Simon and Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubled Water
Another mainstreamer from the parent core collection this week, Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water is their final and most successful album, recorded in 1969 a year before their break-up. Their first break up that is – these guys split up and got back together more times than Roberto Mancini and Carlos Tevez.
In fact, this record, as stuffed full of catchy folkster hits as it is, is basically one drawn out relationship meltdown – the charting of a painfully withering bromance. The Only Living Boy in New York was penned by Paul Simon when he was left to finish off writing Bridge Over Troubled Water on his own as Art Garfunkel buggered off to Mexico to film Catch 22; the album title track sung solely by Garfunkel charts their increasingly fractious relationship as their creative differences spiralled out of control; Why Don’t You Write Me is a pretty much a blatant heart-on-sleeve cry from Simon for a nice facebook wall post from his best buddy; while their cover of the Everly Brothers (who were a strong influence for S&G) song Bye Bye Love pretty much says it all. I could go on. I mean dudes seriously, man up! Some laundry is quite happy being aired at home in the spare room where no one can see it. Apart from drunken friends who’ve crashed out at yours for the night after missing the last bus home that is – they normally end up sleeping in it.
Oh well, if this is a break up record, it’s better than doing it by text message I suppose. Just a bit more of an effort. Not everyone who wants to break up with someone has the benefit of being a member of a talented duo of Greenwich Village folk rockers I guess.
My favourite track and inclusion in this week’s parent core play list is actually El Condor Pasa, based upon the original instrumental number by Los Incas from 1963 and featuring the simultaneously uplifting and slightly mournful Andean pan pipes that you could imagine some jubilant Ewoks dancing to after staging an unlikely victory against a particularly evil intergalactic empire. Or perhaps even a Cylon empire. Who knows. Incidentally DJ Shadow sampled El Condor Pasa’s opening refrain on his track You Can’t Go Home Again. That’s two DJ Shadow references and two Battlestar Gallactica references in the last month. More varied pop culture references cannot be guaranteed I’m afraid.
Check out PJ’s Simon and G Funkel beats below:
