As long as we are talking about the Paul Simon’s 57th Street Bridge Song—what’s that? Yes, indeed we were, over on another thread about falling on the stairs—has anyone else noticed that nobody can seem to agree on a tempo? I heard the original recently and it sounded much too fast.

I went through a number of versions that were available on Apple Music:
1966 Simon & Garfunkel 156 vivace
1967 S&G live 148 allegro
1967 Harper’s Bizarre 135 allegro
1969 S&G live 132 allegro
1970 S&G live 144 allegro
1982 S&G live 126 allegro

With the exception of that 1970 concert, I think Mr. Simon was taking his own advice over the years and slowing down. And that’s ignoring other people’s interpretations played at about half the speed.
1968 Kooper & Bloomfield 54 lento
1969 Paul Desmond 66 andante
2019 Christopher Phillips 58 adagio

#SillyMusicTalk #Tempo #Music