I'm with you there. I still remember hearing it for my first time around 1985 (maybe.. ish) as a really young lad. My folks used to play the S&G best hits record all the time. I'm a heavy metal, punk rock guy mostly, with some new/old timey country and folk mixed in there. This song has always been one to pull out my emotions. It's a great song.
Larry Knechtel played piano on this piece, a long-time member of the Wrecking Crew; he won a Grammy in 1970 for this performance. So many great musicians who are all but unknown; it is wonderful when one has a true showcase of their artistry. BTW, Paul Simon was told he needed a third verse to make the song long enough; he never felt the verse he added fit the rest of the song. So many works of art are "imperfect" to their creator - maybe all of them?
Paul Simon was the creative force and had quite a successful solo career after this that I'm sure you will cover eventually, but Art Garfunkel had the voice of an angel that reached perfection with this song.
Lol just throwing this out for the truth,but I am sure I heard that art garfunkel wrote the last bit Not sure where I heard that or if it's even true tho
5/7/1977 my Aunt played this on the piano as my beautiful bride walked down the aisle of the church to become my wife. The song we wlalked back up the aisle together as man and wife was Morning Has Broken. . I am a widoewr now for several years and both songs make the tears flow.
Paul Simon creates these wonderful little snapshots that capture the nuance and complexity of being human. More please! I’d love to have more of his post-Simon and Garfunkel work. Pretty much all of his stuff is amazing…like I can’t chose what to recommend!!! I do really want you to hear the title track of the Graceland album…and all of the Graceland album.. or pretty much all the albums through the early 1990s.
I first heard this song during a very difficult time in my life when I felt I had no support. It brought me a great deal of comfort and it still does. Music can have such a powerful effect in our lives and speak to us so viscerally. I know you are analysing it so expertly from a musical perspective but from an emotional point of view, for me at least, it is just incredibly emotional. It was like being wrapped in a warm blanket.
I was a boy during the 60's and early 70's, and i always loved S&G's music- amidst the heavy, wild acid rock of that era, it was truly a calm, beautiful balm over those troubled waters. Theirs was just beautiful music, an oasis surrounded by but rising above all the clanging, banging and cacaphony.
Larry Knechtel on the piano, this guy is a legend, he did session recording for MANY hits and artists, from The Beach Boys to Elvis, etc. check his bio, it's phenomenal... And mostly unknown.
Larry was a great session player who performed on many excellent albums and singles (piano, bass, harmonica and guitar)... but then he became a member of the group, Bread, who had a very successful career with David Gates as their main singer/writer. Larry won a Grammy for his piano work on "Bridge Over Troubled Water", he also played the bass on The Doors first album and he played the lead guitar on Bread's classic song "The Guitar Man".
This song is like a master class in building and releasing tension. It's practically a three-act story, which builds with each act, but each act in itself contains a series of rises and falls, starting with that gentle, sparkling piano and breathy, desperately restrained lyrics, all the way up to that massive belting, orchestral climax.
That look at the end revealed that you just listened to a masterpiece. This and The Boxer I think is the two best musical masterpieces. Just amazing production from start to finish.
Now imagine driving along in 1970 and listening to the radio as I was at 16, having just gotten my driver's license. It didn't matter whether I was cruising around with friends or riding along with my parents, grandparents, or anyone else. It didn't matter the musical tastes of whomever controlled the radio. Whether listening to a pop station, rock ststion, middle of road station, folk, R&B, or soul stations, you were going to hear this song played often! That's how loved and accepted this song was across all genres. That's a truly remarkable achievement in musical artistry. In early 1971 Aretha Franklin's cover was released and we heard a lot of that one too. Truly amazing, peoples' universal love for this song.
Paul Simon said of the line "silver girl . . your time has come to shine" that his wife had been distressing over finding more and more gray hairs and he told her this. So personal and heartwarming a response to be elevated into a song such as this.
I feel the song could do without that verse. It feels shoehorned in and tagged on and makes it about romantic love instead of friendship through hard times. Musically it’s an immense crescendo though.
You should see their live rendition of this song in the Concert in Central Park in 1981. You will be able to see how beautiful and skillful Art Garfunkel's voice really was.
Paul Simon is amazing, he wanted the drums to have that distant crashing sound so he had the drummer play slightly down the hall in front of a bank of elevators with the doors open in front of the drum kit. Genius is all I can say. What a song, it'll never grow old
What I noticed in this, my 1000th listening of this song, is the unique use of harmony. You’d think, as the song builds, that harmony would be part of the ending in a big way, but after Simon’s voice joins Garfunkel’s in the third verse, it drops out again for the final chorus and coda. It is the sound of a single person singing into the world, into the chasm, wrestling with the emotions. And what a good decision that was. It’s hard to think of any other pop vocal this great. Am I right that this was Art’s first take? I think I remember that, but I’m not sure.
Music can be so tremendously powerful, not only by its own beauty but also by the feelings and memories that it evokes from when you first heard it. This was released the year I graduated from high school, a troubled time then for many people. The song is part of the sound track of my life, as they say. Sometimes hearing it almost brings tears.... Thank you for sharing your reaction.
Listening to Art Garfunkel sing this live was one of the most blissful live music experiences of my life, right up there with hearing Peggy Lee sing "Fever," Linda Ronstadt sing "Blue Bayou," and Cab Calloway sing "Minnie the Moocher." Memories that will last a lifetime.
That song is MAJESTIC (majestuosa in my spanish language), and it is the only song I describe with that word. I´ve listened to BOTW about a million times, and every time I get goosebumps because of the beauty of it at all levels
The last verse makes me tear up every time I hear it because I sang this song to my now-grown daughters when they were babies. And yes, I am always committed to them and will do my best to ease their way while allowing them to fly ❤ Beautiful song, wonderful analysis.
Paul Simon has said that, when they were preparing the album for release, while he figured this was certainly a great album track, he never considered it a single. When the record label insisted it be a single, he thought they were nuts. However, the first time he heard the song come on the radio, he said the way the piano and Garfunkel's voice cut right through even a cheap car speaker, he knew it was going to be huge.
Art Garfunkel has the voice of an angel. I was fortunate to take my mother to see him in concert twice. The first time we were in the 2nd row, center stage and mom was truly mesmerized.
Simon and Garfunkel (and this song, although I love all of their music) were the soundtrack of my elementary school days. No other artist had such an impact on me back then, as these two did. I am so very blessed to have been born at the right time to hear and witness the amazing music these two made.
I don’t know if you meant to do it, but “Born at the Right Time” is a great song by Paul Simon on his album The Rhythm of the Saints. A great listen if you haven’t heard it.
Another great example of progressive layering. It’s so subtle in the accompaniment, but it does get slightly louder and percussive whilst remaining gentle and serene.
I will always remember a live TV show shortly after the two Towers fell. Perhaps it was a fund raiser. New Yorker Paul Simon came on stage and performed this song. It was so powerful, so appropriate. Such a good reminder that no matter what, we are powerfully loved in a time of need.
My favorite line of the song: "When evening falls SO HARD, I will comfort you." Yeah, sometimes the end of the day just hits like that when you're going through a rough time.
Paul Simon wrote the song as a two verse gospel style solo for Art, and while recognising it as special amongst his work, didn't see it as commercial enough for a single (preferring Cecelia). Art and the producer coerced him into writing a third verse which he did, uncharacteristically there in the studio. That gave Art the chance to shift up into top gear for the orchestral climax in the 3rd chorus and Paul to add harmonization to the newly composed verse, the only point at which he appears on his own greatest work.
Great reaction to an iconic Simon & Garfunkel songs. Always love when you return to them, since I know you really like them. I love the opening piano, with Art Garfunkel's beautiful voice. And like you I love how it slowly builds to the grand moment at the end. In the second part you do get to hear Paul Simon's voice, which I think you are used to hearing more of in your other reactions to them, including his harmonies, and certainly in Paul's one solo song you have heard (he has some great ones). Paul is the songwriting genius behind the duo, so I'm glad you paid attention to the beautiful lyrics. I agree, a very positive and uplifting song. Looking forward to you exploring more S&G, along with Paul's very successful solo career.
I was young when this song was released. I cried the first time I heard the song both because of the sound of Art's voice and b/c of the lyrics. To this day whenever I hear the song I have to stop and listen to it. It still has the same effect. I have listened to covers but no one has done it better.
I don’t think someone could sing Arts part without a life of focused training. What a magic voice knowing his place in each measure. How he paces his energy to build the emphasis all the way to the last verse.
One of the greatest songs ever written. Larry Knechtel received a Grammy Award for this piano performance! He was a member of the Wrecking Crew, who playing in countless hits including The Beach Boys, Mamas & The Papas, Carpenters etc. the list is endless!! Larry was also the bass player for Bread 😉
One of the most beautiful songs, in my mind. I played it for my mother's funeral, I know that's a somewhat macabre statement, but it was so lovely and uplifting. I loved how the cymbals felt like waves breaking, like a splash as you said, and Garfunkle's soaring, clarion tenor voice. Something so simple done so perfectly builds to something so dramatic and hopeful and full of, I dunno, glory?
I was a senior in high school and our Humanities class had two great field trips - one to hear Mahler's "Resurrection" symphony (amazing!) - then we saw Simon and Garfunkel at Cobo Hall in Detroit at about the time the BOTW album was released. None of us had heard this song before... I will never forget the scene - spotlights on Art Garfunkel and on the piano, and the impact of this song. The memory pops in my head every time I hear the song.
I grew up w/ this song....I recall it as a new tune. Still one of the most emotional songs in my life. When you need a song like this- this IS the go to song.
One of their best. I can't believe a pianist doesn't know this. Learn this, immediately. It sounds like music is similar to a story: development, climax and resolution.
Such a masterpiece. I used to say "No band will ever do work like that again." Then a band called "Extreme" did a duet accompanied only acoustic guitar called "More than words". And hit it out of the park. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel listened to that for the first time. And I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when Nuno Bettencourt and Gary Cherone of Extreme got to hear Lzzy Hale and Amy Lee perform "Break In".
I think the rising music and the drums represent the violence and tumult of the water as he becomes the bridge, and then the following calm represents her safe passage across it.
Allow me to overshare. It takes me back to 1996 when I was in the arms of the greatest love of my life and this was playing on the radio and it just broke me. I was utterly vulnerable in that moment.
One of maybe a dozen songs in my lifetime that has and still does send chills down my spine. A joy to get to watch someone with your appreciation for musical artistry get to listen to such fir the first time.
As everyone else has pointed out, this is truly a masterful piece by Simon & Garfunkel. If you are enjoying the folk-rock genre another artist that you must explore would be Seals & Crofts, and perhaps the song "Hummingbird" would be a good place to start with them.
Wonderful! Your observations were very good. I was 17 when this song was new so it has found it's place as one of my all time favorites. And it has all those wonderful elements: Art's voice, Paul's words and music and yes, the fantastic piano. This is a song that I avoided learning all these years mainly out of fear and intimidation. Finally one day about 3 and half years ago, I had that magic moment where I thought I could not finish this life without learning that song. I play it on guitar and use a drop D tuning so I can use a couple of lower notes. I also arranged it with a capo at the III fret so I can lower the key of the song depending on my sense of vocal strength in the moment. I have been singing the song a semi-tone lower in the key of D but I have sung it in Eb occasionally. I do perform Bridge Over Troubled Water as often as I can.
Great video Amy , its hilarious you have never heard one of the most instantly recognizable songs of all time - what a joy for us to watch. MMMMM Mr Blue Sky next ? , go on Vlad , you know you want to !
Really hard to believe that anyone who has been trained in music, particularly classical music, hasn’t heard this song at least once in their lifetime. But I’ll take your word for it. 😉
Oh, please! .... you cannot even begin to comprehend how OLD this argument is .... .....you either believe Amy is honest and genuine .....or, you're a fool who should take a good look at yourself......! .....the tendency to disbelieve people with zero evidence generally doesn't turn out well......!!
My initial reaction too. I know, thanks to the internet, people in Europe know this song. And how many times have we heard it ourselves? All the same. I bought in to the first listen. It can happen. There are countless popular TV shows which I have never seen a single episode. Pleased you were pleased with this tune, Amy.
@@michaelfrank2266Thanks to the internet? For fuck sake, I'm Portuguese (Portugal is in Europe for you Americans) and I love this song since before the internet was even a thing (the internet only become available to civilians in 1992). I don't know what the hell you speaking about, the internet is amazing, but before that we don't actually lived in the dark ages for centuries
@@almahperditae You completely misunderstood me. Congratulations. "Thanks to the internet," is how I would know someone like you would have heard of this song. "Thanks to the internet," I now know you personally know this song too. I also can name and locate nearly every country in Europe. You're trashing the wrong American dude.
@@michaelfrank2266 oh... My bad lol I can't even use the "English is not my first language" because I genuinely misunderstood what you said, and you use the commas in the right way even. It was all me. I really don't understand what you said. Sorry about that
So many more great songs to explore by Simon and Garfunkle; Scarborough Fair, Homeward Bound, America, etc. Paul Simon's solo work is also well worth listening to.
Absolutely! I was thinking of “Scarborough Fair/Canticle” while listening to some of Amy’s comments. I’d also throw in “For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her”. I love many of Simon’s solo songs, but Garfunkel’s VOICE!! 😱🎉💐
Looking back on this song over most of my lifetime, the album version sounds a bit fru-fru and overproduced. "More than words" by Extreme and "Break in" by Lzzy Hale and Amy Lee are a lot purer.
I saw them perform this at Neil Young's Bridge School benefit concert. Awesome show. Sang the Boxer, Scarborough Fair and others. Eddie Van Halen was also on the bill that night to support the charity and joined them on acoustic guitar when they sang The Sound of Silence.
There are just so many small subversions in the way this song goes up and down, fast and slow, it's a pretty incredible achievement. It gets me every single time.
Everyone loves this song because everyone needs this friend at one point or another.
The SAME friend? 🙄
This song never fails to make this 70 year old metal head weep.
And El Condor Pasa right after it.
I'm with you there. I still remember hearing it for my first time around 1985 (maybe.. ish) as a really young lad. My folks used to play the S&G best hits record all the time. I'm a heavy metal, punk rock guy mostly, with some new/old timey country and folk mixed in there. This song has always been one to pull out my emotions. It's a great song.
Larry Knechtel played piano on this piece, a long-time member of the Wrecking Crew; he won a Grammy in 1970 for this performance. So many great musicians who are all but unknown; it is wonderful when one has a true showcase of their artistry. BTW, Paul Simon was told he needed a third verse to make the song long enough; he never felt the verse he added fit the rest of the song. So many works of art are "imperfect" to their creator - maybe all of them?
The third verse is beautiful, but over done orchestral part. In my not so humble opinion.
Larry Knechtel also played guitar with the band Bread.
Paul Simon was the creative force and had quite a successful solo career after this that I'm sure you will cover eventually, but Art Garfunkel had the voice of an angel that reached perfection with this song.
Sail on Silver girl part is goosebumps every time. 😮
Lol just throwing this out for the truth,but I am sure I heard that art garfunkel wrote the last bit
Not sure where I heard that or if it's even true tho
One of the most beautiful melodies ever written.
@@catsara9114 Ever sung
thanks
5/7/1977 my Aunt played this on the piano as my beautiful bride walked down the aisle of the church to become my wife. The song we wlalked back up the aisle together as man and wife was Morning Has Broken. . I am a widoewr now for several years and both songs make the tears flow.
You have those great memories forever.
Still gives me goosebumps!!
One of the greatest masterpieces of Rock music
thanks
Seriously, this is one of THE greatest songs ever written and recorded -- any genre, any age. Just timeless on all counts.
Outstanding song. One of the most beautiful ever recorded. Art’s voice is a thing of beauty.
Paul Simon creates these wonderful little snapshots that capture the nuance and complexity of being human. More please! I’d love to have more of his post-Simon and Garfunkel work. Pretty much all of his stuff is amazing…like I can’t chose what to recommend!!! I do really want you to hear the title track of the Graceland album…and all of the Graceland album.. or pretty much all the albums through the early 1990s.
As soon as the song ended in my head the guittar started strumming "Cecilia", hehe.
Me too!
You're breaking my heart!!
@ You're shaking my confidence daily .....
Cecilia wasn't the second song on side one!!!
@ Never said it was, but if you'd bothered to ask (or look it up) you would have learnt it was on "best of" CD.
I first heard this song during a very difficult time in my life when I felt I had no support. It brought me a great deal of comfort and it still does. Music can have such a powerful effect in our lives and speak to us so viscerally. I know you are analysing it so expertly from a musical perspective but from an emotional point of view, for me at least, it is just incredibly emotional. It was like being wrapped in a warm blanket.
Art Garfunkel’s vocal is just incredible on this track! Still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up after all these years
One of the best pieces of music of the last century
No argument here.
I completely agree
I was a boy during the 60's and early 70's, and i always loved S&G's music- amidst the heavy, wild acid rock of that era, it was truly a calm, beautiful balm over those troubled waters. Theirs was just beautiful music, an oasis surrounded by but rising above all the clanging, banging and cacaphony.
Right...which makes it even more improbable that she has never heard it before.
I call BS on that one.
Definitely up there!
Larry Knechtel on the piano, this guy is a legend, he did session recording for MANY hits and artists, from The Beach Boys to Elvis, etc. check his bio, it's phenomenal...
And mostly unknown.
I’ve heard the name, probably on Leland Sklar’s channel. Gorgeous, emotive playing.
Larry was a great session player who performed on many excellent albums and singles (piano, bass, harmonica and guitar)... but then he became a member of the group, Bread, who had a very successful career with David Gates as their main singer/writer. Larry won a Grammy for his piano work on "Bridge Over Troubled Water", he also played the bass on The Doors first album and he played the lead guitar on Bread's classic song "The Guitar Man".
he has a solo album... nice stuff...
The whole album is outstanding.
This song is like a master class in building and releasing tension. It's practically a three-act story, which builds with each act, but each act in itself contains a series of rises and falls, starting with that gentle, sparkling piano and breathy, desperately restrained lyrics, all the way up to that massive belting, orchestral climax.
I love your image of the cymbals as waves crashing below the bridge. I'll always hear it that way now 🙂.
This song can make you weep.
That look at the end revealed that you just listened to a masterpiece. This and The Boxer I think is the two best musical masterpieces. Just amazing production from start to finish.
Now imagine driving along in 1970 and listening to the radio as I was at 16, having just gotten my driver's license. It didn't matter whether I was cruising around with friends or riding along with my parents, grandparents, or anyone else. It didn't matter the musical tastes of whomever controlled the radio. Whether listening to a pop station, rock ststion, middle of road station, folk, R&B, or soul stations, you were going to hear this song played often! That's how loved and accepted this song was across all genres. That's a truly remarkable achievement in musical artistry.
In early 1971 Aretha Franklin's cover was released and we heard a lot of that one too. Truly amazing, peoples' universal love for this song.
Paul Simon said of the line "silver girl . . your time has come to shine" that his wife had been distressing over finding more and more gray hairs and he told her this. So personal and heartwarming a response to be elevated into a song such as this.
I feel the song could do without that verse. It feels shoehorned in and tagged on and makes it about romantic love instead of friendship through hard times. Musically it’s an immense crescendo though.
Art Garfunkel sang perfectly a song that was written perfectly, accompanied by musicians who played perfectly. 🏆🎶🏆🎶🏆
Perfect response.
To be truly perfect, it needs a current producer to remaster it with modern pitch and pocket correction tools. /s
@markhamstra1083 Perfection isn't something you can measure, it is something you can recognize.
@markhamstra1083 "Art is in the edges." Wabi Sabi
It’s both delicate and powerful.
Majestic
Paul Simon is a genius , "Still crazy after all these years" is a gem too.
You should see their live rendition of this song in the Concert in Central Park in 1981. You will be able to see how beautiful and skillful Art Garfunkel's voice really was.
The world is filled with rivers of troubled waters that we must cross in life. Choose to be the bridge someone needs.
Paul Simon is amazing, he wanted the drums to have that distant crashing sound so he had the drummer play slightly down the hall in front of a bank of elevators with the doors open in front of the drum kit. Genius is all I can say. What a song, it'll never grow old
That's interesting. I've always felt that it gave the sound a Phil Spector quality.
ThIs song never fails to move me. It is easily one of the most emotional songs I have ever heard. Great review as usual.
A magnificent classic, in every way - vocals, harmonies, instrumentation. You'd never want to change one note.
What I noticed in this, my 1000th listening of this song, is the unique use of harmony. You’d think, as the song builds, that harmony would be part of the ending in a big way, but after Simon’s voice joins Garfunkel’s in the third verse, it drops out again for the final chorus and coda. It is the sound of a single person singing into the world, into the chasm, wrestling with the emotions. And what a good decision that was. It’s hard to think of any other pop vocal this great. Am I right that this was Art’s first take? I think I remember that, but I’m not sure.
Music can be so tremendously powerful, not only by its own beauty but also by the feelings and memories that it evokes from when you first heard it. This was released the year I graduated from high school, a troubled time then for many people. The song is part of the sound track of my life, as they say. Sometimes hearing it almost brings tears.... Thank you for sharing your reaction.
Listening to Art Garfunkel sing this live was one of the most blissful live music experiences of my life, right up there with hearing Peggy Lee sing "Fever," Linda Ronstadt sing "Blue Bayou," and Cab Calloway sing "Minnie the Moocher." Memories that will last a lifetime.
That song is MAJESTIC (majestuosa in my spanish language), and it is the only song I describe with that word. I´ve listened to BOTW about a million times, and every time I get goosebumps because of the beauty of it at all levels
The last verse makes me tear up every time I hear it because I sang this song to my now-grown daughters when they were babies. And yes, I am always committed to them and will do my best to ease their way while allowing them to fly ❤ Beautiful song, wonderful analysis.
Paul Simon has said that, when they were preparing the album for release, while he figured this was certainly a great album track, he never considered it a single. When the record label insisted it be a single, he thought they were nuts. However, the first time he heard the song come on the radio, he said the way the piano and Garfunkel's voice cut right through even a cheap car speaker, he knew it was going to be huge.
I always associate this song with being one of the few current songs that was played in church when I was a kid.
Art Garfunkel has the voice of an angel. I was fortunate to take my mother to see him in concert twice. The first time we were in the 2nd row, center stage and mom was truly mesmerized.
His voice has changed but I think he's singing with his son now
@@monsterhog1118 For sure his voice recently has lost a lot, but 20+ years ago, it was still spot on.
Simon and Garfunkel (and this song, although I love all of their music) were the soundtrack of my elementary school days. No other artist had such an impact on me back then, as these two did. I am so very blessed to have been born at the right time to hear and witness the amazing music these two made.
I don’t know if you meant to do it, but “Born at the Right Time” is a great song by Paul Simon on his album The Rhythm of the Saints. A great listen if you haven’t heard it.
This and I am "A Rock" got me through my troubled youth.
Calming, soothing and also, uplifting in the crescendo passages.
The concert in Central Park version of this song is otherworldly. Art Garfunkel was incredible.
My mom used to sing this song to me when I was a little baby back in the 60s
Art's voice turns this into a masterpiece.
Another great example of progressive layering. It’s so subtle in the accompaniment, but it does get slightly louder and percussive whilst remaining gentle and serene.
I will always remember a live TV show shortly after the two Towers fell. Perhaps it was a fund raiser. New Yorker Paul Simon came on stage and performed this song. It was so powerful, so appropriate. Such a good reminder that no matter what, we are powerfully loved in a time of need.
My favorite line of the song: "When evening falls SO HARD, I will comfort you."
Yeah, sometimes the end of the day just hits like that when you're going through a rough time.
Paul Simon wrote the song as a two verse gospel style solo for Art, and while recognising it as special amongst his work, didn't see it as commercial enough for a single (preferring Cecelia). Art and the producer coerced him into writing a third verse which he did, uncharacteristically there in the studio. That gave Art the chance to shift up into top gear for the orchestral climax in the 3rd chorus and Paul to add harmonization to the newly composed verse, the only point at which he appears on his own greatest work.
Great reaction to an iconic Simon & Garfunkel songs. Always love when you return to them, since I know you really like them. I love the opening piano, with Art Garfunkel's beautiful voice. And like you I love how it slowly builds to the grand moment at the end. In the second part you do get to hear Paul Simon's voice, which I think you are used to hearing more of in your other reactions to them, including his harmonies, and certainly in Paul's one solo song you have heard (he has some great ones). Paul is the songwriting genius behind the duo, so I'm glad you paid attention to the beautiful lyrics. I agree, a very positive and uplifting song. Looking forward to you exploring more S&G, along with Paul's very successful solo career.
I was young when this song was released. I cried the first time I heard the song both because of the sound of Art's voice and b/c of the lyrics. To this day whenever I hear the song I have to stop and listen to it. It still has the same effect. I have listened to covers but no one has done it better.
I cried again today
Same!
Ditto!
these guys arguably sound better today than they did 50 years ago and it blows my mind
because back 50 years ago there was great music all around to compare them too. Now 99% is r&b and formulaic pop crap
I don’t think someone could sing Arts part without a life of focused training.
What a magic voice knowing his place in each measure. How he paces his energy to build the emphasis all the way to the last verse.
One of the greatest songs ever written. Larry Knechtel received a Grammy Award for this piano performance! He was a member of the Wrecking Crew, who playing in countless hits including The Beach Boys, Mamas & The Papas, Carpenters etc. the list is endless!! Larry was also the bass player for Bread 😉
Every song on this album is a gem.
One of the greatest vocal performances in musical history. So much feeling in it ❤
One of the most beautiful songs, in my mind. I played it for my mother's funeral, I know that's a somewhat macabre statement, but it was so lovely and uplifting. I loved how the cymbals felt like waves breaking, like a splash as you said, and Garfunkle's soaring, clarion tenor voice. Something so simple done so perfectly builds to something so dramatic and hopeful and full of, I dunno, glory?
My parents listened to this and I have loved it ever since and that was more than 50 years ago.
if this song does not move your heart, you do not have one. Thx virgin, you are authentic
The Boxer is imho their best.
thank you for letting most of the piece play before stopping for analysis.I appreciate your analysis especially when we can hear a complete movement.
I was a senior in high school and our Humanities class had two great field trips - one to hear Mahler's "Resurrection" symphony (amazing!) - then we saw Simon and Garfunkel at Cobo Hall in Detroit at about the time the BOTW album was released. None of us had heard this song before... I will never forget the scene - spotlights on Art Garfunkel and on the piano, and the impact of this song. The memory pops in my head every time I hear the song.
This song means so much to me.Just one of the greatest songs ever written in popular music history.
This gives me shivers, even though I know it well. It's still worth listening to carefully.
Was really happy when I saw that you did a reaction to this. One of the most beautiful songs ever :)
I grew up w/ this song....I recall it as a new tune. Still one of the most emotional songs in my life. When you need a song like this- this IS the go to song.
One of their best. I can't believe a pianist doesn't know this. Learn this, immediately. It sounds like music is similar to a story: development, climax and resolution.
My sister and I took piano lessons from our mom. We both had to learn this song!
Such a masterpiece. I used to say "No band will ever do work like that again." Then a band called "Extreme" did a duet accompanied only acoustic guitar called "More than words". And hit it out of the park. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel listened to that for the first time.
And I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when Nuno Bettencourt and Gary Cherone of Extreme got to hear Lzzy Hale and Amy Lee perform "Break In".
Yeah....well worth remembering there's no such thing as ' best ever'......!!
"Break in" and "More than words" = major emotions
Beautiful song, really narked by the best vocal performance I know of, perhaps with the exception of Jeff Buckley's cover of Hallelujah.
I think the rising music and the drums represent the violence and tumult of the water as he becomes the bridge, and then the following calm represents her safe passage across it.
This was one of the most wonderful appreciations I have ever seen. ❤ Thank you
Another wonderful analysis....Thank You Miss
"Sail on" means that once she's gone over that bridge, she's free to move forward, she's no longer isolated and stuck in her pain.
Allow me to overshare. It takes me back to 1996 when I was in the arms of the greatest love of my life and this was playing on the radio and it just broke me. I was utterly vulnerable in that moment.
My favorite S&G song :)
Larry Knechtel played the piano
Joe Osborn, who was a member of The Wrecking Crew played the bass
A great blend of that gospel type chord progression, Art's great vocals, and the lyrics. One of my fave songs, just powerful and moving!
One of maybe a dozen songs in my lifetime that has and still does send chills down my spine. A joy to get to watch someone with your appreciation for musical artistry get to listen to such fir the first time.
As everyone else has pointed out, this is truly a masterful piece by Simon & Garfunkel. If you are enjoying the folk-rock genre another artist that you must explore would be Seals & Crofts, and perhaps the song "Hummingbird" would be a good place to start with them.
Wonderful! Your observations were very good. I was 17 when this song was new so it has found it's place as one of my all time favorites. And it has all those wonderful elements: Art's voice, Paul's words and music and yes, the fantastic piano. This is a song that I avoided learning all these years mainly out of fear and intimidation. Finally one day about 3 and half years ago, I had that magic moment where I thought I could not finish this life without learning that song. I play it on guitar and use a drop D tuning so I can use a couple of lower notes. I also arranged it with a capo at the III fret so I can lower the key of the song depending on my sense of vocal strength in the moment. I have been singing the song a semi-tone lower in the key of D but I have sung it in Eb occasionally. I do perform Bridge Over Troubled Water as often as I can.
It was the song that was Number 1 in the UK when I was born.
If this isn't the most beautiful song of all-time, I don't what is.
One of the most emotionally impactful songs of all time
I love how your critique helps me appreciate this amazing song even more!
Watching Amy become a fan of contemporary music has been a delightful journey. This is truly one of my favorite UA-cam channels.
Great video Amy , its hilarious you have never heard one of the most instantly recognizable songs of all time - what a joy for us to watch. MMMMM Mr Blue Sky next ? , go on Vlad , you know you want to !
...always gives me the musical chills!
Really hard to believe that anyone who has been trained in music, particularly classical music, hasn’t heard this song at least once in their lifetime.
But I’ll take your word for it. 😉
Oh, please! .... you cannot even begin to comprehend how OLD this argument is ....
.....you either believe Amy is honest and genuine .....or, you're a fool who should take a good look at yourself......!
.....the tendency to disbelieve people with zero evidence generally doesn't turn out well......!!
My initial reaction too. I know, thanks to the internet, people in Europe know this song. And how many times have we heard it ourselves? All the same. I bought in to the first listen. It can happen. There are countless popular TV shows which I have never seen a single episode. Pleased you were pleased with this tune, Amy.
@@michaelfrank2266Thanks to the internet? For fuck sake, I'm Portuguese (Portugal is in Europe for you Americans) and I love this song since before the internet was even a thing (the internet only become available to civilians in 1992). I don't know what the hell you speaking about, the internet is amazing, but before that we don't actually lived in the dark ages for centuries
@@almahperditae You completely misunderstood me. Congratulations. "Thanks to the internet," is how I would know someone like you would have heard of this song. "Thanks to the internet," I now know you personally know this song too. I also can name and locate nearly every country in Europe. You're trashing the wrong American dude.
@@michaelfrank2266 oh... My bad lol I can't even use the "English is not my first language" because I genuinely misunderstood what you said, and you use the commas in the right way even. It was all me. I really don't understand what you said. Sorry about that
This is just a thing of beauty. It's really incredible how beautiful this peace of music is.
Another great and well deserved analysis of a great classic, thanks Amy!
So many more great songs to explore by Simon and Garfunkle; Scarborough Fair, Homeward Bound, America, etc. Paul Simon's solo work is also well worth listening to.
Absolutely! I was thinking of “Scarborough Fair/Canticle” while listening to some of Amy’s comments. I’d also throw in “For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her”. I love many of Simon’s solo songs, but Garfunkel’s VOICE!! 😱🎉💐
Your reaction actually made me cry! 71 yr old gentleman here - I remember slow dancing to this song with a pretty girl! (2/1/25 - Northern California)
The Boxer, Homeward Bound, are also cool! Let's not forget, the Theme Song of Watership down (Bright Eyes)!
I love this song
The drum/cymbal transition also calls back to the lyrics; it's the crashing troubled water
Looking back on this song over most of my lifetime, the album version sounds a bit fru-fru and overproduced. "More than words" by Extreme and "Break in" by Lzzy Hale and Amy Lee are a lot purer.
Masterpiece. So emotional ❤
Recently heard Art Garfunkel, even as a senior citizen, his voice still sounds great.
I saw them perform this at Neil Young's Bridge School benefit concert. Awesome show. Sang the Boxer, Scarborough Fair and others. Eddie Van Halen was also on the bill that night to support the charity and joined them on acoustic guitar when they sang The Sound of Silence.
There are just so many small subversions in the way this song goes up and down, fast and slow, it's a pretty incredible achievement.
It gets me every single time.
Its such a pleasure to listen to intelligent people who have both insight and passion for music in all its aspects.
My wife was given 2 tickets to see Art Garfunkel perform solo. His rendition of this song was magnificent, and I felt fortunate to see him on stage.