Through the history of popular music there have come a handful of albums whose resonance with the period in which they were made have elevated them beyond monumental sales figures to cultural emblems of the day.
Which is not to say such records have explored new avenues of artistic expression in the mold of say ‘Sgt. Pepper‘ or ‘Tommy‘ – serving more as a reflection, counterpoint even, to the times, rather than opening up previously untapped creative possibilities.
One album to make all the right time/right place noises is the 1971 Carole King masterpiece ‘Tapestry‘ – this twelve-song opus bearing understated piano-based melodies and introspective lyrics found huge empathy with an audience coming to terms with, weary perhaps, of political upheaval, social discord, protest songs and the brutal sound of heavy rock.
Released thirteen months prior in January 1970, ‘BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER‘ the fifth and final studio album by New York folk duo Simon & Garfunkel was an earlier antidote to the anxieties felt by many as a new decade began – this sense of uncertainty made no less valid by the extremes of man being able to land on the moon but unable to end the Vietnam War.
Rather than comment directly in song on turmoil he was clearly aware of, judging by his interviews of the time, Paul Simon, the songwriting half of the partnership, (Art Garfunkel contributing pristine vocals), composes from a questioning rather than protesting perspective. The pair are aided by an invaluable degree to the production work of Roy Halee in conjuring a record that is engaging, textured and at times deeply resonant.
During its 51-year existence critics have described the album as ‘overblown‘ and ‘mediocre‘ (and there we were thinking such words were exclusive to criticism of Elton John), but despite some lesser moments, ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water‘ remains an enduring, eclectic, highly likeable not to say immensely successful rock record – ending the decade in which it appeared as the biggest-selling album of all time.
Having known each other almost all their lives, attending the same New York neighborhood schools, in 1957 at the ages of seventeen and eighteen respectively, Simon and Garfunkel – or doo-wop combo Tom & Jerry as they were then known – managed a US Top 40 hit with ‘Hey! Schoolgirl.’ But there was to be no follow-up success and with personal tensions between them already forming for the next six or seven years they pursued solo careers, each to modest ends. By 1964, however, Simon had begun to generate interest through his acoustic guitar ballads now going down a storm, particularly in the folk clubs of England.
On returning to America Simon submitted tapes to a number of major labels, finally succeeding when Colombia took notice. Joining forces again with Garfunkel they jumped aboard the quickly moving folk-rock bandwagon, reuniting allowing them to recreate the Everly Brothers influenced harmonies of their early days while Simon penned material with Dylan-like overtones only without the outrage.
Their debut set ‘Wednesday Morning 3 AM‘ (1964), a mix of folk covers and Simon originals received scant attention – until, that is, producer Tom Wilson remixed a track entitled ‘The Sound of Silence‘ onto which he grafted electric guitar, bass and drums (without the knowledge of the artists). Their annoyance at not being consulted evaporated on the record becoming a US Number One when issued as a single.
Thus, the formula for success, albeit accidentally, had been established, Simon crafting folk-pop compositions focusing mainly on the individual in society – his lyrics, at times, almost self-consciously poetic – while Garfunkel provided the close harmonies that gave the pair their distinctive sound.
‘Bookends‘ (1968) proved their most ambitions work to date, Simon taking effective snapshots of contemporary America in well-constructed pieces such as ‘America,’ ‘Fakin’ It,’ ‘At the Zoo‘ and ‘Mrs Robinson‘ – the latter having already been used on the soundtrack to ‘The Graduate‘ an Academy Award winning film by director Mike Nichols whose runaway success was being replicated by Simon and Garfunkel, for whom world domination was only one more heave away.
After a couple of false starts in regard to recording their next album – Garfunkel taking a part in ‘Catch 22‘ the next film directed by Nichols, Simon suffering a period of writers’ block – sessions began in earnest as 1969 drew to a close. For the material Simon had compiled, (of the eleven tracks included on the finished article he wrote nine), musicians from the legendary band of LA sessioneers known as ‘The Wrecking Crew‘ were again hired – pianist Larry Knechtel immediately making his presence felt, playing the melodic opening bars of the first-up title-track.
For a gospel-tinged song whose sentiments offer solace and hope to a friend, the backstory of recording a piece so breathtakingly beautiful is shot through with recrimination and regret. Simon later reproached himself for insisting Garfunkel sing lead – despite the fact his partner produces a sublime vocal – feeling attention became focused on the singer rather than composer.
‘Many times on stage, when I’d be sitting off to the side,’ Simon once reflected, ‘and Larry Knechtel would be playing the piano and Art would be singing “Bridge,” people would stomp and cheer when it was over, and I would think, ‘That’s my song, man.’
Falling somewhere, in both chronological and aesthetic terms, between The Beatles ‘Let it Be‘ and Lennon’s ‘Imagine‘ there is no doubt, for all the grief it caused the protagonists, Simon and Garfunkel, along with producer Halee, created a modern masterpiece. The sweeping string arrangement and resonant lyrics, that connect on both a personal and universal level, elevate it to that ‘impossibly perfect‘ category of song which it shares with ‘Waterloo Sunset‘ by The Kinks and precious few others.
After opening the album with an epic, orchestral ballad, (after writing the song on acoustic guitar Simon embraced the idea of Halee to build it on piano and strings), there comes a change in direction with ‘El Condor Pasa‘ (If I Could) – Simon writing a set of English lyrics to a tune brought to prominence by Peruvian ensemble Los Incas.
Creating a subtle blend of folk and traditional South American music, Garfunkel singing the bridge making it unmistakably them, the track is gentle and unassuming, but moreover a direction pointer for the excursions into world music Simon would make later in his career.
At first glance the lyrics to ‘Cecilia‘ could be those of a plaintive folk lament, but set against a jaunty tune with propulsive back beat, it becomes a celebratory sing-along – despite the two-timing tendencies of the main character:
‘Making love in the afternoon with Cecilia/Up in my bedroom/I got up to wash my face/When I come back to bed/Someone’s taken my place.’
The upbeat mood continues through ‘Keep The Customer Satisfied,’ a light-hearted two verse song sketching the experiences of a touring musician. The rockabilly vibe enhances the feeling of whimsy (‘Everywhere I go, I get slandered/Libeled/I hear words I never heard/In the Bible‘), and although the arrival of blaring horns could be construed as the grandstanding producer Halee was gaining renown for, are no less welcome given the colour they provide.
Side one closer ‘So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright‘ is a pastoral ballad decorated with congas, strings, a flute and Simon playing some expressive acoustic guitar. In part written about the architect named in the title, it also reflects on what their partnership had once been (‘All of the nights we’d harmonize till dawn/I never laughed so long‘).
The composer sings the verses with Garfunkel adding his tones to the ending background-to-fade ‘So long‘ vocals, to which Halee can be heard adding ‘So long, Artie‘ – letting the cat out of the bag with regard to Simon’s imminent plans to go solo.
Written three years before (the Dylanesque lyrics indicative of its mid-60s origins), but never previously recorded to their satisfaction, ‘The Boxer‘ quickly became one of their most lauded pieces. Simon here in his element adding cinematic detail to the tale of a solitary figure blighted by impoverished circumstances – the boxer a symbol of the blow’s life has landed upon him.
The story is transposed onto a board production canvas. Halee gives the drums of Wrecking Crew maestro Hal Blaine significant amounts of echo, incorporating a dramatic string score and pedal steel guitar harmonics into the only song on the album to clock in at over five minutes.
With its moments of calm offset by intense passages the track boasts an impeccable arrangement and although the lines, ‘I am older than I once was, And younger than I’ll be; that’s not unusual/Nor is it strange/After changes upon changes/We are more or less the same’ bear many Dylan hallmarks, just as effective (and better known) is the wordless ‘Lie-la-lie‘ chorus.
After opening side two, ‘The Boxer‘ is followed by the uptempo ‘Baby Driver‘, the throwaway lyric relating to a sexual conquest being pursued. Constructed on a platform of folk-rock embellishments reminiscent of the recent ‘Marrakesh Express‘ hit of ‘Crosby, Stills & Nash, for the most part Simon is the primary voice, his acoustic guitar at a delightful cross purpose to the horn section that broadens the scope.
Similar in outlook is ‘Why Don’t You Write Me‘ which again steers away from the serious story connotations most associated with Simon as a lyricist – the funky middle section and in particular the reggae inflections squirrelled away by the writer for use on his ‘Mother and Child Reunion’ hit two years down the road.
Sequenced between those somewhat lightweight pieces on the second side is ‘The Only Living Boy in New York‘ which returns them to the more familiar territory of earnest lyricism and a clearly defined folk-rock structure. Written by Simon in response to Garfunkel leaving for Mexico to film ‘Catch 22‘, the song, which is virtually a solo track, articulates the isolation he felt on being left behind:
‘I can gather all the news I need on the weather report/Hey, I’ve got nothing to do today but smile.’
Once again, The Wrecking Crew of Blaine, Joe Osborn (bass) and Knechtel (organ) are heard to superb effect, Halee again making clear his liking for echo, applying it to the drums and in turn the background vocals to replicate the sound of a massed choir.
Whether by chance or design – and with Paul Simon you always feel a plan is being adhered to – the last two tracks are comment on what had been and where things are heading.
Inclusion of an in-concert take of the 1957 Everly Brothers hit ‘Bye Bye Love‘ is an engaging way of evoking the past, the audience having as much fun clapping their hands in time with the music as Paul and Artie do being Don and Phil. Taken from a show recorded in October 1968 the date is unintentionally ironic as in the same month they were performing a 50s revival number in their live shows, The Beatles and Rolling Stones, whose record
sales Simon and Garfunkel had already begun to match, released albums referencing revolution and street fighting men to a world in the grip of riots and war.
Closing cut ‘Song for the Asking‘ leaves no doubt Simon is gearing up for a career on his own. Not only is Garfunkel barely heard on this sedate, eloquent piece featuring an acoustic guitar and string quartet, when he sings the line ‘Here is my song for the asking/Ask me and I will play‘ you cannot help but wonder if once upon a time Simon would have written ‘our,’ ‘us‘ and ‘we‘ instead of ‘my,’ ‘me‘ and ‘I‘.
Despite its hallowed contemporary status (51 in the most recent poll of the ‘500 Greatest Albums Ever Made‘), on release ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water‘ received a mixed critical response. In Britain the Melody Maker music weekly complained of a ‘few dull moments‘ while noted US rock commentator Robert Christgau marked it ‘B’ in his closely followed A-D album rating system, remarking on a ‘languid loveliness‘ before concluding (it was) ‘ultimately soporific.’
All of which served to prove critics are rarely attuned to the mood of the record buying public – with whom the album made an immediate connection. The worldwide success of the title-track when released as a single sent sales of the LP to stratospheric levels and when their 1972 ‘Greatest Hits‘ set also returned off-the scale figures, the record industry found itself without a category to measure the number of units sold.
By such time Simon and Garfunkel were no longer an entity, their inevitable parting of the ways occurring not long after ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water‘ hit the charts – the pair no longer enamored by the prospect of working together or of trying to follow a record that in commercial terms alone was impossible to top.
When it swept the board at the next Grammy Awards (the single, album and Halee all winning in their respective categories), they were already forging new career paths, Garfunkel continuing to work with Nichols by taking a role in ‘Carnal Knowledge’ while also starting work on a solo record, Simon cutting tracks for his self-titled 1972 set – the first in a series of magnificent albums he would make during the decade.
The presence of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ in the collection of just about everybody who bought LP’s during the 1970s emphasizes the appeal of some very fine music, but in a wider context it presented an approachable, less confrontational face to a medium that in the proceeding years had become known as ‘rock‘.
For the generation, that of my parents to be exact, enthralled by Nat ‘King’ Cole, Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, who were busy raising children through the 1960s, there had been little connection with The Beatles and none whatsoever with Dylan or the Stones. Yet by 1970 they were amenable to the melodic musings of Simon and Garfunkel but in the same year would have found ‘Deja Vu‘ by CSNY too abstract. By the same token, 12 months later my mum and dad embraced ‘Tapestry‘ although the sub-culture element attached to ‘Blue‘ by Joni Mitchell would have kept it off their radar.
‘Deja Vu‘ and ‘Blue‘ sit among my albums, but so does ‘Tapestry‘ along with ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water‘ – testament surely to the song-craft of Paul Simon and wonderful tenor of Art Garfunkel in being able to cross at least two generational divides.
SIMON & GARFUNKEL – BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER (Released January 26 1970):
Bridge Over Troubled Water/El Condor Pasa (If I Could)/Cecilia/Keep the Customer Satisfied/So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright/The Boxer/Baby Driver/The Only Living Boy in New York/Why Don’t You Write Me/Bye Bye Love/Song for the Asking;
NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE‘ – an acclaimed thriller now available in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle book.
