The Secret Beatles Connection to This 1969 Simon & Garfunkel Classic
Paul Simon wrote “Bridge Over Troubled Water” on Blue Jay Way, a location made infamous by George Harrison in The Beatles song of the same name. Paul Simon and George Harrison became friends and performed together on Saturday Night Live in 1976.
Simon described Harrison as “amazing ... brave, open, kind.”
Simon & Garfunkel were at the height of their folk-rock fame in 1969 when they recorded one of their most enduring classics. Yet, few fans realize this song has a surprising connection to The Beatles.
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were writing and recording “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” and other songs for what would become the album of the same name in the latter part of 1969. After wrapping up a television special and a grueling tour, the exhausted duo set out to finish this seminal album.
Simon said in a 1972 interview with Rolling Stone that his and Garfunkel’s Beatles connection came via George Harrison, in a home on Blue Jay Way, immortalized in the Magical Mystery Tour song of the same name.
“We were in California. We were all renting this house. Me, Artie and Peggy [Harper], (Simon’s wife) were living in this house with a bunch of other people throughout the summer. It was [written at] a house on Blue Jay Way, the one George Harrison wrote ‘Blue Jay Way’ about,” he explained.
However, while the location of the songs was the same, the resulting tunes couldn’t have been more different. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” is a Gospel-influenced folk-pop ballad, while “Blue Jay Way” is psychedelic and experimental.
Source: Lucille Barilla/Parade.com
