A Sneak Peek on a great album...
"Bridge over Troubled Water" The fifth album by the duo Simon & Garfunkel, was released on January 26, 1970.
Despite its huge success, "Bridge over Troubled Water" is the last album the duo released. It included hits like "The Boxer" written by Paul Simon in response to bad reviews he got from music critics and included lyrics from the Bible, "Cecilia" about love and heartache between a man and a woman, "El Cóndor Pasa (If I Could" which Paul Simon based on a Peruvian folk melody and was the subject of a lawsuit, "Bye Bye Love" which is a cover version of a song by "The Everly Brothers", the theme song "Bridge over Troubled Water", and more.
This time we chose to focus mainly on the theme song. So here are some interesting facts about it and the on the album:
1. The song was written by Paul Simon but is sung by Art Garfunkel.
2. This is the theme song from the album "Bridge over Troubled Water", which is the best selling album of the record company "Columbia".
3. The song was written in 1969 in the summer house "Blue Jay Way" where George Harrison wrote the song "Blue Jay Way" by "The Beatles".
4. Paul Simon originally wrote two verses but Garfunkel and producer Roy Halee persuaded him to add a third verse, which indeed Simon did in the studio. during the recording of the song.
5. The song was originally written on guitar, it took Simon a while to change the production to fit a piano.
6. The one playing the piano in the song is Larry Knechtel who has also played on the albums of "The Byrds", "The Beach Boys", "The Doors", Elvis Presley and later will form the band "Bread".
7. The line "Sail on, silver girl" from the song refers to Simon's girlfriend at the time - Peggy Harper, who found a white hair on her head. Later Simon will marry Peggy.
8. The song and album won five Grammy Awards in 1971, including Album of the Year and Song of the Year.
9. This is one of the songs that have the most cover versions. One of the cover versions is by none other than Elvis Presley.
10. The song is ranked 48th on the "Rolling Stone" magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
11. "The Boxer" also entered the list of the 500 greatest songs of all time by "Rolling Stone" magazine, a tremendous achievement considering the fact that two songs from one album enter the honorable mention list.
11. The album "Bridge over Troubled Water" is one of the best selling albums in the world with sales of over 25 million copies worldwide !!
12. The album reached number one in 10 different countries around the globe.
14. It stayed on the first place in the U.S. Billboard 200 for 10 weeks and a total of 85 weeks in the chart.
15. The album stayed at number one on the UK charts for 35 weeks and in total 285 weeks on the charts.
16. The album entered the list of the 500 greatest albums of all time by "Rolling Stone" magazine.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music