How 1 Beatles Song Is Connected to Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’

Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" connects to a Beatles song George Harrison wrote. One of the songs was a much bigger hit than the other.

All roads lead to Rome — and all classic rock roads lead to The Beatles. Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” has a major connection to a song from The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour. One of the songs blew the other out of the water commercially, no pun intended.

During a 1972 interview with Rolling Stone, Simon discussed the origin of “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” “Me and Artie [Garfunkel] and [Simon’s wife] Peggy [Harper] were living in this house with a bunch of other people throughout the summer,” he said. “It was a house on Blue Jay Way, the one George Harrison wrote ‘Blue Jay Way’ about.” The two tracks are a study in contrast, as “Blue Jay Way” is a sleepy psychedelic tune, while “Bridge Over Troubled Water” is a forceful power ballad.

“We had this Sony machine and Artie had the piano, and I’d finished working on a song, and we went into the studio,” Simon added. “I had it written on guitar, so we had to transpose the song. I had it written in the key of G, and I think Artie sang it in E. E flat.”

Source: Matthew Trzcinski/Cheatsheet