Sunday Classics: ‘Bridge over Troubled Water’
A Simon & Garfunkel favourite for Art Garfunkel’s birthday on November 5
Published 07.11.21, 12:02 AM
Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge over Troubled Water is a tune the duo are remembered for decades after its release. The title track of their fifth and last studio album as a duo, it bagged Simon & Garfunkel the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for six straight weeks in 1970.
The song, composed by Paul Simon, is influenced by gospel music, particularly gospel group Swan Silverstones’ rendition of the 19th-century spiritual number Oh Mary Don’t You Weep. “The title concept is inspired by Claude Jeter's line "I'll be your bridge over deep water if you trust in my name" which Jeter sang with his group, the Swan Silvertones,” revealed Simon in an interview. It features Art Garfunkels’s soulful vocals set to a piano ballad that builds up to a shattering climax. Originally written to an acoustic guitar, the music was later altered to suit its gospel melody and Garfunkels’s voice.
Over the last 50-odd years, many have covered this signature song, from Elvis Presley to Aretha Franklin and Johnny Cash. We’re celebrating Garfunkels’s birthday by listening to every version of this iconic tune and you should too.
“If you need a friend
I’m sailing right behind
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind...”
— Lygeia Gomes
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