Bridge Over Troubled Water: The Gospel Line Simon Paid For

Bridge over troubled water spent six weeks at number one, and Paul Simon almost gave the whole song away.

He built its title off a single line from a gospel record he was listening to alone in his apartment.

Art Garfunkel sang every word of it, even though Simon wrote it start to finish.

That split between the writer and the voice ate at Simon for years.

None of it stopped the song from becoming the biggest record of 1970.

Simon and Garfunkel performing live in 1972, the duo behind bridge over troubled water

Simon & Garfunkel performing live, 1972.

Image credit: Photo by Bernard Gotfryd, public domain (Library of Congress), via Wikimedia Commons.

The Gospel Record Behind Bridge Over Troubled Water

A Line Borrowed From "Mary Don't You Weep"

Paul Simon wrote bridge over troubled water in early 1969, and he didn't start with a blank page.

He'd been listening to gospel records alone in his East End Avenue apartment in New York.

One album kept pulling him back, the Swan Silvertones' version of "Mary Don't You Weep."

Lead singer Claude Jeter ad-libs a line in the middle of that track.

"I'll be your bridge over deep water, if you trust in my name," Jeter sings.

Simon took the phrase and turned it into a title.

He admitted it plainly years later on The Dick Cavett Show.

"I guess I stole it," he said.

He swapped "deep water" for "troubled water," and a gospel ad-lib became a hymn for the whole decade.

Simon Paid Jeter Back Three Years Later

Simon didn't just credit the debt in interviews.

He tracked down Claude Jeter and hired him to sing on his 1973 solo album, There Goes Rhymin' Simon.

He also handed Jeter a check for $1,000 for the inspiration, according to gospel historian Anthony Heilbut.

Jeter never received a songwriting credit on bridge over troubled water itself.

The payment was Simon's own way of settling the debt man to man.

The Verse Paul Simon Didn't Want to Write

Garfunkel Wanted an Airplane Taking Off

Simon originally wrote bridge over troubled water as a short, two-verse hymn.

He meant it to stay small and quiet.

Art Garfunkel heard it and pushed back hard.

He told Simon it needed a bigger third verse, something that could take off like an airplane.

Engineer Roy Halee agreed with Garfunkel.

Simon gave in, reluctantly, and wrote the third verse right there in the studio.

He pulled the line "sail on, silver girl" from his fiancee at the time, Peggy Harper.

She'd just found her first gray hairs, and the line became his way of writing through it.

Once the verse was finished, Simon told the others the song had gotten too long for radio.

The Voice on the Record Isn't Who Wrote It

Simon wrote every word and every note of bridge over troubled water himself.

He didn't sing lead on it.

Garfunkel's voice carries the whole track, high and alone over Larry Knechtel's piano.

Simon later admitted that watching Garfunkel perform it live ate at him.

"Artie would be singing it, people would stomp and cheer, and I would think, 'That's my song, man. I wrote that,'" Simon said.

That resentment sat under the surface through the entire Bridge Over Troubled Water album.

It was their fifth studio record together, and their last one as a duo.

Six Grammys and a Duo Already Coming Apart

The Real Chart Numbers

Bridge over troubled water hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on February 28, 1970.

It held the top spot for six straight weeks.

The album version spent ten separate weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 that same year.

It became the best-selling album of 1970 worldwide.

This site's own year-end Hot 100 archive lists it at number one for the year, no debate needed on this one.

A Six-Award Night for a Duo Already Splitting

The song and album swept the 13th Annual Grammy Awards on March 16, 1971.

Bridge over troubled water won Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year.

It also took Best Contemporary Song, Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists, and Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical.

Simon and Garfunkel picked up every trophy as a duo already coming apart.

They recorded no other studio album together after this one.

Where to Hear More From the Decade

Curious what other number one from the decade matches your mood right now?

Try the Mood Song Matcher and see what comes up.

Or pull a random hit from the whole decade with the Random 70s Song Generator.

Carole King's own piano-driven hits were climbing the same charts a year later.

Read that story in Carole King: The Same Chart, Three Different Names.

A different number one hit swept the Grammys eight years later, under very different circumstances.

Read that story in Stayin Alive: Built on a Magazine Story That Was Fake.

Frequently Asked Questions

What inspired bridge over troubled water?

Bridge over troubled water was inspired by a gospel record, the Swan Silvertones' version of "Mary Don't You Weep."

Paul Simon heard lead singer Claude Jeter ad-lib the line "I'll be your bridge over deep water" and built the song's title from it.

He later hired Jeter for his 1973 album and paid him $1,000 for the inspiration.

Why did Art Garfunkel sing bridge over troubled water instead of Paul Simon?

Art Garfunkel sang lead because the song grew bigger than Simon's original quiet two-verse version and Garfunkel's voice suited the new arrangement.

Garfunkel and engineer Roy Halee pushed Simon to add a dramatic third verse.

Simon wrote every word himself but never sang lead on the record, a decision he later said bothered him.

How many weeks did bridge over troubled water spend at number one?

Bridge over troubled water spent six weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 starting February 28, 1970.

The album version held the top of the Billboard 200 for ten separate weeks that same year.

It became the best-selling album of 1970 worldwide, a commercial peak neither Simon nor Garfunkel matched again as a duo.

How many Grammys did bridge over troubled water win?

Bridge over troubled water won six Grammy Awards at the 13th Annual Grammy Awards on March 16, 1971.

It took Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year, plus Best Contemporary Song, Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists, and Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical.