Paul Simon breaks down - note by note - how he wrote "Bridge Over Troubled Water

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Carl Quintanilla
@carlquintanilla
I have never seen a songwriter break down — note by note — the process by which he wrote a tune like @PaulSimonMusic does here with “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. (1970)

What a joyful exchange. 🙏🏼

(via @jfreewright @PaulEWalsh) @openculture

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. How do you build a "Bridge over Troubled Waters"?

One chord at a time. Absolutely brilliant. I happen to think that Ari Melber is the Dick Cavett of MSNBC today....and that is a compliment.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I wish that clip could have been longer...Really nice, hearing the background to that song.

Thanks for bringing that here for us, my dear Nevilledog.

[Nevilledog]

4. You're welcome.

[Skittles]

3. he is so casual

he acts like......anyone can do it

[Irish_Dem]

6. I know, a genius making it look easy.

What a fascinating glimpse into the creative process.

[msongs]

5. one wonders how he fitted the lyrics, were they first or at the end nt

[Pluvious]

7. Wow - thanks for sharing nt.

[7wo7rees]

8. Just sitting around, listening to Bach and gospel

And I mashed them together in the spirit of alchemy and created gold. So...

[Goodheart]

9. Probably the best song ever written

and Art Garfunkel's performance thereupon is simply ASTOUNDING... to my ear the greatest performance in rock/pop history. And that's high praise, considering I've also heard Robin Gibb on "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and Bobby Hatfield on "Unchained Melody".

Can you tell I love BOTW? After all these years it still makes me cry from emotion and appreciation.

If not a deliberate gift from the gods, it was just stupendous serendipity that America's greatest to-be songwriter happened to be childhood friends with the voice of an angel.

[Hekate]

12. The two of them together were amazing

I was really sad when they broke up the team — but I have the albums.

[UTUSN]

10. Wow his high voice almost like GARFUNKEL, could have sung it alone. He got pissed in an interview

when GARFUNKEL was being lionized as his equal or about the angelic voiced epitome of that song, and SIMON burst out furiously with (paraphrasing), " *I'M the one who wrote it* !!!!1"

And, yeah, admitting-the-influences thin line for stealing. There have been high profile court cases with more similarities that didn't win?!1

[Hekate]

11. That's just magical, Nev

See how they fly, oh if you need a friend, I’m sailing right behind

[Brother Buzz]

13. Cool backstory on how session musician, Larry Knechtel, grew to despise Bridge Over Troubled Water

Larry Knechtel hit a home run and won a Grammy playing the piano on the song, with Joe Osborn playing bass guitar and Hal Blaine closing out the song with drums.

[UTUSN]

14. The voice of real experience. Hah "over and OVER"!1 Couldn't hear who he said got bad the more takes

********Going from this sublime to my ridiculous - music is everybody's own thing, but when performing with or for others it's a different thing for us introverts. My family was musical so it was natural for us kids to go the school band route and I loved the music, but the marching in football half times and holiday parades, stage concerts during concert season, competing in medals competitions - it was all a separate horror for my introversion, having nothing to do with my music. Years later I figured out that performing is like being a trained monkey. I don't even go to see live performances.


***ON EDIT: And the ones who *enjoy* being in front of people are insufferable to me!1 One of the last times I saw somebody performing was a dude playing guitar in an official City presentation for a public free event, and he would do something and stop to explain like "Did you see what I did there?!1" --- and there was a fairly big crowd so my reaction was not noticeable as I edged my way out. So full of himself!1

And then a famous one: My two closest relatives roped me into seeing Jose CARRERAS. And this fellow went through his motions like an automaton, hardly ever even acknowledged he had an audience, took a pace like he was rehearsing in his own private session with lackadaisical breaks, and most of all with a handkerchief that he snorted mucus into. There was a contingent of college musical fanatics who would cheer Bravo!1 and the CARRERAS person didn't give them or anybody a blink.

[Brother Buzz]

15. Juxtaposition, crazy, crazy man, Phil Spector's takes got better late in his sessions

He intentionally wore the session musicians out, doing it "over and over" until the started playing more homogeneous, something he felt worked well with his "Wall of Sound". He often didn't even turn on the recorders until the last hour of his sessions; why splice when when you already have perfection?

Roy Halee was their ace splicer. Halee, I suspect, knew he was probably going to use the first tape, but it was all on Columbia Records' nickel, so what the heck, keep the meter running.