Bridge Over Troubled Water
Studio album by Simon & Garfunkel
Released January 26, 1970
Recorded November 1968 and
November 1969
Genre Folk rock
Length 36:29
Label Columbia
Producer Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Roy Halee
Professional reviews
Allmusic
Robert Christgau (B)
Rolling Stone
Bridge Over Troubled Water is the fifth and final studio album by Simon & Garfunkel.[1] Released on January 26, 1970, it reached No. 1 on Billboard Music Charts pop albums list. It won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year, as well as for Best Engineered Recording, while its title track won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Song of the Year in the Grammy Awards of 1971.[1] It has since sold over 25 million copies worldwide.[2]
The album attained a great success in the United Kingdom, enjoying several runs at number one, spending some years in the charts and eventually becoming the country's biggest-selling album of 1970 and 1971.[1] In August 2006, the continued popularity of the album was proven when it charted 7th place in The BBC Radio 2 Music Club Top 100 Albums. In 2003, it was ranked at #51 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. The album won Best International Album at the first Brit Awards in 1977.
Track listing
All songs by Paul Simon except where noted.
"Bridge over Troubled Water" – 4:52
Recorded: November 9, 1969
"El Condor Pasa (If I Could)" (Daniel Alomía Robles, English lyrics by Paul Simon, arranged by Jorge Milchberg) – 3:06
Recorded: November 2, 1969
"Cecilia" – 2:55
Recorded: November 2, 1969
"Keep the Customer Satisfied" – 2:33
Recorded: October 27, 1969
"So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright" – 3:41
Recorded: October 28, 1969
"The Boxer" – 5:08
Recorded: November 16, 1968
"Baby Driver" – 3:14
Recorded: November 19, 1968
"The Only Living Boy in New York" – 3:58
Recorded: November 15, 1969
"Why Don't You Write Me" – 2:45
Recorded: June 13, 1969
"Bye Bye Love" (Felice and Boudleaux Bryant) (live recording from Ames, Iowa) – 2:55
Recorded: November 14, 1969
"Song for the Asking" – 1:49
Recorded: November 1, 1969
Personnel
Paul Simon — lead vocals, guitar
Art Garfunkel — lead vocals
Los Incas — Peruvian instruments
Joe Osborn — bass guitar
Larry Knechtel — piano
Fred Carter, Jr. — guitar
Hal Blaine — drums
Pete Drake — Steel guitar, Dobro
Jimmy Haskell and Ernie Freeman — strings
? - flute, saxophones, horn section
Awards and ratings
In the 1971 Grammy Awards' ceremony the album (and its contents) won six Grammys:
Record of the Year — "Bridge over Troubled Water" (relates to one track)
Album of the Year — Bridge over Troubled Water (relates to the whole album)
Best Contemporary Pop Song — "Bridge over Troubled Water"
Song of the Year — "Bridge over Troubled Water"
Best Engineered Recording (Non-Classical) — Bridge over Troubled Water
Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) — "Bridge over Troubled Water"