Art Garfunkel Says He Recorded 300 Takes of 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'
Art Garfunkel says he recorded roughly 300 takes of the lead vocal on "Bridge Over Troubled Water," the song that would go on to define his career and sweep the Grammy Awards more than five decades ago. The singer, now 84, described the grueling process as part of a lifelong pursuit of getting a performance exactly right, regardless of how long it took.
A Song Built on Painstaking Repetition
Garfunkel has never shied away from admitting how much work went into the 1970 ballad, and in a recent interview he put a number on it: around 300 attempts before he and his producer settled on the take that made the final record. "Whatever you do, you gotta do it well," he said in the interview. "Why not try to be the best in the world, just for the fun of it?" The comment fits a pattern Garfunkel has described throughout his career, one where perfectionism in the studio mattered more than speed.
From Homemade Harmonies to a Grammy Sweep
Long before "Bridge Over Troubled Water" became a multi-platinum single, Garfunkel and songwriting partner Paul Simon were experimenting with layered vocals in far more primitive conditions. "This is before tape. We'd record our harmonies and then put another layer on top," he recalled separately, describing the duo as young musicians "learning to produce."
Written by Simon in early 1969, the song was ultimately transposed into a higher key to suit Garfunkel's voice, with the instrumental tracked in California that August and the vocals finished in New York that November. The single reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for six straight weeks after its January 1970 release, a chart run later revisited by music historians, and went on to top the charts in the UK, Canada, France and New Zealand. At the 1971 Grammy Awards, it won five trophies including Record of the Year and Song of the Year, while the album of the same name took home Album of the Year, a sweep documented on his own site decades later.
A Career Beyond the Microphone
Garfunkel's pursuits outside music have been just as unconventional. He earned both a bachelor's and a master's degree and pursued doctoral studies in mathematics, at one point teaching geometry at a Connecticut prep school for six months before returning to performing.
Director Mike Nichols cast him in "Catch-22" and "Carnal Knowledge," giving him a parallel career on screen during the 1970s. He also spent stretches of the 1980s walking across the United States and later across Europe, a habit he has described as a way of clearing his head between projects, and he has said he reads roughly two books a month, favoring classic literature.
Back on Stage Decades Later
After largely stepping back from touring and recording for about two decades, Garfunkel has returned to performing live in recent years, reintroducing audiences to the same voice that carried "Bridge Over Troubled Water" to the top of the charts. The 300-take revelation adds a new layer to a song whose backstory Garfunkel has continued to revisit well into his eighties, offering fans a rare glimpse of just how much effort sat behind one of the most celebrated vocal performances in pop music history.
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