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"Bridge over Troubled Water"
Single by Simon and Garfunkel from the album Bridge over Troubled Water
Released	January, 1970
Format	7" 45 RPM
Recorded	1969
Genre	Folk Rock
Length	4:55
Label	Columbia Records
Writer	Paul Simon
Producer	Roy Halee, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel
Simon and Garfunkel singles chronology
"The Boxer" (1969) "Bridge over Troubled Water" (1970) "Cecilia" (1970)
Music sample
"Bridge over Troubled Water" Problems? See media help.
Bridge over Troubled Water track listing
"Bridge over Troubled Water" (1) "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)" (2)

"Bridge over Troubled Water" is the title song of Simon and Garfunkel's final album together, Bridge over Troubled Water, released January 1970. ^[1] It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on February 28, 1970,^[1] and stayed at the top of the chart for six weeks. It was replaced at the number-one spot by The Beatles' "Let It Be". It also reached number one on the UK Singles Chart for three weeks.

This song's recording process exposed many of the underlying tensions that eventually led to the breakup of the group after the album's completion. Most notably, Paul Simon has repeatedly expressed regret that he allowed Art Garfunkel to sing this song as a solo,^[1] as it focused attention on Garfunkel and relegated Simon to a backing position. Art Garfunkel initially did not want to sing lead vocal, feeling it was not right for him.^[1] "He felt I should have done it," Paul Simon revealed to Rolling Stone in 1972.^[1] Garfunkel said that the moment when he performed it in Madison Square Garden in 1972 was "almost biblical". In recent performances on the "Old Friends" tour, Simon and Garfunkel have taken turns singing alternate verses of the vocal.

As the song ends, sounds of a thunderstorm are heard. The last note, on a violin, is a long, drawn out B-flat that lasts ten seconds.

Contents 1 Writing and recording 2 Awards 3 Releases, covers and various versions 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References

Simon wrote the song in the summer of 1969 while Garfunkel was filming Catch-22 in Mexico.^[1] It was written on the guitar in the key of G, though on an early demo version Paul Simon detuned the song on his guitar to an F.

The song originally had two verses and different lyrics. He specifically wrote it for Art and knew it was going to be a piano song. He based the lyrics on a line, "I'll be your bridge over deep water if you trust in me," by Swan Silvertones (in the song "Oh Mary Don't You Weep For Me").^[1] It has elements of a Bach chorale as well.

Art reportedly thought Paul should sing it as he liked Paul's falsetto on the demo. Once in the studio Roy Halee, their producer, and Art thought the song needed three verses^[1] and needed to be 'bigger' sounding. Paul agreed and spent two hours writing a third verse, which he claimed one could tell was added on later.^[1]

Art attempted the lead vocal on two occasions but it did not meet with his satisfaction. He then went to St. Bartholomews Church at 109 E. 50th Street, in Manhattan (two blocks from the recording studio) and thought about the song. That day he nailed the lead vocal. Verse one and two of the song were recorded in New York City, but the vocal for the final verse was later recorded in Los Angeles.

Larry Knechtel spent four days working on the piano arrangement.^[1] Art came up with the intermediate piano chords between the verses while working with Knechtel.

It won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Song of the Year in the Grammy Awards of 1971, with its album also winning several awards in the same year.^[1]

A gospel-inspired cover version by Aretha Franklin, taken from her album Aretha Live at Fillmore West, later won the Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in the 1972 awards. In 1999, BMI named it as the 19th-most performed song of the 20th century. Rolling Stone named it number 47 on The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 2006, it was awarded 4th place^{[citation needed]} in Australian TV show 20 to 1's Greatest Songs of All Time episode, beaten by "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones, "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin and "Imagine" by John Lennon.

"Bridge over Troubled Water" has been released by a number of artists since its original production in 1970:

Covered by:

• Roberta Flack on her third album, Quiet Fire
• Tom Jones
• Aaron Neville
• Aretha Franklin
• Dana
• Roy Orbison
• Bon Jovi in concert
• Johnny Cash and Fiona Apple (album: American IV: The Man Comes Around)
• Russell Watson
• Hannah Jones
• Blind Boys of Alabama
• Elton John (unreleased demo)
• Elvis Presley (Elvis' version of the song led Paul Simon to quip that the song would forever be an Elvis song, not a Simon and Garfunkel song)
• Eva Cassidy
• Maynard Ferguson (instrumental)
• Gregorian
• Robert Goulet
• LeAnn Rimes
• Bonnie Tyler
• Camilo Sesto (Spanish Puente sobre aguas turbulentas)
• Hear'Say
• Michael W. Smith
• Anthony Callea
• Nana Mouskouri (Both English version and in French as "Comme une pont jété sur l'eau trouble")
• Jackson 5
• Annie Lennox
• Whitney Houston and CeCe Winans
• BeBe Winans and CeCe Winans
• Charlotte Church
• Tina Arena
• DJ Sebastian Clissen (2007 trance remake with vocals by Aretha Franklin)
• Peggy Lee
• Anne Murray
• Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds^[2]
• Willie Nelson
• Linda Clifford
• Jimmy London
• Clay Aiken on his 2003 double A sided single with "This Is the Night", which went Platinum, as well as a bonus cut on some international releases of Measure of a Man, 2003
• Leona Lewis performed this song in 2006 on the UK talent show The X Factor.
• Teresa Teng
• Jolin Tsai
• Various Hong Kong artists (in Cantonese as "滔滔千里心")
• Buck Owens
• Kirill "Kirka" Babitzin (in Finnish as "Silta yli synkän virran")
• Paul Desmond on his 1969 LP Bridge Over Troubled Water featuring jazz versions of Paul Simon's music. A&M Records SP 3032
• Ben Ellis and Chris Crosby performed it together on BBC's Any Dream Will Do.
• Tommy Körberg performed the song in Swedish, as "Som en bro över mörka vatten". His version was at Svensktoppen in 1970. A 1973 version by Christians was also at Svensktoppen.
• Mormon Tabernacle Choir on their 1991 album Songs From America's Heartland
• Sam Harris on his album "Revival"
• Barry Manilow on his The Greatest Songs of the Seventies album
• Zsa Zsa Padilla in her Sentiments album
• Jennifer Holliday and Luther Vandross

• Songs on album: "The Boxer" / "Cecilia" / "El Condor Pasa".

• "Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water" (notes/reviews), Super Seventies RockSite!/Amazon.com, 2006, webpage: SPSimGarf.

Preceded by "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" / "Everybody Is a Star" by Sly & the Family Stone	Billboard Hot 100 number-one single (Simon and Garfunkel version) February 28, 1970	Succeeded by "Let It Be" by The Beatles
Preceded by "Wand'rin' Star" by Lee Marvin	UK Singles Chart number-one single (Simon and Garfunkel version) for (3 weeks) March 28, 1970	Succeeded by "All Kinds of Everything" by Dana
Preceded by "There there" by Radiohead	Canadian number-one single (Clay Aiken version) June 28, 2003 (13 weeks)	Succeeded by "Someday" by Nickelback
Preceded by "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies	Billboard Hot 100 Number one single of the year 1970	Succeeded by "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night