Release
After the Christmas break, the duo continued working on the album in early 1970 and finished it in late January. 11 tracks were featured in this album; one finished song, "Cuba Si, Nixon No", as well as other bonus tracks were excluded. Garfunkel did not like this song and proposed instead a chorale, entitled "Feuilles-O", with which Simon disagreed. After a discussion, they decided to not include more tracks.
Bridge Over Troubled Water charted in over 11 countries, topping the charts in 10 countries, including the US Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart. It became the best-selling album in 1970, 1971 and 1972 and was at that time the best-selling album of all time, until the release of Michael Jackson's Thriller. The album topped the Billboard 200 charts for 10 weeks and stayed in the charts for 85 weeks. According to Columbia Records, 1.7 million copies were sold in the first three weeks in the United States. In the United Kingdom, the album topped the charts for 35 weeks, and spent 285 weeks in the top 100, from 1970 to 1975. Furthermore it received 8× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and 4× Platinum in Canada. According to the Official Charts Company, Bridge Over Troubled Water has since sold 3,047,242 times in the UK, and over 25 million copies worldwide.
The songs "Cuba Si, Nixon No", "Groundhog", and the demo "Feuilles-O" were recorded during sessions but not released on the album. "Cuba Si, Nixon No" was later released on a bootleg copy of a November 11, 1969 concert by Simon and Garfunkel at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, while the demo recording of "Feuilles-O" was later released on the Old Friends and The Columbia Studio Recordings (1964–1970) box sets. A remastered and expanded version of the album was released on compact disc in 2001, containing the demo versions of "Feuilles-O" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water". It was remastered by Vic Anesini. Garfunkel later recorded "Feuilles-Oh/Do Space Men Pass Dead Souls on Their Way to the Moon?" on his debut solo album Angel Clare, and as the flip-side to his single "I Shall Sing" from the same album.
Columbia Records released a 40th Anniversary Edition on March 8, 2011, comprising three discs. The first disc features the original album and the second disc contains the entirety of Live 1969, which had been released three years earlier as an exclusive at Starbucks. The third disc, a DVD, consisted of the television special Songs of America, which originally aired in 1969 on CBS and unavailable since its original broadcast, and a new documentary The Harmony Game about the making of the album. Songs of America comprised footage of the 1969 tour, intimate backstage conversations, and historic news clips; it had elicited controversy owing to the duo's political comments regarding the Vietnam War and the direction of American society at the time. The Harmony Game featured new 2010 interviews with Simon, Garfunkel, producer Roy Halee, and more principals involved with the making of the album. The 1969 special runs for approximately 52 minutes 37 seconds, while the 2010 documentary runs for approximately 70 minutes 54 seconds. A booklet of liner notes, photos, and essays by critics Michael Hill and Anthony DeCurtis was also included.
The album is also included in its entirety as part of the Simon & Garfunkel box sets Collected Works and The Columbia Studio Recordings (1964–1970).
Read more about this topic: Bridge Over Troubled Water
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