A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle. Designs of bridges vary depending on the function of the bridge, the nature of the terrain where the bridge is constructed, the material used to make it and the funds available to build it.

Etymology

The Oxford English Dictionary traces the origin of the word ''bridge'' to an Old English word ''brycg'', of the same meaning, derived from the hypothetical Proto-Germanic root ''brugjō''. There are cognates in other Germanic languages.

History

The first bridges were made by nature itself — as simple as a log fallen across a stream or stones in the river. The first bridges made by humans were probably spans of cut wooden logs or planks and eventually stones, using a simple support and crossbeam arrangement. Some early Americans used trees or bamboo poles to cross small caverns or wells to get from one place to another. A common form of lashing sticks, logs, and deciduous branches together involved the use of long reeds or other harvested fibers woven together to form a connective rope capable of binding and holding together the materials used in early bridges.

The Arkadiko Bridge is one of four Mycenaean corbel arch bridges part of a former network of roads, designed to accommodate chariots, between Tiryns to Epidauros in the Peloponnese, in Greece. Dating to the Greek Bronze Age (13th century BC), it is one of the oldest arch bridges still in existence and use. Several intact arched stone bridges from the Hellenistic era can be found in the Peloponnese in southern Greece

The greatest bridge builders of antiquity were the ancient Romans. The Romans built arch bridges and aqueducts that could stand in conditions that would damage or destroy earlier designs. Some stand today. An example is the Alcántara Bridge, built over the river Tagus, in Spain. The Romans also used cement, which reduced the variation of strength found in natural stone. One type of cement, called pozzolana, consisted of water, lime, sand, and volcanic rock. Brick and mortar bridges were built after the Roman era, as the technology for cement was lost then later rediscovered.

The ''Arthashastra'' of Kautilya mentions the construction of dams and bridges. A Mauryan bridge near Girnar was surveyed by James Princep. The bridge was swept away during a flood, and later repaired by Puspagupta, the chief architect of emperor Chandragupta I. The bridge also fell under the care of the Yavana Tushaspa, and the Satrap Rudra Daman. The use of stronger bridges using plaited bamboo and iron chain was visible in India by about the 4th century. A number of bridges, both for military and commercial purposes, were constructed by the Mughal administration in India.

Although large Chinese bridges of wooden construction existed at the time of the Warring States, the oldest surviving stone bridge in China is the Zhaozhou Bridge, built from 595 to 605 AD during the Sui Dynasty. This bridge is also historically significant as it is the world's oldest open-spandrel stone segmental arch bridge. European segmental arch bridges date back to at least the Alconétar Bridge (approximately 2nd century AD), while the enormous Roman era Trajan's Bridge (105 AD) featured open-spandrel segmental arches in wooden construction.

Rope bridges, a simple type of suspension bridge, were used by the Inca civilization in the Andes mountains of South America, just prior to European colonization in the 16th century.

During the 18th century there were many innovations in the design of timber bridges by Hans Ulrich, Johannes Grubenmann, and others. The first book on bridge engineering was written by Hubert Gautier in 1716. A major breakthrough in bridge technology came with the erection of the Iron Bridge in Coalbrookdale, England in 1779. It used cast iron for the first time as arches to cross the river Severn.

With the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, truss systems of wrought iron were developed for larger bridges, but iron did not have the tensile strength to support large loads. With the advent of steel, which has a high tensile strength, much larger bridges were built, many using the ideas of Gustave Eiffel.

In 1927 welding pioneer Stefan Bryła designed the first welded road bridge in the world, which was later built across the river Słudwia Maurzyce near Łowicz, Poland in 1929. In 1995, the American Welding Society presented the Historic Welded Structure Award for the bridge to Poland.

Types of bridges

There are six main types of bridges: beam bridges, cantilever bridges, arch bridges, suspension bridges, cable-stayed bridges and truss bridges.

Beam bridges

Beam bridges are horizontal beams supported at each end by abutments, hence their structural name of ''simply supported''. When there is more than one span the intermediate supports are known as piers. The earliest beam bridges were simple logs that sat across streams and similar simple structures. In modern times, beam bridges are large box steel girder bridges. Weight on top of the beam pushes straight down on the abutments at either end of the bridge. They are made up mostly of wood or metal. Beam bridge spans typically do not exceed long, as the strength of a span decreases with increased length. However, the main span of the Rio-Niteroi Bridge, a box girder bridge, is . The world's longest beam bridge is Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in southern Louisiana in the United States, at , with individual spans of .

Cantilever bridges

Cantilever bridges are built using cantilevers—horizontal beams supported on only one end. Most cantilever bridges use a pair of continuous spans that extend from opposite sides of the supporting piers to meet at the center of the obstacle the bridge crosses. Cantilever bridges are constructed using much the same materials & techniques as beam bridges. The difference comes in the action of the forces through the bridge. The largest cantilever bridge is the Quebec Bridge in Quebec, Canada.

Arch bridges

Arch bridges have abutments at each end. The weight of the bridge is thrust into the abutments at either side. The earliest known arch bridges were built by the Greeks, and include the Arkadiko Bridge.

With the span of , the Solkan Bridge over the Soča River at Solkan in Slovenia is the second largest stone bridge in the world and the longest railroad stone bridge. It was completed in 1905. Its arch, which was constructed from over of stone blocks in just 18 days, is the second largest stone arch in the world, surpassed only by the Friedensbrücke (Syratalviadukt) in Plauen, and the largest railroad stone arch. The arch of the Friedensbrücke, which was built in the same year, has the span of and crosses the valley of the Syrabach River. The difference between the two is that the Solkan Bridge was built from stone blocks, whereas the Friedensbrücke was built from a mixture of crushed stone and cement mortar.

Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is currently building the Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Crossing, which is scheduled for completion in 2012. When completed, it will be the largest arch bridge in the world, with a main span long.

Tied arch bridges

Tied arch bridges have an arch-shaped superstructure, but differ from conventional arch bridges. Instead of transferring the weight of the bridge and traffic loads into thrust forces into the abutments, the ends of the arches are restrained by tension in the bottom chord of the structure. They are also called bowstring arches.

Suspension bridges

Suspension bridges are suspended from cables. The earliest suspension bridges were made of ropes or vines covered with pieces of bamboo. In modern bridges, the cables hang from towers that are attached to caissons or cofferdams. The caissons or cofferdams are implanted deep into the floor of a lake or river. The longest suspension bridge in the world is the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan. See simple suspension bridge, stressed ribbon bridge, underspanned suspension bridge, suspended-deck suspension bridge, and self-anchored suspension bridge.

Cable-stayed bridges

Cable-stayed bridges, like suspension bridges, are held up by cables. However, in a cable-stayed bridge, less cable is required and the towers holding the cables are proportionately shorter. The first known cable-stayed bridge was designed in 1784 by C.T. Loescher. The longest cable-stayed bridge is the Sutong Bridge over the Yangtze River in China.

Movable bridges

Movable bridges are designed to move out of the way of boats or other kinds of traffic, which would otherwise be too tall to fit. These are generally electrically powered.

Double-decked bridges

Double-decked or double-decker bridges have two levels, such as the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge, with two road levels. Tsing Ma Bridge and Kap Shui Mun Bridge in Hong Kong have six lanes on their upper decks, and on their lower decks there are two lanes and a pair of tracks for MTR metro trains. Some double-decker bridges only use one level for street traffic; the Washington Avenue Bridge in Minneapolis reserves its lower level for automobile traffic and its upper level for pedestrian and bicycle traffic (predominantly students at the University of Minnesota). Likewise, in Toronto, the Prince Edward Viaduct has five lanes of motor traffic, bicycle lanes, and sidewalks on its upper deck; and a pair of tracks for the Bloor–Danforth subway line on its lower deck.

Robert Stephenson's High Level Bridge across the River Tyne in Newcastle upon Tyne, completed in 1849, is an early example of a double-deck bridge. The upper level carries a railway, and the lower level is used for road traffic. Other examples include Britannia Bridge over the Menai Strait and Craigavon Bridge in Derry, Northern Ireland. The Oresund Bridge between Copenhagen and Malmö consists of a four-lane highway on the upper level and a pair of railway tracks at the lower level. The George Washington Bridge between New Jersey and New York has two roadway levels. It was built with only the upper roadway as traffic demands did not require more capacity. A truss work between the roadway levels provides stiffness to the roadways and reduced movement of the upper level when installed. Tower Bridge is different example of a double-decker bridge, with the central section consisting of a low level bascule span and a high level footbridge. The George Washington bridge is also the most used bridge in the world.

Old Yamuna Bridge (Delhi) or Bridge No. 249 in technical railway parlance, was constructed in 1866 by the East India Railway at a cost of £16,16,335. It was built with a total length of and consisted of 12 spans of each. With the completion of this bridge, two principal cities of North India, Kolkata and Delhi, were connected by the railways; this being the last link of the trunk line on this route. In 1913, this was converted into a double line by adding down line girders of 12 spans of each and 2 end spans of to the bridge. For the movement of road traffic, two road bridges were provided below the lines. The entry of trains into Delhi Junction Railway station, in such close proximity to the Red Fort, never ceases to impress the rail traveler, reminding all that after the Uprising of 1857, Delhi was a fortified city. The old Yamuna Bridge has an identical twin, a bridge further downstream at Naini on the Allahabad — Mughalsarai section of the now North Central Railways.

By use

A bridge is designed for trains, pedestrian or road traffic, a pipeline or waterway for water transport or barge traffic. An aqueduct is a bridge that carries water, resembling a viaduct, which is a bridge that connects points of equal height. A road-rail bridge carries both road and rail traffic.

Bridges are subject to unplanned uses as well. The areas underneath some bridges have become makeshift shelters and homes to homeless people, and the undersides of bridges all around the world are spots of prevalent graffiti. Some bridges attract people attempting suicide, and become known as suicide bridges.

To create a beautiful image, some bridges are built much taller than necessary. This type, often found in east-Asian style gardens, is called a Moon bridge, evoking a rising full moon. Other garden bridges may cross only a dry bed of stream washed pebbles, intended only to convey an impression of a stream. Often in palaces a bridge will be built over an artificial waterway as symbolic of a passage to an important place or state of mind. A set of five bridges cross a sinuous waterway in an important courtyard of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. The central bridge was reserved exclusively for the use of the Emperor, Empress, and their attendants.

By material

Until the end of the 18th Century, bridges were made out of timber, stone and masonry. Modern bridge are currently built in concrete, steel, fiber reinforced polymers (FRP), stainless steel or combinations of those materials. The Iron Bridge completed in 1779 was the first cast iron bridge.

Structure

Bridges may be classified by how the forces of tension, compression, bending, torsion and shear are distributed through their structure. Most bridges will employ all of the principal forces to some degree, but only a few will predominate. The separation of forces may be quite clear. In a suspension or cable-stayed span, the elements in tension are distinct in shape and placement. In other cases the forces may be distributed among a large number of members, as in a truss, or not clearly discernible to a casual observer as in a box beam. Bridges can also be classified by their lineage, which is shown as the vertical axis on the diagram.

Efficiency

A bridge's ''structural efficiency'' is the ratio of load carried to bridge mass, given a specific set of material types. In one common challenge students are divided into groups and given a quantity of wood sticks, a distance to span, and glue, and then asked to construct a bridge that will be tested to destruction by the progressive addition of load at the center of the span. The bridge taking the greatest load is by this test the most ''structurally efficient''. A more refined measure for this exercise is to weigh the completed bridge rather than measure against a fixed quantity of materials provided and determine the multiple of this weight that the bridge can carry, a test that emphasizes economy of materials and efficient glue joints (see ''balsa wood bridge'').

A bridge's ''economic efficiency'' will be site and traffic dependent, the ratio of savings by having a bridge (instead of, for example, a ferry, or a longer road route) compared to its cost. The lifetime cost is composed of materials, labor, machinery, engineering, cost of money, insurance, maintenance, refurbishment, and ultimately, demolition and associated disposal, recycling, and replacement, less the value of scrap and reuse of components. Bridges employing only compression are relatively inefficient structurally, but may be highly cost efficient where suitable materials are available near the site and the cost of labor is low. For medium spans, trusses or box beams are usually most economical, while in some cases, the appearance of the bridge may be more important than its cost efficiency. The longest spans usually require suspension bridges.

Other functions

Some bridges accommodate other purposes, such as the tower of Nový Most Bridge in Bratislava, which features a restaurant. Other suspension bridge towers carry transmission antennas.

A bridge can carry overhead power lines as does the Storstrøm Bridge.

Costs and cost overruns frequently occur in bridge construction. Flyvbjerg et al. (2003) found the average cost overrun in bridge building is 34%.

In railway parlance, an overbridge is a bridge crossing ''over'' the course of the railway. In contrast, an underbridge allows passage ''under'' the line.

Bridge failures

The failure of bridges is of special concern for structural engineers in trying to learn lessons vital to bridge design, construction and maintenance. The failure of bridges first assumed national interest during the Victorian era when many new designs were being built, often using new materials.

In the United States, the National Bridge Inventory tracks the structural evaluations of all bridges, including designations such as "structurally deficient" and "functionally obsolete".

Bridge monitoring

There are several methods used to monitor the stress on large structures like bridges. The most common method is the use of an accelerometer, which is integrated into the bridge while it is being built. This technology is used for long-term surveillance of the bridge.

Another option for structural-integrity monitoring is "non-contact monitoring", which uses the Doppler effect (Doppler shift). A laser beam from a Laser Doppler Vibrometer is directed at the point of interest, and the vibration amplitude and frequency are extracted from the Doppler shift of the laser beam frequency due to the motion of the surface. The advantage of this method is that the setup time for the equipment is faster and, unlike an accelerometer, this makes measurements possible on multiple structures in as short a time as possible. Additionally, this method can measure specific points on a bridge that might be difficult to access.

Visual index

See list of bridge types

See also

Architectural structure

Bridge to Nowhere (disambiguation)

BS 5400, a British Standard for steel, concrete and composite bridges

Cost overrun in bridge construction

Footbridge

Landscape architecture

Megaproject

Overpass

Oxford BT Centre for Major Programme Management

Sea bridge

Tunnel

Transporter bridge

References

;Notes

;Bibliography

Brown, David J. ''Bridges: Three Thousand Years of Defying Nature''. Richmond Hill, Ont: Firefly Books, 2005. ISBN 1-55407-099-6.

Sandak, Cass R. ''Bridges''. An Easy-read modern wonders book. New York: F. Watts, 1983. ISBN 0-531-04624-9.

Whitney, Charles S. ''Bridges of the World: Their Design and Construction''. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2003. ISBN 0-486-42995-4 (Unabridged republication of ''Bridges : a study in their art, science, and evolution''. 1929.)

Dikshitar, V. R. R. Dikshitar (1993). ''The Mauryan Polity''. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 81-208-1023-6.

Dutt, Romesh Chunder (2000). ''A History of Civilisation in Ancient India: Vol II''. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-23188-4.

Nath, R. (1982). ''History of Mughal Architecture''. Abhinav Publications. ISBN 81-7017-159-8.

Kinney, A. R.; el al. (2003). ''Worshiping Siva and Buddha: The Temple Art of East Java''. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-2779-1.

Buck, William; el al. (2000). ''Ramayana''. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22703-4

External links

Digital Bridge: Bridges of the Nineteenth Century, a collection of digitized books at Lehigh University

Structurae - International Database and Gallery of Engineerings Structures with over 10000 Bridges.

U.S. Federal Highway Administration Bridge Technology

Bridge enthusiast site

Video on how bridges are made (Grade school level educational film by National Association of Manufactures.)

The Museum of Japanese Timber Bridges Fukuoka University

"en.Broer.no": site for bridges

(CNN) 24 of the World's Most Amazing Bridges -retrieved 30 Apr 2011

Amazing footage of strangler figs made into "living bridges."

Category:Structural engineering

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name	Simon & Garfunkel
landscape	Yes
background	group_or_band
origin	Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, New York, USA
alias	Tom and Jerry
years active	1957–1970, 1981–1983, 2003–2004, 2009
genre	Folk rock, world music, soft rock, folk music
label	Columbia
website	www.simonandgarfunkel.com
members	Paul SimonArt Garfunkel }}

Simon & Garfunkel are an American music duo consisting of singer-songwriters Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. They formed the group Tom & Jerry in 1957 and had their first success with the minor hit "Hey, Schoolgirl". As Simon & Garfunkel, the duo rose to fame in 1965, largely on the strength of the hit single "The Sound of Silence". Their music was featured in the landmark film ''The Graduate'' (1967), propelling them further into the public consciousness.

They are well known for their vocal close harmonies and were among the most popular recording artists of the 1960s. Their biggest hits – including "The Sound of Silence" (1964), "I Am a Rock" (1965), "Homeward Bound" (1965), "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" (1966), "A Hazy Shade of Winter" (1966), "Mrs. Robinson" (1968), "Bridge over Troubled Water" (1969), "The Boxer" (1969), and "Cecilia" (1969) – peaked at number one in several charts. They have received several Grammys and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2007.

Their sometimes rocky relationship led to their last album, ''Bridge Over Troubled Water,'' being delayed several times due to artistic disagreements and as a result the duo broke up in 1970. It was their most successful album worldwide to date, peaking at number one in several countries, including the United States, and receiving 8× Platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America, making it their highest-selling studio album in the U.S. and second-highest album overall. Simon & Garfunkel have, at times, reunited to perform and sometimes tour together. They have done so in every decade since the 1970 breakup, most famously for 1981's "The Concert in Central Park", which attracted more than 500,000 people, making it the 7th-most attended concert in the history of music. In 2004, they were ranked #40 on ''Rolling Stone''s list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.

History

Early history

Close friends through childhood, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel grew up in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, just blocks away from each other. They met in elementary school in 1953, when they both appeared in the school play ''Alice in Wonderland'' (Simon as the White Rabbit, Garfunkel as the Cheshire Cat). They were classmates at Parsons Junior High School and Forest Hills High School, and began performing together in their junior year as Tom and Jerry, with Simon as Jerry Landis (whose last name he borrowed from a girl he had been dating) and Garfunkel as Tom Graph (so called because he was fond of tracking ("graphing") hits on the pop charts). They began writing their own songs in 1955, and made their first professional recording, "Hey, Schoolgirl", for Sid Prosen of Big Records in 1957. Released on 45 rpm and 78 rpm records, with the flip-side song "Dancin' Wild", the recording sold 100,000 copies, hitting #49 on the ''Billboard'' charts. Both Simon and Garfunkel have acknowledged the tremendous impact of the Everly Brothers on their style, and many of their early songs (including "Hey, Schoolgirl") bear the mark of this influence.

They later performed their hit on Dick Clark's ''American Bandstand'', right after Jerry Lee Lewis performed "Great Balls of Fire".

Subsequent efforts in 1958 did not reach near their initial success, and after high school the duo went to separate colleges, with Simon enrolling at Queens College and Garfunkel at Columbia University. While enrolled in college, they both joined their campus chapters of the Jewish fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi.

In 1963, they found prominence as part of the Greenwich Village folk music scene. Simon, who had finished college but dropped out of Brooklyn Law School, had – like Garfunkel – developed an interest in the folk scene. Simon showed Garfunkel a few songs that he had written in the folk style: "Sparrow", "Bleecker Street", and "He Was My Brother", which was later dedicated to Andrew Goodman, a friend of both Simon and Garfunkel and a classmate of Simon's at Queens College, who was one of three civil rights workers murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, on June 21, 1964.

These three efforts were among five original songs by Simon included on their first album for Columbia Records, ''Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.,'' which initially flopped upon its release on October 19, 1964.

First breakup

Shortly after finishing recording, the duo split and Simon moved to the United Kingdom, where he performed at Les Cousins and the Troubadour in London and toured provincial folk clubs. While in England, he recorded his solo ''The Paul Simon Songbook'' in 1965. Recorded on three different dates in June and July at Levy's Studio, London, the album was released as an LP. By agreement, the album was supposed to go out of print after ten years. However, ''Billboard'' reported in early 1978 that Simon filed legal papers to get CBS to delete the album, noting that they were violating their agreement by keeping it in print and stating that it was "not representative of the performer's style." Many years later in March 2004, Simon responded to fan requests by re-releasing the album on CD with bonus tracks. During this period in London he also collaborated on a number of songs with Bruce Woodley of the Seekers, including "I Wish You Could Be Here", "Cloudy", and "Red Rubber Ball", which would be a U.S. #1 hit for the Cyrkle in 1966.

While Simon was in England that summer of 1965, radio stations around Cocoa Beach and Gainesville, Florida, began to receive requests for a song from the album ''Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.'' called "The Sound of Silence". The song also began to receive radio airplay in Boston. Seizing the chance, the duo's U.S. producer, Tom Wilson, inspired by the Byrds' hugely popular electric versions of Bob Dylan songs, used Dylan's studio band (who had collaborated with him on his landmark hit "Like a Rolling Stone" that year) to dub electric guitars, bass and drums onto the original "Sound of Silence" track, and released it as a single, backed with "We've Got a Groovy Thing Goin'". The dubbing turned folk into folk rock, the debut of a new genre for the Top 40, much to Simon's surprise. A few months earlier Simon and Garfunkel had briefly reunited and experimented with a more contemporary sound and recorded a couple of songs including "Groovy Thing".

In September 1965, Simon first learned that it had entered the pop charts while he was about to go on stage in a Danish folk club. The song hit #1 on the pop charts by New Year's Day, 1966.

Reformation and success

Simon immediately returned to the United States and the duo re-formed to record more tracks in a similar style, though neither approved of what Wilson had done with "The Sound of Silence". The result was a sequence of folk rock records which have endured as well as any in the genre. On January 17, 1966, the duo released the album ''Sounds of Silence'', which – helped by the title track's success – hit #21, while ''Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.'' was re-released and reached #30. Among the tracks on ''The Paul Simon Songbook'' that were rerecorded (some with electric backing) for ''Sound of Silence'' were "I Am a Rock" (which as a single reached U.S. #3 in the summer of 1966), "Leaves That Are Green", "April Come She Will", "A Most Peculiar Man", and "Kathy's Song".

Further hit singles came, including "Scarborough Fair/Canticle", based on a traditional English ballad with an arrangement by Martin Carthy, and "Homeward Bound" (later U.S. #5), about life on the road while Simon was touring in England in 1965. Paul Simon was inspired to write "Homeward Bound" while waiting at Ditton railway station on the outskirts of Widnes in North West England. A plaque commemorating this claim to fame was displayed at Ditton railway station until it was closed in 1994 when the plaque was moved to the ticket office on the Liverpool bound platform of the nearby Widnes railway station. Simon is quoted as saying ''"if you'd ever seen Widnes, then you'd know why I was keen to get back to London as quickly as possible."''

More tracks from ''The Paul Simon Songbook'' were included along with recent compositions on their October 10, 1966, album ''Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme'', which refined the folk rock sound hastily released on ''Sound of Silence''. "Cloudy", co-written earlier with Bruce Woodley, was included on ''Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme''. However, a Woodley credit was incorrectly omitted. The following year, Woodley's band The Seekers recorded it for their studio album ''Seen in Green'', on which Simon received a credit.

In early 1967, Pickwick Records, which had a reputation as a low-quality label, decided that it would capitalize on the duo's newfound fame by releasing an album titled ''The Hit Sounds of Simon and Garfunkel''. This album consisted of ten tracks recorded from the late 1950s and early 1960s while the duo still called themselves Tom & Jerry, including their hit "Hey, Schoolgirl", and its B-side, "Dancin' Wild". Simon and Garfunkel then sued Pickwick because the company was presenting the music as recently recorded material, not as songs written and released over five years earlier. Soon afterwards, Pickwick withdrew ''The Hit Sounds of Simon and Garfunkel'' from the market.

On June 16, 1967, the duo performed at the Monterey Pop Festival. That same year, Simon and Garfunkel contributed heavily to the soundtrack to Mike Nichols' film ''The Graduate'', which was released on January 21, 1968, and instantly rose to #1 as an album. According to a ''Variety'' article by Peter Bart in the May 15, 2005, issue, Nichols had become obsessed with Simon and Garfunkel's music while shooting the film. Larry Turman, his producer, made a deal for Simon to write three new songs for the film. By the time they were nearly finished editing the film, Simon had written only one new song. Nichols begged him for more but Simon, who was touring constantly, told him he didn't have the time. He did play him a few notes of a new song he had been working on; "It's not for the movie... it's a song about times past—about Mrs. Roosevelt and Joe DiMaggio and stuff." Nichols advised Simon, "It's now about Mrs. Robinson, not Mrs. Roosevelt."

As their albums became progressively more adventurous, ''The Graduate'' soundtrack album was immediately followed in March 1968 at the top of the charts by ''Bookends'', which dealt with increasingly complex themes of old age and loss. It features the top 25 hit singles "A Hazy Shade of Winter", "Fakin' It", "At the Zoo", "America" and a full version of "Mrs. Robinson" – the classic #1 single from ''The Graduate'' soundtrack. Simon and Garfunkel returned to England in the fall of 1968 and did a concert appearance at Kraft Hall which was broadcast on the BBC, and also featured Paul's brother Ed sitting in on a performance of the instrumental "Anji".

At the March 1969 Grammy Awards, "Mrs. Robinson" was named Record of the Year, while Simon was also honored with the Grammy for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special.

Second breakup

By 1969, the duo's success began to take its toll. Garfunkel had begun to pursue a career in acting and was featured in the role of Nately in Nichols's film adaptation of the novel ''Catch-22''. Garfunkel's filming leave conflicted with and subsequently delayed the recording of the duo's next album. The part in the film which had initially been promised to Simon was completely cut from the script.

The duo's deteriorating personal relationship continued into their late 1969 tour, which featured performances at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, on November 11 and Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, on November 8, recordings of which are supposedly widely bootlegged. Video footage of the tour was shown on their controversial November 30 television special ''Songs of America,'' which TV sponsors refused to endorse because of its distinct anti-Vietnam War message.

The recording of what would be their final album, ''Bridge Over Troubled Water'', was not without tension. The LP was originally supposed to feature twelve tracks, but the duo could not agree on the twelfth track: Simon refused to record a Bach chorale track favored by Garfunkel, while Garfunkel refused to record a song Simon had written called "Cuba Si, Nixon No". No middle ground was reached, so the album was released with only eleven songs.

''Bridge Over Troubled Water'' was at last released on January 26, 1970. Its title track, featuring Garfunkel's soaring vocals, was a massive hit and one of the best-selling records of the decade, staying #1 on the charts for six weeks and remaining on the charts for far longer. The album includes three other top-twenty hits: "El Cóndor Pasa" (US #18), "Cecilia" (US #4), and "The Boxer" – which, finished in 1968, hit #7 on the charts the following year –as well as a live recording of the Everly Brothers' "Bye Bye, Love" from a 1969 tour concert in Ames, Iowa.

At the subsequent March 1971 Grammy Awards, the album and single were named Album of the Year and Record Of The Year, and also won the awards for Best Engineered Record, Best Contemporary Song, Song Of The Year, and Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists. Their 1972 ''Greatest Hits'' album has sold over 14 million copies in the U.S. becoming the number-one selling album by a duo. The duo finally split in 1970 and both went their separate ways.

Simon continued writing and went on to a very successful solo music career, recording several classic albums, including ''There Goes Rhymin' Simon'', ''Still Crazy After All These Years'', and his most highly celebrated solo album, ''Graceland'', collaborating with the Zulu choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo, among others.

Garfunkel split his time between acting and recording solo and collaboration albums, to mixed reviews. His most critically acclaimed album was the 1977 effort ''Watermark'', almost all of the songs for which were penned by acclaimed songwriter Jimmy Webb.

Reunions

Simon and Garfunkel's first reunion after their second breakup was at a June 1972 benefit concert at Madison Square Garden for presidential candidate George McGovern. On October 18, 1975, the duo made an appearance on the second episode of NBC's new show ''Saturday Night Live''. They performed "The Boxer", "Scarborough Fair", and "My Little Town". The last song was the only new Simon and Garfunkel recording in five years, appearing on both men's solo albums released in 1975 (Simon's ''Still Crazy After All These Years'' and Garfunkel's ''Breakaway'') and reaching #9 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart.

Simon, along with James Taylor, provided harmony vocals on Garfunkel's cover of Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World", on Garfunkel's 1977 album ''Watermark''; the single release of that song reached #1 on the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart and #17 on the Hot 100. Simon also contributed backing vocals to "In Cars", a song on Garfunkel's 1981 solo album ''Scissors Cut''.

Simon and Garfunkel reunited again for a free concert in New York City's Central Park on September 19, 1981. The concert was attended by over 500,000 people, and a recording of it was subsequently released as a live album, with their cover of "Wake Up Little Susie" released as a single. A video recording was likewise televised by HBO and issued on home video. The success of the Central Park concert prompted the duo to go on a world tour in 1982–83, including a performance at Shea Stadium in August, 1983.

Simon and Garfunkel went on to complete the recording of their first new studio album in more than a decade, provisionally titled ''Think Too Much'' and featuring some songs previewed on their recent concert jaunt. However, creative differences, coupled with the record company's negative reaction to the decidedly un-Simon-and-Garfunkel-like album, led Simon to remove Garfunkel's vocal tracks and rework the songs himself. The 1983 Simon solo album ''Hearts and Bones'' was the result, and a long period of estrangement for the duo followed.

Their next joint public appearance was in 1990, when the two performed at a ceremony for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Simon and Garfunkel appeared together in 1993 for 21 sold out concerts in New York, with half of the show being Paul Simon solo with a band and the other half Simon and Garfunkel. Later the same year, they did some charity concerts, including the Bridge School Benefit concerts and a benefit for United Way Children's Charities at SkyDome in Toronto.

In July 2002, Columbia Legacy issued a previously unreleased live recording of a Simon and Garfunkel concert, ''Live from New York City, 1967.'' It features an almost-complete recording of a performance given by the duo at Philharmonic Hall, at Lincoln Center in New York City on January 22, 1967. The album includes a rendition of "A Church Is Burning", one of the songs that originally appeared on Paul Simon's 1965 solo album, ''The Paul Simon Songbook''.

On February 23, 2003, Simon and Garfunkel reunited to perform in public for the first time in a decade, singing "The Sound of Silence" as the opening act of the Grammy Awards. Before the show, the duo was presented with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, honoring their musical contributions over the past four and a half decades. They were introduced by Dustin Hoffman, who made his debut in the film ''The Graduate,'' which extensively featured their music.

The good feelings generated by their appearance on the Grammys led to another thaw in their relationship. Soon, Simon and Garfunkel launched a two-month long reunion tour of the United States (and Toronto, Canada), which began October 16 and culminated in Tampa on December 21, 2003. Entitled ''Old Friends,'' their first tour in over twenty years included forty shows in twenty-eight cities and featured special guests the Everly Brothers. The tour featured in its opening video montage a short series of clips and photos taken during the day leading up to the concert around the venue. Simon and Garfunkel performed "Hey, Schoolgirl", which they said was the first song they had written and recorded together. At the tour concert at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, they performed "Leaves That Are Green" in place of "Song for the Asking", which had been on their set list for the other concerts on this tour, following an announcement that they had not played it in concert since 1967. They also played "Leaves That Are Green" at concerts in Cleveland and Boston after making a similar announcement.

The success of the first ''Old Friends'' tour led to an encore in June and July 2004 with over 25 shows, this time also in Europe. In July 2004, they completed the tour with a flourish, with a finale at the Colosseum in Rome before an audience which, according to the Mayor of Rome, exceeded 600,000 — even larger than the audience at the famous 1981 Central Park concert.

A live CD and DVD from their ''Old Friends'' tour was released in late 2004. It featured a "new" studio duo song, "Citizen of the Planet", one of the songs from the rejected 1983 reunion album that did not originally feature Garfunkel's vocal participation.

In 2007, PBS hosted the first Gershwin Awards, at which Paul Simon was honored. Simon introduced Garfunkel (for a cameo appearance) as "my partner in arguments" and the two sang "Bridge Over Troubled Water" together.

Columbia/Legacy announced the September 18, 2007, release of ''Live 1969,'' which was said to feature recently discovered masters recorded on their 1969 tour. Most of the arrangements remain virtually unchanged. That 1969 tour would be their last for over a decade, immediately preceding the release of the 1970 album ''Bridge Over Troubled Water''. The tour was recorded preparing for a subsequent live album, but the release of the live album did not happen, until now, as reported in ''Billboard.''

On February 13, 2009, Simon and his band re-opened New York's legendary Beacon Theatre, which had been closed for seven months for a renovation. As an encore, Simon brought out "[his] old friend" Art Garfunkel. They sang 3 songs: "Sound of Silence", "The Boxer", and "Old Friends".

On April 2, 2009, the duo announced a tour of Australia, New Zealand and Japan for June/July 2009. On October 29–30, they participated together in the 25th anniversary of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concerts at New York's Madison Square Garden. Other artists on the bill included Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band; U2; Metallica; Aretha Franklin; Stevie Wonder and Crosby, Stills & Nash.

In March 2010, Simon & Garfunkel announced a 13-date spring tour, to perform in April at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Most performances were scheduled for Canada, with four shows in the upper Midwest of the U.S. According to a press release, the set list would focus on their classic catalog, as well as songs from each of their solo careers. On June 17, 2010, Simon & Garfunkel canceled the tour, earlier rescheduled for July 2010, now postponed indefinitely as Garfunkel continues to recover from a vocal cord paresis.

Legacy

From the very beginning of their fame, through the present time years after their break-up, Simon and Garfunkel have had an impact on the popular culture as evidenced by the many references to them made in television, film, music and other aspects of pop culture.

Among the earliest pop culture references or homages came in the late 1960s, when the comedy television show ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' had a running skit featuring members of the "Farkel" Family, including Fred & Fanny Farkel, "and the twins, Simon and Gar Farkel". In the early '70s sitcom ''The Partridge Family'', the two youngest Partridge children name their pet goldfish "Simon and Garfunkel".

In an episode of '90s sitcom ''Friends'', the character Ross Geller was convincing character Phoebe Buffay to tell him why she was mad at him by asking her a series of questions requiring a rapid response; to the question "Who would you rather be, Simon or Garfunkel?", Phoebe replies "Garfunkel". In the episode "Our Dear Leaders" of ''Scrubs'', Lucy Bennett refers to herself as "Garfunkel" being the second-in-command of her study group and mistakenly asks Drew Suffin to be her Micky Dolenz. In an episode of ''Monk'', the title character Adrian Monk is upstaged by his now-famous assistant Natalie. This leads to him being referred to as the Garfunkel of the pair, a pop culture reference the character doesn't understand.

The lyrics of Simon and Garfunkel songs continue to be referenced many times on television, long after their initial popularity. On an episode of ''How I Met Your Mother'', Marshall commissions a Venn diagram in which one section represents the "people who are breaking his heart" while the other represents "people who are shaking his confidence daily". The section where the two overlap is labelled "Cecilia". The end of the "Lady Bouvier's Lover" episode of ''The Simpsons'' contains one of the series' many homages to ''The Graduate,'' and features a parody of "The Sound of Silence" over the closing credits. ("Hello grandpa my old friend/your busy day is at an end/your words are always sad and boring/they tell a tale that's worth ignoring".) In another episode, Mr. Burns spins around a lamp post singing, "Hello lamp post. What ya knowin'? I've come to watch your power flowin'", a reference to the lyrics of "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)".

The episode "Bendin' in the Wind" of ''Futurama'', in a double send-up of Simon and Garfunkel and ''Battlestar Galactica,'' features the singing duo "Cylon and Garfunkel" performing a rendition of ''"Scarborough Fair"'' in which the robot Cylon's singing is entirely monotone, and Garfunkel – who explains during the performance that he is the descendant of Art – states that he will give Bender the check "over my dead career!".

In an episode of ''Saturday Night Live'''s "Celebrity Jeopardy" parody, there was a category entitled "Members of Simon and Garfunkel". The clue read, "Of Simon and Garfunkel, the one who is not Garfunkel." Once the Sean Connery character rang in, he asked for the question to be repeated and said in response, "I Garfunkeled your mother!" This was one of the running gags of the parody. In another SNL skit, Will Forte and Jason Sudeikis pose as Bon Jovi opposite band, Jon Bovi, but when accused of sounding exactly like Bon Jovi, they say, "Well, if you didn't like that, you're going to love our new opposite folk rock band, Gimon & Sarfunkel."

In an episode of ''Flight of the Conchords'', the lead characters form a Simon and Garfunkel tribute band performing "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme". Garfunkel himself later appears in the episode. In the episode "Unnatural Love", the song "Carol Brown" is an homage to the Paul Simon song "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover".

Discography

Studio albums

{|class="wikitable" |- ! Release date ! Title |- | 1964 | ''Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.'' |- | 1966 | ''Sounds of Silence'' |- | 1966 | ''Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme'' |- | 1968 | ''Bookends'' |- | 1970 | ''Bridge Over Troubled Water'' |}

Singles with Billboard Hot 100 positions

1965: "The Sound of Silence" (#1) / "We've Got a Groovy Thing Goin'"

1966: "Homeward Bound" (#5) / "Leaves That Are Green"

1966: "I Am a Rock" (#3)/ "Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall"

1966: "The Dangling Conversation" (#25)/"The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine"

1966: "A Hazy Shade of Winter" (#13) / "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her"

1967: "At the Zoo" (#16) / "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)"

1967: "Fakin' It" (#23) / "You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies"

1968: "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" (#11) / "April Come She Will"

1968: "Mrs. Robinson" (#1) / "Old Friends/Bookends"

1969: "The Boxer" (#7) / "Baby Driver" (#101)

1970: "Bridge over Troubled Water" (#1) / "Keep the Customer Satisfied"

1970: "Cecilia" (#4) / "The Only Living Boy in New York"

1970: "El Cóndor Pasa" (#18) / "Why Don't You Write Me"

1972: "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her" (live version) (#53) / "America" (#97)

1975: "My Little Town" (#9) / "Rag doll Art Garfunkel" (Art Garfunkel)" / "You're Kind" (Paul Simon)

1982: "Wake Up Little Susie" (#27) / "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard"

1997: "Old Friends (1997 Simon and Garfunkel album)" / "Bookends"

Awards

Grammy Awards (1969) – Record of the Year, Best Contemporary Pop Performance – Vocal Duo or Group (for "Mrs. Robinson"); Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special (for ''The Graduate'')

Grammy Awards (1971) – Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Contemporary Song, Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s), Best Engineered Recording, Best Contemporary Vocal Group (for "Bridge over Troubled Water")

BRIT Awards (1978) – Best International Album (of the past 25 years) (for ''Bridge Over Troubled Water")

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1990) – Inductee

Grammy Awards (2003) – Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

References

Further reading

Charlesworth, Chris, ''The Complete Guide to the Music of Paul Simon and Simon & Garfunkel'', Omnibus Press 1996.

External links

Official

Official site

Paul Simon's official site

Art Garfunkel's official site

Biographical and discographical Other

Interview (2004) of both Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon

Category:Musical duos Category:American folk rock groups Category:American soft rock music groups Category:Brit Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:People from Queens Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Musical groups from New York City Category:Musical groups reestablished in 2003 Category:Musical groups established in 1957 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1964 Category:Musical groups reestablished in 1965 Category:Musical groups reestablished in 1981 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1983 Category:Musical groups reestablished in 1993 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1993 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1970 Category:Paul Simon

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