Was “bridge over troubled water” already a phrase, before Paul Simon wrote the song?
*Apparently one of the main influences for the song was a line that Paul heard on the radio in 1957. He was listening to the Swan Silvertone’s version of “Oh, Mary Don’t you Weep”, and heard Claude Jeter singing a line of scat midway through; “I’ll be your bridge over deep water if you trust in My name”. *
I have been unable so far to track down the phrase as a popular saying before Simon.
There was “oil on troubled waters.” Apparently, if you pour a small amount of oil into a pond, it will smooth out the ripples. If I were a fizzy cyst, I could probably tell you why that happens.
If I only had a nickel for every time I’ve said that…
The phrase does not show up anywhere in The New York Times between 1851 and 1968.