Fact #182252
When:
Short story:
Simon and Garfunkel begin the first of six weeks at the top of the Billboard Singles Chart in the USA with Bridge Over Troubled Water.
Full article:
Paul Simon : I knew the minute I wrote, "Like a bridge over troubled water I will lay me down," that I had a very clear image. The whole verse was set up to hit that melody line. With certain songs you just know it.
The demo of Bridge Over Troubled Water will show you that it was much less grandiose thing than the record. In fact, it wasn't grandiose at all. It was a humble, little gospel hymn song with two verses and a simple guitar behind it.
Art Garfunkel : Paul showed it to me in his East End Avenue apartment one day, and he sang it in his very nice falsetto. Paul has a lovely flutey falsetto. It's very dreamy, and like helium. And when I heard him use that falsetto ... it wasn't the first time I said this, I would say this very often ... "Paul, you gotta explore your falsetto. It's one of our very valuable sounds in our arsenal. Shouldn't you sing that?" He said, "No, I wrote this for you."
Paul Simon : Because of Artie's vocal performance - which was astounding - a real virtuoso performance - and a big Righteous Brothers third verse, the record became an enormous hit and defined the song in that way, that made it seem like it was a big, big song, when it was actually a tiny little country church song and not a huge, River Deep Mountain High gospel song.
Art Garfunkel : Spector’s production of the Righteous Brothers’ Ol’ Man River was actually our model. Bill Medley sings the first 98 per cent with just a piano. Only on the last line do the other instruments kick in. We were crazy about that notion. That’s why, when we were recording Bridge, it suddenly occurred to me, this is not a two verse song. This is a Phil Spector thing that opens up in the third verse.
So first come low strings, then a bass, then Hal Blaine’s drums. Then Paul and me going into two-part harmony, we double our voices - ‘Sail on, silver girl’ and everything’s like a rocket taking off.
We thought it an album cut, but Columbia president Clive Davis said, ‘No, it’s bigger than that. It’s the title of your album. It’s your first single.”
Art Garfunkel : I had a great time doing it. I began to feel proprietary about it, as if I know what 'bridge over troubled water' was. 'Cause I see where the vocal wants to go. By the time I come toward the end of the verse, "Like a bridge over troubled water / I will lay me down" I knew that the repeat, "Like a bridge over", I didn't wanna just do it again. And I said, "Larry, we want this second repeat to set up the turnaround. We are gonna do an elaborate turnaround that's gonna take things down and set up a second verse. The way Paul has written it, there ain't enough space to do that. Let me see if I can help you find chords that will stretch this out."
Larry Knechtel (pianist) : Those kind of things, I don't know a lot about it. Just happened, you know ... I just lucked out. And then I had the idea for the tag at the end, you know, the repeats and some of the chord changes, the diminish. That was my idea to do that. But the song was still Paul's.
They wanted an introduction, a certain tradition seen in gospel music. So I borrowed ... I tried to remember them. So I came up with, starting with a bass and a fifth, and the diminished chord, and the flat. Paul didn't have those. And I think I did it three times to the try.
Art Garfunkel : I'm doing anything I can to support the lyric. I want the lyric to look tender and carry that story. A singer's job is to tell the story more than it's anything. If it's tender and it says, "If you are in trouble, I'll be there," then be a papa ... be a strong guy who can be leaned on. And that's all I'm thinking as I'm singing that.
You know, "Sail on by ... " that diction is not really white, so this shows that Paul and Art ... I mean, we knew ... this goes back to Alan Freed. It's that stuff we're borrowing in our diction. That's white kid doing a black style kind of sound. You can get a lovely intensity that way.
"...come to shine..." ... the word is "shine", not "sha-hn". That's just ... that's the rock'n'roll legacy that an American white kid learns, which is essentially black.
Come on, doing that, when I'm singing with Paul and harmonizing at the end. But I'm doing the verses, I'm trying to be more sincere. So it's the tender sincere sound I'm really doing.
Paul Simon : The live version - when Richard Tee played it, he always played it black gospel, like in church, so we used to do it that way, very simply. Artie's version is always much more white gospel, more Methodist than Baptist.
The song has lived a long life and I've gone through many different feelings about it, from negative to superlative. I just turned on the telly last night and was watching Elvis Presley do it. It was in his Las Vegas period and done with conventional thinking: it kind of imitated the Simon And Garfunkel record. He sang it well, but it would have been nice to hear him do it that way, take it back - as opposed to the big ending; he seemed to end everything with a karate chop and an explosion. So he didn't really add anything to the song. It's not nearly as significant as Aretha Franklin recording. It's just a pleasure for me that Elvis Presley recorded one of my songs before he died.
(Sources : not known)
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The demo of Bridge Over Troubled Water will show you that it was much less grandiose thing than the record. In fact, it wasn't grandiose at all. It was a humble, little gospel hymn song with two verses and a simple guitar behind it.
Art Garfunkel : Paul showed it to me in his East End Avenue apartment one day, and he sang it in his very nice falsetto. Paul has a lovely flutey falsetto. It's very dreamy, and like helium. And when I heard him use that falsetto ... it wasn't the first time I said this, I would say this very often ... "Paul, you gotta explore your falsetto. It's one of our very valuable sounds in our arsenal. Shouldn't you sing that?" He said, "No, I wrote this for you."
Paul Simon : Because of Artie's vocal performance - which was astounding - a real virtuoso performance - and a big Righteous Brothers third verse, the record became an enormous hit and defined the song in that way, that made it seem like it was a big, big song, when it was actually a tiny little country church song and not a huge, River Deep Mountain High gospel song.
Art Garfunkel : Spector’s production of the Righteous Brothers’ Ol’ Man River was actually our model. Bill Medley sings the first 98 per cent with just a piano. Only on the last line do the other instruments kick in. We were crazy about that notion. That’s why, when we were recording Bridge, it suddenly occurred to me, this is not a two verse song. This is a Phil Spector thing that opens up in the third verse.
So first come low strings, then a bass, then Hal Blaine’s drums. Then Paul and me going into two-part harmony, we double our voices - ‘Sail on, silver girl’ and everything’s like a rocket taking off.
We thought it an album cut, but Columbia president Clive Davis said, ‘No, it’s bigger than that. It’s the title of your album. It’s your first single.”
Art Garfunkel : I had a great time doing it. I began to feel proprietary about it, as if I know what 'bridge over troubled water' was. 'Cause I see where the vocal wants to go. By the time I come toward the end of the verse, "Like a bridge over troubled water / I will lay me down" I knew that the repeat, "Like a bridge over", I didn't wanna just do it again. And I said, "Larry, we want this second repeat to set up the turnaround. We are gonna do an elaborate turnaround that's gonna take things down and set up a second verse. The way Paul has written it, there ain't enough space to do that. Let me see if I can help you find chords that will stretch this out."
Larry Knechtel (pianist) : Those kind of things, I don't know a lot about it. Just happened, you know ... I just lucked out. And then I had the idea for the tag at the end, you know, the repeats and some of the chord changes, the diminish. That was my idea to do that. But the song was still Paul's.
They wanted an introduction, a certain tradition seen in gospel music. So I borrowed ... I tried to remember them. So I came up with, starting with a bass and a fifth, and the diminished chord, and the flat. Paul didn't have those. And I think I did it three times to the try.
Art Garfunkel : I'm doing anything I can to support the lyric. I want the lyric to look tender and carry that story. A singer's job is to tell the story more than it's anything. If it's tender and it says, "If you are in trouble, I'll be there," then be a papa ... be a strong guy who can be leaned on. And that's all I'm thinking as I'm singing that.
You know, "Sail on by ... " that diction is not really white, so this shows that Paul and Art ... I mean, we knew ... this goes back to Alan Freed. It's that stuff we're borrowing in our diction. That's white kid doing a black style kind of sound. You can get a lovely intensity that way.
"...come to shine..." ... the word is "shine", not "sha-hn". That's just ... that's the rock'n'roll legacy that an American white kid learns, which is essentially black.
Come on, doing that, when I'm singing with Paul and harmonizing at the end. But I'm doing the verses, I'm trying to be more sincere. So it's the tender sincere sound I'm really doing.
Paul Simon : The live version - when Richard Tee played it, he always played it black gospel, like in church, so we used to do it that way, very simply. Artie's version is always much more white gospel, more Methodist than Baptist.
The song has lived a long life and I've gone through many different feelings about it, from negative to superlative. I just turned on the telly last night and was watching Elvis Presley do it. It was in his Las Vegas period and done with conventional thinking: it kind of imitated the Simon And Garfunkel record. He sang it well, but it would have been nice to hear him do it that way, take it back - as opposed to the big ending; he seemed to end everything with a karate chop and an explosion. So he didn't really add anything to the song. It's not nearly as significant as Aretha Franklin recording. It's just a pleasure for me that Elvis Presley recorded one of my songs before he died.
(Sources : not known)