Paul Simon Called This Beatles Classic Their Own “Bridge Over Troubled Water”

“Bridge Over Troubled Water” is one of the most stunning songs ever written. Paul Simon‘s songwriting chops are unparalleled, and that is made very plain in this track. So, having one of your songs be compared to that Simon & Garfunkel classic is a major compliment, especially when the songwriter himself extends it.

Simon once compared a Beatles classic to his own folk standard. Find out which song by his contemporaries he thought went hand in hand with “Bridge Over Troubled Water” below.

[RELATED: The Legendary Paul Simon Song That Art Garfunkel Had To Admit Was Genius: “More Power Than I Ever Realized”]

The Beatles Classic Paul Simon Thought Was Similar to “Bridge Over Troubled Water”

“Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “Let It Be” were written in the same year. Though Simon released his first, they overlapped significantly, making it nearly impossible for one to have copied the other. It seems that, from miles apart, two legendary Pauls had similar songwriting ideas.

Paul McCartney was writing some of his final messages under the banner of The Beatles, which resulted in this tender track about letting life settle as it wants to. Simon, too, wanted to write a message of devotion and comfort.

When we listen to both ballads back-to-back, we can recognize what they have in common. They are both about overcoming bad situations and leaning on others. They follow similar musical paths, keeping things simple and sweet. Simon once spoke about this, agreeing that they are eerily similar.

“That was interesting to me that we both wrote these songs that were very similar,” Simon once said. “The first time I heard ‘Let It Be’, I couldn’t believe that [Paul McCartney] did that. They are very similar songs, certainly in instrumentation, sort of in their general musical feel, and lyrically. They’re sort of both hopeful songs and resting peaceful songs.”

“[McCartney] must’ve written it about the same time that I wrote mine,” he added. “He gave it to Aretha Franklin, which is funny because when I first wrote ‘Bridge’, I said ‘Boy, I bet Aretha could do a good job on this song.’ It’s one of those weird things, and it happened simultaneously.”

The connection between these two timeless classics is almost too much to believe. Something must have been in the air to make these songwriters react in similar ways. Both songs became legendary standards despite being released so close together, with neither overshadowing the other. So even though they could’ve disrupted each other, their similarities weren’t egregious enough to ruin their chances at becoming hits.

(Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images)