“Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Simon and Garfunkel

"Bridge Over Troubled Water" came out in January 1970, the second single and title track of what turned out to be Simon and Garfunkel's fifth and last studio album, and it's a hymn in all but name. Paul Simon wrote it and wanted Art Garfunkel to sing it alone; Garfunkel said no at first, then made it his own. It was the last song they recorded for the album but the first they finished.

The Wrecking Crew laid down the backing in California, with Larry Knechtel's gospel-tinged piano, Joe Osborn on bass and Hal Blaine on drums, and the vocals went on in New York, all of it built into a towering, Wall of Sound-style swell by Simon, Garfunkel and Roy Halee. It won five Grammys, Record and Song of the Year among them, topped the Hot 100 for six weeks and sold more than six million copies.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.