Five covers of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ to make you fall in love with the song all over again
In 1969, Paul Simon was listening to Swan Silvertones’ ‘Oh Mary Don’t You Weep’ when he heard the one lyric that would change his life forever. In it, Claude Jeter sings, “I’ll be a bridge over deep water, if you trust in my name”.
Then, using Johann Sebastian Bach’s ‘O Sacred Head, Now Wounded’ as inspiration for the melody, Simon got to work on his own magnum opus, crafting the beautifully timeless ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, the final song recorded for their 1970 album of the same name.
Like many of the most iconic songs in history, Simon couldn’t quite believe how quickly it’d poured out of him, asking himself, “Where did that come from? It doesn’t seem like me”. However, also like most of the most iconic songs in history, the song’s beauty stems from its simplicity, the gentleness of the vocals, and the warmth of the piano arrangements, delivering something soft and calming during a time when people needed comfort.
Suffice to say, the song’s timelessness is also why it’s been covered by some of the biggest names in the business. Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, and more have all put their own spin on it, each taking the song’s meaning to new heights in their own unique way. Let’s take a look at some of the more notable reimaginations and what makes them so great.
Five essential covers of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’
Elvis Presley
One thing about Simon & Garfunkel’s original arrangement that makes it so great is the gentle build, the soft crooning that makes that famous crescendo at the end hook its claws in. That’s its defining quality, and one that so few can actually master when it comes to creating their own versions.
Elvis Presley, on the other hand, decided against this approach, transforming the duo’s gentle sway of folk into a country-fuelled, powerful anthem. While that directly went against the tone of the original, that’s also what made it so great, not only in generating a new standard when it came to future covers of the song, but in the context of Presley’s career at the time, delivering an explosive reminder of all the reasons why he was and will always be ‘The King’.
Simon later praised the cover himself, saying it was a “touch on the dramatic side” but “so was the song”.
He added, “When I first heard Elvis perform ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, it was unbelievable. I thought to myself, ‘How the hell can I compete with that?’”
Johnny Cash
When most people think of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, they think of the grandeur of the sweeping arrangement and how it builds up to this one perfect moment of musical catharsis. When Johnny Cash covered the song for his 2002 studio record, American IV: The Man Comes Around, the last to be released during his life, he delivered a gorgeously intimate rendition with Fiona Apple, carrying all the same emotional weight Simon & Garfunkel originally intended.
With a familiar warmth that immediately puts you in the room with him, Cash’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ is undeniably one of the best versions of the song, bolstered by the beauty of its own simplicity with an overarching awareness of its own undertaking, and never appearing too try-hard. Instead, it simply exists in the dreary haze of one of the greatest compositions of all time.
Roberta Flack
When musicians decide to cover ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, many of them decide to amp up the theatrics to make it appear more dramatic than the original. However, unless you’re Elvis Presley or Aretha Franklin, this rarely works in a way that maintains the beauty of the original.
Roberta Flack, on the other hand, channelled the gentleness of the original, singing the melody softly with careful restraint over stripped-back arrangements, capturing the same soothing effect as Garfunkel and delivering one perfect moment of musical bliss.
Harry Styles
A more recent entry, Harry Styles’ surprise rendition of the classic tune at this year’s Meltdown Festival alongside the Jules Buckley Orchestra was hailed by many as one of the greatest renditions of the song, channelling Garfunkel’s soothing tones before exploding into gorgeously raw, soaring vocals.
A true testament to a song’s power and timelessness is when current artists are putting their own fresh spin on it for modern audiences, and Styles’ rendition remains faithful to the original, maintaining the emotional sensitivity of Simon & Garfunkel’s creation while placing it in the context of his current mantra: that music is there to be experienced and felt, and held closely as it if were made personally for us.
Aretha Franklin
If you were to stick on Aretha Franklin’s version of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ for the first time, chances are you probably wouldn’t recognise it at first. Putting a velvety-smooth soulful spin on the Simon & Garfunkel classic, Franklin’s version makes the song feel entirely her own, proving that, more than anyone else, Franklin really could do it all.
Interestingly, most covers of famous songs that stray too far from the original wind up becoming highly criticised, especially when it’s clear that the artist taking it on seemingly doesn’t care at all to remain loyal to the original in any way. However, Franklin’s risk-taking paid off, so much so that Simon once said it was his favourite cover.
In his words, it was “maybe the best cover of any of my songs that anyone ever did”.
