this is a poll to decide which is the best track on bridge over troubled water by simon and garfunkel

I can see why Simon would be all defensively "Hey, waitaminit, I wrote that!" when Garfunkel's singing "Bridge." But when Aretha or Elvis sang it, he no doubt beamed and elbowed whomever he's standing next to and said, "Heh...you know, I wrote that."

horseshoe! we always say with this really absolute certainty that paul simon is so much better than simon and garfunkel but this album was really a huge surprise from me. i think i got confused by the narrative of his own solo stuff where it starts with this really stripped down album and afterwards seems to pick up tricks from all these different experiments and collaborations (jazzy chord shapes, high life bass, shimmering adult contempo production tricks) bit then this album a lot of these ideas are already embedded in it and working in different ways. to the extent that i want to put them all on different simon albums (el condor pasa on the rhythm of the saints, keep the customer satisfied on paul simon, song for the asking on still crazy). the main thing that's happening on this album that he never came back to really is the vastness of them. these voices finding each other in enormous space and the harmonies are out of this world even though i sortof wanted to think of them as being really a bit trite and saccharine before i got properly into it.

would be great to have a whole late S&G album of just that kind of thing

By rearranging tracks from Bookends and BOTW you could probly make a fantastic version of this

I love The Boxer with a fierce passion, lieluhlies & all.

Ppl seem a bit cautious about praising it: is that bcz of Dyln's cover?

I love both the original and Dylan's cover.

Hard for me to pick a winner here, as there are at least five in the running (first three, "The Boxer" and "Only Living Boy"). Big fan of "Customer" and "Frank Lloyd Wright", too. Easily one of my favorite albums of the 70s.

I grew up with Bridge Over Troubled Water, as S&G and The Beatles were household staples throughout my childhood. I doubt I went more than a couple months during the first decade of my life without hearing one or the other, usually this album or Sgt. Pepper's. As a result, it's sometimes hard for me to really hear BOTW, nostalgic familiarity overtaking fresh perception. For that reason, I've really enjoyed reading judith's responses in this thread. Reminds me of lying on the living room rug as kid, my head between the speakers, marveling at the harmonies and production.

Anyway, The Boxer.

Pretty sure "El Condor Pasa" was in there somewhere when Abba were writing "Fernando"

I voted for "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright" because it is the one that has grown in my estimation the most over my lifetime with the record (it is literally the first record I remember hearing). I thought it was dull as a kid, without the bombastic drums of "Cecelia" or the thunderous booms of "The Boxer" or the sing-along chorus' of so much of the record. But as I've gotten older, the lyrics, the delivery, the subdued bossa vibe have all hit me harder and harder. It's such a lived in song from a couple of guys still in their 20s.

I should read what I plan to post - that's got some interesting construction and grammatical issues, as always.

unrelated to this specific album but posting here cuz what the hell. Apparently this was the b-side to "Fakin' It", and is their only non-album b-side...? weird.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raaQXN91PHs

have always wondered what the story was behind the sampled dialogue in the middle of Fakin' It, anyone know the background on that...?

the correct answer is the title track

lol what?

i have been listening to this album so much since you started this poll... i still like 'only living boy' the most, its so soft and pretty and self-conscious just the way he sortof drags out the beginning of 'i get the news i need on the weather report' with this hesitant 'ahh' is so amazing

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Fair enough.

Absolutely no surprises for me there with the top spot, 'The Only Living Boy In New York' is sublime. I'm very surprised that 'El Condor Pasa' didn't come higher, though.

me too!

"El Condor Pasa" is my least favorite song on the record.

boo

the lyrics are like a holdover from a more cloying, less-self assured earlier period of Simon's songwriting imho

you only say that because you would rather be a snail

well I do leave a trail of slime wherever I go

^^^(obscure Bloom County joke/ref that probably only Ned will get)

plax i just want you to know that i am going to compile all your paul simon/simon and garfunkel-related posts and craft them into a book and read it while i listen to this album and all the paul simon albums. which is all i'm going to ever do for the rest of my life.

have always wondered what the story was behind the sampled dialogue in the middle of Fakin' It, anyone know the background on that...?

― locally sourced stabbage (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, January 12, 2012 6:59 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Well, I know that it's not sampled, and was in fact voiced in the studio by Beverley Martyn (later to marry John Martyn). She's saying 'Good morning, Mr. Leitch' because they wanted to come up with a 'character' for this 'shop scene' in the middle of the song, and Beverley Martyn suggested using Donovan's surname.

That lyric is just basically Paul Simon saying if he'd existed a century ago, he wouldn't be earning money writing songs, he'd be a tailor instead.

haha waht that is so random

love whatever that clinking-glasses sound is in the guitar breakdown of Cecilia

― The Silent Extreme (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, January 6, 2012 11:19 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Are you talking about the instrumental part? That's a heavily limited xylophone, played by Paul.

Only Boy in New York is the 'best', but my favourite is narrowly 'Song for the Asking'. That cello counterpoint! So beautiful. Especially given how it fades in from the audience applause at the end of Bye Bye Love.

I'm in two minds about the length of 'Song For The Asking'... some days I wish it was longer, but on others I think the length of it is just perfect.

wow what a great song "keep the customer satisfied" is!

yeah it is, love that final orchestra hit

baby driver rightfully marginalized as the james taylor cover it is

its also like magnificently sequenced the songs i already knew seemed so much punchier in this context.

this is so true! i finally get "the boxer."

everywhere i go
i get slandered
LIIIIIIIIIIBELED
i hear words i never heard in the bible

but the best part of breaking up
is when you're making up with me

the 75 minute doc i was burbling about upthread starts on BBC4 UK in about 25 minutes and will then be available to watch for about a week afterwards.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0171r6x

I just want to throw this on here:

http://lightbulbhead.tumblr.com/post/16178795155/b-b-s-g

aw the BBC doc is UK only...

top two are abt right

i don't think i ended up voting, but it would have been "only living boy," though "keep the customer satisfied" was a delightful discovery i might never have made if not for this thread! i was seriously wrong about simon & garfunkel.

i know! how embarrassing. im saving bookends. dont anyone try to poll this without me or ill find out where you live

listening to this LP back to back with solo simon stuff just reminds me how much he needed to cut artie out.

sorry artie.

not that there isn't really good stuff on this LP, but that overall it feels kind of watery, and even the best songs are a bit hampered by the vocal arrangements.

So Long FLW is the best wreckognize

I don't know David Browne's writing at all, but I'm really looking forward to this:

http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/crosby-stills-nash-young-enchant-london-audience-in-1970-20110601/1000x306/main.jpg

I ordered it the minute I saw it, not realizing it wouldn't be out for months.

and even the best songs are a bit hampered by the vocal arrangements.

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Friday, 10 February 2012 22:26 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://i946.photobucket.com/albums/ad303/menageabro/picardfacepalm.gif

I GET SLANDERED, LIIIIBELED, I HEAR WORDS I NEVER HEARD IN THE BIBLE

UPGRADE TO PRO TODAY!

UPGRADE YR OPINIONS TODAY!

it was picardfacepalm.gif ftr