"Cecilia" is a song by American musical duo Simon & Garfunkel. It was released in April 1970 as the third single from the duo's fifth and final studio album, Bridge over Troubled Water (1970). Written by Paul Simon, the song's origins lie in a late-night party, in which the duo and friends began banging on a piano bench. They recorded the sound with a tape recorder, employing reverb and matching the rhythm created by the machine. Simon later wrote the song's guitar line and lyrics on the subject of an untrustworthy lover.
"Cecilia" was a hit single in the United States, peaking at number four on the BillboardHot 100. On the Cash Box Top 100, it reached number one. The song also performed well in several other countries but failed to chart in the United Kingdom, where it was released as a single about six months after the album. It has been the subject of numerous cover versions, including those by American duo Times Two and English singer Suggs, which became chart hits in numerous regions.
Background and recording
The song's origins lie in a late-night party attended by the duo and friends.[1] The song's rhythm was developed by Simon, Garfunkel, and Simon's younger brother, Eddie. They recorded it for fun utilizing a Sonytape recorder and employing reverberation. In doing so, they were able to synchronize their live rhythm with the reverberating sound on the recording. A friend grabbed a guitar, strumming and punctuating the rhythm with "aahs".[1]
Simon later found himself coming back to the tape and its infectious quality. While listening to the recording, he composed the song's guitar line.[2] Simon found a section, the length of shortly over a minute, that he felt had a nice groove. He and producer Roy Halee made a loop of this section, which was not an easy task before the advent of digital recording.[1] The duo later recorded additional elements of the song at Columbia Records' Gower Street location in Hollywood, typically used for string section recording. Simon & Garfunkel dropped drumsticks on the parquet floor, incorporating their sound into the track. In addition, Simon played random notes on a xylophone, as those elements would be compressed in the final version to where it would not be audible whether or not they were correctly played.[1] Drums were played by veteran Wrecking Crew drummer Hal Blaine.[3][4]
The lyric "making love in the afternoon" was among Simon's most explicit at the time.[5] Simon states in the 2011 documentary The Harmony Game that, during the song's initial success, he came upon a recently returned Vietnam War veteran. The man told Simon that soldiers heard the song and found it a sign of the country's changing mores.[1]
In 2008, Stephen Colbert facetiously asked Simon why the narrator of the song would need to get up and wash his face after making love. Simon replied, "Well, it's the '60s, so I can't remember."[6]
In 2023, during an interview on the Howard Stern Show, Simon mentioned that the opening of the song was not recorded on drums, and was actually 3-4 people hitting guitar cases near a Nagra over 8-9 minutes, which gave off the slapback.[7]
Composition
Simon has suggested that the "Cecilia" of the title refers to St. Cecilia, patron saint of music in the Catholic tradition, and thus the song might refer to the frustration of fleeting inspiration in songwriting, the vagaries of musical fame or in a wider sense the absurdity of pop culture.[1] The song is generally interpreted as a lament over a capricious lover who causes both anguish and jubilation to the singer. St. Cecilia is mentioned in another Paul Simon song, "The Coast" (from his 1990 album The Rhythm of the Saints): "A family of musicians took shelter for the night in the little harbor church of St. Cecilia."
Release and charts
Simon & Garfunkel initially imagined "Cecilia" to be the first real single from Bridge over Troubled Water, following an early release of "The Boxer" in April 1969. Columbia Records chairman Clive Davis instead pressed the duo to instead issue the title track as the lead single.[8]
Cash Box described "Cecilia" as a "mixture of rhythm-chant vigor and Caribbean-rock excitement."[9]Record World called it a "Calypso type tune [that] will make [Simon & Garfunkel] more friends."[10]Billboard said that "everything about it is absolutely perfect."[11]
The song topped the Cash Box Top 100 in May 1970.[12] The song peaked at number 4 on the BillboardHot 100, spending 13 weeks on the chart.[13] It also hit number 32 on the magazine's Easy Listening chart.[13]
The single did not chart in the UK, despite being released as the follow-up to Simon and Garfunkel's number 1 hit "Bridge over Troubled Water", and most copies of the UK single misspelled the title as "Cecelia" on the label.
In 1988, a cover version by California-based dance duo Times Two was released, peaking at number 79 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one in New Zealand.[40][41]
In 1994, English singer Suggs went to work on his first solo project with producers Sly and Robbie, who suggested "Cecilia" as one of the songs to work on. Sly and Robbie had previously worked with the English ragga duo Louchie Lou & Michie One on "Shout", and they brought the duo in on the recording. "Cecilia" appears on Suggs' debut solo album, The Lone Ranger released in 1995, and the song was released in April 1996 as the fourth single from the album.[45] The song became the most successful single for both Suggs and Louchie Lou & Michie One, reaching number four on the UK Singles Chart.[46]
