Happy 40th Bridge Over Troubled Water!
Forty years ago, on 26th January 1970, quite possibly the finest pop album of all time was released and, at a time when utopian sixties optimism had given way to collective anxiety, it caught the imagination of the public when they needed it most. Bridge Over Troubled Water was the swansong of American duo Simon and Garfunkel and is to this day a beautiful and fitting tribute to the partnership which, after mounting tension, split into two separate careers. None of their subsequent solo work, however excellent and compelling, ever matched the eloquence and endurance of this record.
The LP, their final curtain-call, was released by Sony Music Entertainment Inc. and shot to No.1, remaining at the top for thirteen weeks, parenting four top ten singles and winning a Grammy for Album of the Year. The title track, top of the singles charts for six weeks, contains the most breathtaking middle eight:
Sail on, silvergirl,
Sail on by.
Your time has come to shine.
All your dreams are on their way.
See how they shine.
If you need a friend
I’m sailing right behind
Writer Bud Scoppa sums up the song; “Opening the album, Bridge Over Troubled Water gradually ascends from a whispery intimacy to breathtaking grandeur on the wings of Garfunkel’s greatest vocal. This brilliant example of slow-build aural architecture is but one of the record’s myriad pleasures.” Well said.
Talking of architecture, the melancholic So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright, was a memorial to the architect; Simon wrote it for Garfunkel to sing and it was his way of bidding adieu to his friend and partner, who himself was a one-time architect major. I think the song says farewell to the union itself and I once again turn to Scoppa; “Over a dusky bossa nova groove, Garfunkel sighs, ‘All of the night we’d harmonize ‘til dawn /So Long /So Long’.”
Indeed, the album is soothing and reflective but there is room aplenty for the early-'60s rock & roll beat of Baby Driver and the upbeat Cecilia whose sing-along hooks are just plain melodic fun. My personal favourite, Keep The Customer Satisfied, contains the marvellous lyric 'I hear words I never hear in the Bible' which I have used on numerous occasions when describing various outings in which drunken bald men who can’t control their language happen to feature (As a Cardiff City fan, these outings are rather frequent).
The whole record though is both musically and poetically divine, and I cannot think of any other that combines handclaps, honking horns and indigenous Peruvian instruments to such effect.
And with its fortieth year, 2010, approaching at great speed I ask of you this; Have you got the album and if not, why ever not? So, if you happen to be stuck with any surplus cash kicking around after Christmas, (unlikely I know) why not pop down to HMV and purchase this truly majestic array of tunes. Bridge really is perfect for any frame of mind you may find yourself in. (Especially if that frame of mind includes a CD-player - you can’t beat having the solid copy in your hand me-finks!)