Saddest Album Of Theirs - Tumblr Posts

Of bridges and old musicians

I've always been a Simon and Garfunkel fan.

When I say always, I mean for the last 20 years and counting. 

I first heard S&G in my parents' car (remind you of anything?), the Concert in Central Park was playing and I was blown away. Head over feet. I couldn't believe the sheer beauty of their voices, those harmonies, the melodies, the overall feel of the songs... I fell under their spell, completely, utterly in love, though I barely understood a word they were singing.

Those days you had to buy CDs to listen to music, and in my little town in Italy their music wasn't exactly popular in 2000. But I managed to get their albums, one after another. Each "new" song was a trip, a discovery. I learnt all, and I mean all the lyrics by heart. I sang both parts in my head, when not out loud. 

I was too young to fully understand the more complex meanings of their songs, but their voices accompanied me through all my young and adult life. Delightful memories of special moments with their songs in the background, awful afternoons alone with no one but them to keep me company - you know, the whole spectrum of emotions music gets you through.

Now, I was always a hardcore fan of everything they did together, yet the one album I couldn't fully enjoy was Bridge. Yes, you got that right. The golden child of the pair, and I had trouble (pun intended) with it. Of course I immediately recognised its magnificence, yet its overall vibe made me uneasy. I love its songs, don't get me wrong! But something in that felt a bit out of tune to me.

I had to get older to understand why, and though these days I listen to it more often than ever, my uneasiness remains.

Bridge is a sad album, to me.

I can feel all the layers of sadness through its songs, not only in the lyrics, but in Paul and Artie's voices. Well, if you know their story it comes as no surprise - but the level of pain they convey (willy-nilly) still strikes me and manages to break my heart to this day.

To me, their works up to BOTW, even the gloomiest ones, convey a sense of hope, of trust, of love. And while love is obviously still very much there in that last album, none can deny it, that love is now tinged with melancholy, sadness, disenchantment. Trust? Lost. Hope? Maybe a bit, but unconvincing.

Bridge Over Troubled Water, with all its beauty and splendor that makes it so easy for the listener to love it, is a sad, sad album. Even more so because in retrospect I know that they never crossed that bridge over troubled water to ease their minds and find harmony again, once and for all. And that, my friends, is sad. Many things come to an end, but to see such a strong bond so badly shattered hurts.