and not as catchy as something like 59th St Bridge Song.


14 posted on 03/01/2020 5:08:59 PM PST by LouieFisk
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To: offduty

yes - and “time it was and what a time it was”. Times of innocence, times of confidence...


15 posted on 03/01/2020 5:11:35 PM PST by LouieFisk
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To: yarddog

Love Sunday mornings and asking Alexa to play Simon and Garfunkel! Their songs are timeless.


16 posted on 03/01/2020 5:21:55 PM PST by parmamenian (and so it goes!)
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To: Twotone

I tweeted to Steyn today that I heard the end of Feelin Groovy yesterday and recalled how cool that song was.

In 1980 or 81, I saw Simon and Garfunkel perform at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan.


17 posted on 03/01/2020 5:24:55 PM PST by cyclotic (Democrats must be politically eviscerated, disemboweled and demolished.)
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To: Twotone

No disrespect to S & G, but having just listened to Elvis’s rendition of the song, he knocked it out of the park.........


18 posted on 03/01/2020 5:26:33 PM PST by Hot Tabasco (I want an impeachment pen)
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To: Hot Tabasco

Elvis had a great voice. He considered Roy Orbison as the best of any.


19 posted on 03/01/2020 5:30:38 PM PST by yarddog ( For I am persuaded.)
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To: Twotone

BOTW was written about the impending separation of Paul Simon & his wife.

“Sail on silver girl, sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way”

BOTW is not Paul Simon’s best composition...but it is very good nonetheless.

“René and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War” is HUGELY underrated.

Without a doubt, Paul Simon is truly one of the great pop songwriters of our time.


20 posted on 03/01/2020 5:30:51 PM PST by newfreep ("INSIDE EVERY PROGRESSIVE IS A TOTALITARIAN SCREAMING TO GET OUT" - DAVID HOROWITZ)
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