{"id":460,"date":"2026-02-10T14:16:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T19:16:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.songfacts.com\/articles\/?p=460"},"modified":"2026-02-10T14:16:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T19:16:36","slug":"how-bach-and-gospel-helped-paul-simon-craft-this-timeless-simon-garfunkel-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.songfacts.com\/articles\/how-bach-and-gospel-helped-paul-simon-craft-this-timeless-simon-garfunkel-track\/","title":{"rendered":"How Bach and Gospel Helped Paul Simon Craft This Timeless Simon & Garfunkel Track"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Together, folk duo Simon & Garfunkel made some incredible music, but perhaps none of their songs is as beloved as “Bridge Over Troubled Water,”<\/a> the track that defined their career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The piano accompaniment was inspired by both gospel and classical music. The melody was borrowed from J. S. Bach’s “O Sacred Head Now Wounded,” while gospel group Swan Silvertones’ recording of 19th-century spiritual “Oh Mary Don’t You Weep” inspired the lyrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Simon explained these influences, as well as his writing process, in a 1970 interview on The Dick Cavett Show<\/em>, guitar in hand. Although he had the beginning of the song down, he got “stuck.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Simon Once Demonstrated How the Magic of \u201cBridge Over Troubled Water\u201d Came Together<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n