Sailing Right Behind

Friday is fun because it's a music day. There's a playlist. And we talk about tunes.

When Paul Simon wrote Bridge Over Troubled Water, he had just two verses. Art Garfunkel told him to think on it a while and write a third verse, he liked the song  but told his chum it needed a proper finish.

Paul returned having written, “Sail on silver girl…” and that whole bit. Which of course is the entire journey of the song. “Your time has come to shine”. And then, “All your dreams are on their way”. And let’s not forget, “If you need a friend, I’m sailing right behind”. Although, in some sense, Paul nearly did forget that. He forgot to write it, until instructed.

He asked Artie to sing that part. And Artie sure did.

Which is teamwork, right? I mean, that’s the magic of the song right there.

Garfunkel is still trying to convince anyone that will listen to him that he was more than just the foil, and more than just the voice, he was a vocal arranger, but also a real conceptualist and motivator.

Paul certainly knew enough to know that his job was done when he wrote Troubled Water. All he had to do next was sit back and let Artie take it up the charts and belt it out around the world.

I saw Art Garfunkel solo, and he wasn’t great, but he still had something. And then I saw him with Paul Simon, and they appeared to not care about one another at all of course. But there was something special about seeing the Bookends. Though Paul truly came alive during his solo set. And that’s when Artie all but died. So that tells you one thing about how this duo always worked.

Paul Simon doesn’t exactly love the cape of nostalgia. But he’ll always add it to whatever he is wearing, for it informs all of his work – always.

When they sang Bridge Over Troubled Water the microphone cut out and the audience couldn’t hear Artie at all. His voice was a bit poked, but this seemed particularly cruel; the worst timing for a malfunction.

So then we just all joined in. It was Our time to shine.

We got in there. Sailing right behind.

Art Gafunkel had no idea that his voice was lost, but he started to hear the swell of the audience up and all around him. Paul Simon hardly ever smiles, and mostly wears a set of Sad Sam eyes. But he was beaming as he strummed in the background. He knew exactly what had happened. His song had been saved one more time.

I’ve gone a bit bonkers about this song, LOOK! A playlist of 30 different versions. LOL

I might not actually expect you to listen to it all, but maybe you’ll find a new favourite version of it in there….have a look, have a skim, a quick listen…

And for a deeper listen this weekend, here’s the regular playlist (vol. 102).

But I’m keen to know what you think of Bridge Over Troubled Water - regardless of what you think of Simon & Garfunkel (and why not just think they’re among the greatest, for that seems to be true, to me at least) I feel like Bridge is one giant song. A whole ocean. A mountain. Something bigger than any of us will ever know. Something bigger than Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel could ever be.

Happy listening. And Happy weekend! In New Zealand it’s a Long Weekend. So bonus snaps for that!