Bridge Over Troubled Water, the final and most successful album by the ever-popular duo Simon and Garfunkel. Their career ended on the high of this world-conquering collection.
Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970) by Simon and Garfunkel Context: Simon and Garfunkel had enjoyed increasing success over five years as a folk-rock duo, with a string of hits such as The Sound of Silence, I Am A Rock, America, Feeling Groovy. Paul Simon was a top-class songwriter, and Art Garfunkel had an outstanding voice; and they sang together with strong melodies. They had released four albums, growing in stature and sales with each record; and with this momentum and growing confidence and expertise, they were in a position to create a truly great album. They had the ambition to do this and set themselves the task of surpassing their previous work.
What it’s like: Well produced, with careful texture. Thoughtful, reflective. Elaborate song structures and a range of styles (gospel, singer-songwriter, pop, world). Rich and varied instrumentation, with big band and orchestras featuring throughout: this was a big step forward and change for Simon and Garfunkel, who had generally focussed on simple acoustic guitar arrangements up to this point. Most of the songs are first-rate and two are huge classics of the rock canon: the title track and The Boxer.
Why is it so popular ?: Essentially, because it has high-quality songwriting, production and performance. The generally soothing and reassuring mood of the album was welcome in the US, which was reeling from the social and political troubles and upheaval of the late 1960s (student riots, political violence, Vietnam conflict): the title Bridge Over Troubled Water says it all. More broadly, as light but thoughtful and literate rock performers, Simon and Garfunkel generally had a wide appeal from easy listening fans to the more serious-minded; and anyone who appreciated good melody. They had enough edge and questioning to endear them to radicals, but enough sweetness and stability to appeal to conservatives.
Public response: Massively popular. In the UK, it was the best-selling album in both 1970 and 1971; and, as of end 1979, the best-selling album of the 1970s (that means it was ahead of all albums by Abba, The Carpenters, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Grease, Saturday Night Fever). In the US, it was No 1 for 10 weeks. Worldwide, it sold 25 million, making it about the fortieth most popular album of all time.
Critical response: The album received Grammy Album of the Year and is generally recognised as excellent. However, curiously it received mixed reviews from critics initially. They had loved its predecessor album ‘Bookends’, a serious song cycle about people lost in seeking the American Dream which was tight, lean and focussed in style; and in comparison, BOTW seemed overblown, overproduced, complacent and self-indulgent and a step backwards towards easy listening. Time has not agreed with the critics, however, as many of the tracks have become classics.
How it was made: Ironically, although BOTW was a career peak, Simon and Garfunkel were disintegrating as a creative unit during its making and personal relations became strained to breaking point. The imbalance in the duo probably contributed: Simon was the creative genius who wrote all the songs, while Garfunkel had the better voice and pursued other projects such as film-making - he had more time on his hands, since he didn’t write songs. As a result, the making of the album involved Simon working on his own in New York, writing the songs for a few months, while Garfunkel was away in Mexico, with the two of them meeting as needed to do the recordings. The difficult situation is reflected in some of the album’s songs. There are parallels with the disintegration of The Beatles when making their late albums. (Generally, partnerships of two creatives are notoriously difficult to maintain, because they usually comprise two strong minds and there is nowhere to go if things stop working.) Significantly perhaps, there are more solo performances by either Simon or Garfunkel on BOTW than on previous albums, a sign of them going their separate ways.
Stand-out tracks:
Bridge Over Troubled Water A gospel-based anthem, set on an epic scale, with piano and orchestra. A message of comfort and reassurance. It starts quietly with delicacy and compassion, then moves on deftly to affirmation and encouragement, finally leading to passionate commitment. This is Simon and Garfunkel’s finest moment both collectively and individually, for Simon as songwriter and Garfunkel as performer. Simply one of the greatest songs of the modern era.
The Boxer Tale of a young man who comes to New York (‘I am just a poor boy’) and finds life is tough and there is little to trust, but is determined to press on. ‘In the clearing stands a boxer ….he cries out in his anger and his pain “I am leaving, I am leaving”, but the fighter still remains’. It reflects Simon’s own experience, having been savaged by music critics: he is the one who has been beaten down but is going to press on. The song is mainly set out in simple acoustic melody, but leads to a crescendo of epic orchestral sweep.
El Condor Pasa (If I Could) A charming folk-type song with simple life sentiments, based on a Peruvian melody, with pan-pipes. This marked the start of Paul Simon’s interest in world music fusion which came to full bloom in the late 1980s with Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints.
Cecilia A lively relationship song. The most distinctive feature is the loud and fast crackling rhythm, unusual for any artist and certainly for Simon and Garfunkel. It came out of experimentation with unusual sounds, which shows that Simon was suddenly developing rapidly in terms of sonics.
Less-well known but very good:
Keep The Customer Satisfied The story of a travelling salesman, recounting his hard experience on the road, going from town to town, being ‘slandered, libelled’ and told to leave. Like The Boxer, it is an allegory, really about Simon’s own experience of life as a touring performer. There is a similar them in the earlier song ‘Homeward Bound’, where he longs to be home when on tour.
Only Living Boy In New York New York is a large city where one can easily feel lonely, so the general sentiment in the song is a truism. However, this is clearly about Garfunkel’s absence, away filming in Mexico. ‘Tom, get your plane right on time/I know your part will go fine/Fly down to Mexico/ And here I am, the only living boy in New York.’ It is generally a quiet song, but like The Boxer, it moves into large echoey emotional singing in the second half.
So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright A poignant elegy for the departure of Wright, one of the great architects of the twentieth century, who died in 1959. ‘Architects may come and architects may go and never change your point of view’. Garfunkel had trained to be an architect, adding poignancy to the song. However, the song is also Simon’s farewell to his partner Garfunkel, as their working partnership was coming to an end. It contains fond reminiscences of their early days together: ‘all of the nights we’d harmonise ‘til dawn/I never laughed so long’.
Song for the Asking The album ends on a minor key with this short plaintive song, mourning lack of connection and relationship. The attitude is humble and contrite, open to change. It is a solo by Paul Simon and it’s quite likely that this is Simon’s own meditation on the breakdown of the Simon-Garfunkel relationship – he’s accepting his part in it and is willing to change his ways. So, although it’s the end of the album and the duo’s career, it holds out hope of a new beginning.
Background Simon and Garfunkel were a folk-rock duo, together from the late 1950s to 1970, with several later reunions. They attended the same school in Queen’s New York. From the mid-sixties to 1970, they enjoyed great success, with a series of classic songs such as The Sound of Silence, I Am A Rock, Feeling Groovy, America and Mrs Robinson. Their appeal lay in strong melodies, sweet harmonies and thoughtful, poetic lyrics: both for the catchy tunes and for the reflective words. They encouraged people to think, but were not overbearing: ‘they questioned but did not challenge the values of society’ (NME Encyclopedia of Rock, 1978). They released five albums: Wednesday Morning 3am; The Sounds of Silence; Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Rhyme; Bookends; and Bridge Over Troubled Water, which show continued growth in artistry and sophistication. After their break-up in 1970s, Simon and Garfunkel re-united for several tours in the following decades, including a memorable concert to half a million people in New York’s Central Park in 1981, which became both an album and video: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Concert_in_Central_Park
But they only recorded one more studio song: My Little Town (1975) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__Ro3eGuznI Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel both had successful solo careers.
Wiki on Simon and Garfunkel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_%26_Garfunkel
Other similar music:
If you like Bridge Over Troubled Water, you will probably enjoy the following light acoustic pop-rock:
Albums
Tapestry (1971) by Carole King. Piano-based songwriting. Includes So Far Away, It’s Too Late, You’ve Got A Friend, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
Teaser and the Firecat (1971) by Cat Stevens. Guitar-based songwriting. Includes Moonshadow, Morning Has Broken, Rubylove, How Can I Tell You
Songs
Neil Diamond songs: Sweet Caroline, Crackling Rosie, Forever In Blue Jeans, Beautiful Noise, You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, If You Know What I Mean, Hello Again
Everybody’s Talkin’ (1969) by Harry Nilsson
Annie’s Song (1975), Perhaps Love (1981) by John Denver Unchained Melody (1965) by The Righteous Brothers
Kenneth
Kommentare