“Bridge Over Troubled Water” (Simon & Garfunkel)

Today’s classic song of the day with Hal Blaine on drums is “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Simon & Garfunkel. Released on January 20, 1970, this song was a massive hit, charting for six weeks at #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts. Billboard ranked it the number-one song for all of 1970 and it took home Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Contemporary Song, Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists, and Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical (for engineer Roy Hallee). The album the song was on, also titled Bridge Over Troubled Water, won a Grammy for Album of the Year.

Paul Simon was inspired to write “Bridge Over Troubled Water” after listening to a gospel tune called “Mary Don’t You Weep” by the Swan Silvertones. As Paul remembers it:

“Every time I came home, I put that record on, so it was in my mind. I started to go to gospel chord changes, and took the melody further. Then there was one song where the lead singer [Claude Jeter] was scatting, and he shouted out: ‘I’ll be your bridge over deep water/If you trust in my name.’ And, well, I guess I stole it.” 

The lyrics are inspirational and comforting, some of Mr. Simon’s best. We have all at one time or another been consoled by these words:

When you’re down and out
When you’re on the street
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you
I’ll take your part
Oh, when darkness comes
And pain is all around

Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

Paul started writing “Bridge Over Troubled Water” on guitar but it all came together when he switched to piano. After finishing the song, Paul thought it would be perfect for his partner Art Garfunkel to sing in his high choirboy-like voice—while he did have some later regrets not singing it himself. Here’s what Art remembers:

“When Paul showed me “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” he did say it was for me. And I loved the song immediately. My way of saying thank you was: ‘Are you sure? Because you sound lovely singing it, and it’s almost like you could do it…’

“Now, the famous story is that he took offence and that became a thorn between us, as if I was rejecting the song. That’s nonsense. I don’t remember him having a hard time with my grace. He said: ‘No, I wrote it for you.’ I said: ‘Thank you, man,’ and got into singing it.”

Less than a week later, Paul and Art were in CBS Studios in Hollywood working out the arrangement with session ace Larry Knechtel. It was Larry’s gospel-tinged piano intro that helped make the song into a huge hit.

According to Artie, it took over a week to perfect his vocals:

“The last verse I nailed because of the thrill of pole-vaulting over the high notes. Getting the middle verse was pretty easy too. But the first verse, in its delicacy, was the Devil’s business. That took a lot of sessions.”

Another defining aspect of the song was the huge backbeat at the very end that drives the song higher than thought imaginable. That was all drummer Hal Blaine’s doing, as Hal later recalled:

“We did the basic track in a few hours. The overdubs took some time. I got off the kit and tried an experiment. The ending of the song made me think of a man on a chain gang—it had that epic kind of feel that needed the right effect. So I got these big snow chains from my car and went back into this cement room in the studio and started banging them on the floor.

“On the 2 and 4 count, I’d slam them down, and on the 1 and 3 I’d drag them across the floor. ‘Sliiiide-BANG!-sliiiide-BANG!’ I was kneeling the entire time I did this. Luckily, they got a pillow for me so I didn’t kill my knees.”

The result was exactly what was needed to bring the song to its epic climax. It’s one of Hal’s most notable moments on record.

I had the privilege and honor to interview Hal for my book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Drums. (You can read the interview online here.) That was more than 20 years ago now and Hal was the most gracious, entertaining, and informative person I ever had the occasion to interview. He was funny and inspirational and had so many great stories to tell—not of all which I could repeat in the book. He was known for keeping everybody cool in the studio when tempers ran hot under the stress of recording a hit record in three hours or less. Hal’s timeless advice for finding the right studio musicians to hire was “If you grin, you’re in. If you pout, you’re out.”

I treasure the small amount of time I spent with Hal, and will forever remember his wit and wisdom. He influenced me more than ten other drummers, because he was ten different drummers on the radio.