Got my Deluxe 40th Anniversary Edition release of Simon and Garfunkel’s classic 1970 album BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER the other week, and what a package it is…besides sounding terrific as ever, this CD set comes with double gatefold packaging, a informative booklet and a bonus DVD that includes not only the controversial SONGS OF AMERICA S&G TV Special, but an additional special featuring the makingof the album, with new 2010 interviews with Paul and Art as well as thei others involved with the production. The former was fun to see (a real capsule of the early 70’s, to be sure) but it was the latter that really opened my eyes…such interesting tales and backstories about the songs we’ve come to love!
Here’s a weird quirk I’ve always had with the Bridge Over Troubled Water album. As a lad of about…oh, 13, the first Simon and Garfunkel Album I bought was their awesome 1972 Greatest Hits, and I must have played that collection of hit singles and live performances over and over that summer! Soon I realized that my love for the Folk Rock Duo was more than just a passing thing, and I began to purchase all of their other albums, some of which (like Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme and Sounds Of Silence) have become my favorite albums of all time!
By the time I got around to purchasing what was Simon and Garfunkel’s final album, I had been playing that Greatest Hits so much that when I realized the first three tracks of Bridge Over Troubled Water were Bridge, El Condor Pasa and Cecilia, I decided to skip over them because I’d already been listening to them so much! So for me, the song “Keep The Customer Satisfied” became like the first track on the album, and I'd always listen to it that way after that! Even later, when I made a cassette of the album to listen to on my walkman (and, much, MUCH later, for the car), I kept that song first, and what I’d do was tack Bridge Over Troubled Water, El Condor Pasa and Cecilia at the END of the tape.
So my Song Order was always like this:
1. Keep the Customer Satisfied
2. So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright
3. The Boxer
4. Baby Driver
5. The Only Living Boy in New York
6. Why Don't You Write Me
7. Bye Bye Love
8. Song for the Asking
9. Bridge over Troubled Water
10. El Condor Pasa (If I Could)
11. Cecilia
This always seemed the most perfect setlist to me. “Keep The Customer Satisfied” is SUCH an AWESOME opening track, a spirited song talking about the ups and downs of BEING Simon and Garfunkel! Even the opening lines “Gee, But It’s Great to be Back Home!” sounds like they’ve just arrived, a PERFECT intro to the album!
And since the 1972 Greatest Hits also ended with Cecilia, it always seemed like an “Album Closer” to me, a fun foot-stomping track having the band go out with a bang! I know it’s a wacky configuration, but I’ve been listening to it in this order for over 30 years now!
So it was kind of funny- as soon as I got the 40th Anniversary disc, I threw it in the car and took a long ride to immerse myself in the good Simon and Garfunkel vibes, and was actually surprised when it didn’t start with Keep The Customer Satisfied! As it opened with “Bridge Over Troubled Water, I had to say to myself, “Oh Yeah…the way I listen to is ISN”T the correct way!” AHAHAHAHAHAHA! But I thoroughly enjoyed blasting that wonderful album…everything sounded great, and my GOD, is “The Only Living Boy In New York” just one of the sweetest and greatest S&G songs EVER? *Sigh* Just beautiful!
