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6.11.10
"Bridge Over Troubled Water" Chords: Examples of Plagal Cadences and Tritone Harmony

The chords to "Bridge Over Trouble Water" feature a lot of plagal cadences in the verse, and tritone harmoney in the chorus. The “amen” (IV – I) cadences in the verse are perhaps in keeping with Paul Simon’s direction to play it “like a spiritual.”

The chorus, on the other hand, has lots of diabolus in musica tritone harmony in the form of sevenths, ninths, and diminished chords, as revealed in the complex chord map below (Figure 100).

Chord progression Chase chart for the 1970 hit song Bridge Over Troubled Water, recorded by Simon and Garfunkel and written by Paul Simon.

FIGURE 100: Chord Map of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (Words and Music by Paul Simon, 1970)

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