132: Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970)

“To me [Bridge Over Troubled Water] is the classic album of all time. It taught me a lot about melody, and that it’s the song that counts. I mean, it doesn’t matter how skilfully you play if a song is no good in the first place.”

–Dan McCafferty, lead singer of Nazareth

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Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were gifted musicians with a deep and complicated personal relationship, which makes them perfect subjects for a Discord & Rhyme holiday episode. Their magnum opus, Bridge Over Troubled Water, was a huge hit in 1970 and is still as beautiful, innovative, and occasionally silly as it ever was. Ben, Amanda, Rich, and John love this album dearly, and discussing all its strengths and arguing over its few flaws was the perfect way to wind up Discord & Rhyme’s sixth calendar year. Happy holidays, everyone, and may all your relationships be less acrimonious than Simon and Garfunkel’s.

Miscellany

• The teaser comes from the film Almost Famous, specifically one of the best scenes in one of the best movies.

• Songs From The Capeman is exactly that: the songs from Paul Simon’s Broadway musical The Capeman. The show flopped so hard the smoking rubble of it can still be seen today, and the album is correspondingly awful. Amanda thinks there are two decent songs on it (“Trailways Bus” and “Bernadette”); everyone else thinks she is being too generous.

• After Simon and Garfunkel officially broke up, they did reunite a few times, usually when their solo careers weren’t doing too well and needed a boost. We mentioned the concert in Central Park, which happened in 1980, was free of charge, and ended up with an audience of around half a million people. 

• Before that, they recorded “My Little Town” in 1975, which appeared on Simon’s album Still Crazy After All These Years and Garfunkel’s album Breakaway.

• The Kidsongs version of “Why Don’t You Write Me” is accompanied by a video clip featuring chimpanzees dressed like people. When the bass voice goes “Yeeeeeaaaaah,” one of the chimpanzees opens his mouth really wide. Kids are apparently expected to find this funny. 

Other links 

• The official Simon & Garfunkel website (simonandgarfunkel.com)

• "El Condor Pasa": The Fascinating Story Behind Peru's Most Famous Song (livinginperu.com)

• Alison Krauss, Shawn Colvin, and Jerry Douglas perform “The Boxer” (YouTube)

• “Baby Driver” on The Muppet Show (YouTube)

• Paul Simon and George Harrison - “Homeward Bound” (YouTube)

• Paul Simon: The Life by Robert Hilburn (Amazon affiliate link)

• Every Single Paul Simon Song on “Song for the Asking” (Blogspot)

• John McFerrin’s Simon and Garfunkel reviews

• Discord & Rhyme’s Bridge Over Troubled Water playlist (Spotify)

• Discord & Rhyme’s merch store (TeePublic)

• Discord & Rhyme’s Patreon

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call 

• John McFerrin (moderator)

• Rich Bunnell

• Ben Marlin

• Amanda Rodgers 

Bridge Over Troubled Water tracklist 

1. Bridge Over Troubled Water

2. El Condor Pasa (If I Could)

3. Cecilia

4. Keep the Customer Satisfied

5. So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright

6. The Boxer

7. Baby Driver

8. The Only Living Boy in New York

9. Why Don’t You Write Me

10. Bye Bye Love (live)

11. Song for the Asking 

Other clips used 

Simon & Garfunkel:

• 7 O’Clock News/Silent Night

• Mrs. Robinson

• The Sound of Silence [acoustic version]

• Hey Schoolgirl (as Tom and Jerry)

• A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)

• The Sound of Silence

• America

• Save the Life of My Child

• For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her (Live)

• A Hazy Shade of Winter (Live)

• Patterns

• My Little Town 

Others:

• Paul Simon - I Am a Rock

• The Cyrkle - Red Rubber Ball

• Johann Sebastian Bach - O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

• Paul Simon - American Tune

• Aretha Franklin - Bridge Over Troubled Water

• Elvis Presley - Bridge Over Troubled Water

• Jan Hooks and Nora Dunn - Bridge Over Troubled Water

• Martin Carthy - Scarborough Fair

• Leo Rojas - El Condor Pasa

• Paul Simon - Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard

• Faith No More - Midlife Crisis

• The Other Leading Brand - Little Cameras in the Walls

• Van der Graaf Generator - Running Back

• Bob Dylan - The Boxer

• Alison Krauss, Shawn Colvin, Jerry Douglas - The Boxer

• Kidsongs - Why Don’t You Write Me

• Paul Simon - Mother and Child Reunion

• Paul Simon & George Harrison - Homeward Bound

• Los Incas - El Condor Pasa

Band/album personnel 

• Paul Simon – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion

• Art Garfunkel – lead vocals, percussion

• Los Incas – Peruvian instruments

• Joe Osborn – bass guitar

• Larry Knechtel – piano

• Fred Carter Jr. – guitar

• Pete Drake – Dobro, pedal steel guitar

• Hal Blaine – drums

• Jimmie Haskell and Ernie Freeman – strings

• Jon Faddis – brass

• Randy Brecker – brass

• Lew Soloff – brass

• Alan Rubin – brass

• Roy Halee – engineer and co-producer

Credits 

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of: 

• Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf

• Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste

• The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...

• Faith No More - Midlife Crisis

• Herbie Hancock - Hornets

• Kraftwerk - Autobahn

• Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen

• Simon & Garfunkel - Cecilia (this episode only) 

You can buy or stream Bridge Over Troubled Water and other albums by Simon and Garfunkel at your local record store or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.